A few months before I left for Cambodia, my brother Mike asked me what seemed like a simple question.
"Why the fascination with Cambodia?"
Certainly a fair question to ask, as I have spent the last twenty one years of my life working with Cambodians, talking about Cambodia, studying and researching issues related to Cambodia, and yearning to return to this beloved land.
But I found it was not a simple question for me to answer.
I first became interested in Cambodia after watching the movie The Killing Fields somewhere around 1988. I was stunned by what I saw. How on earth could this have happened during my lifetime? Evil incarnate through Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, committing atrocities on a scale previously unknown.
My mind was invaded with thoughts more numerous than the bombs being dropped on Cambodian villages. Where was the world when this happened? Why didn't someone do SOMETHING to stop the madness?
So, the first part of my answer to Why Cambodia? is historical. The connection as an American, combined with the uniqueness of the tragedy, have drawn my heart to Cambodia. A second part of the answer, the call of God on my life, will be addressed in Why Cambodia? Part 2... to come.
I realize that many of you may be familiar with the Vietnam "Conflict", but few are aware of the devastating effects the war had on neighboring Cambodia and Laos. Here's a short summary of the events that led to the near total destruction of a nation, and it's beautiful Khmer people.
Steps to Destruction of a Nation
1. Stage a coup. In 1970, Lon Nol staged a coup against Prince Sihanouk. This led to the beginning of a full-scale civil war, with the previously fledgling Khmer Rouge (communist guerilla group from countryside of Cambodia) partnering with Sihanouk.
2. Win the civil war. After 5 years of devastating civil war, the Khmer Rouge conquered the capital city of Phnom Penh, and it's troops marched victoriously through the streets on the morning of April 17, 1975. What happened next, even Hollywood writers couldn't come up with.
3. Evacuate all urban centers at gunpoint in three days. Imagine a heavy knock at your door. An angry faced K.R. soldier orders you to evacuate...immediately!
"Why," you ask.
"The Americans are going to bomb us. You'll be back in 3 days. Just bring a few things to eat."
Your heart sinks. Your husband is at work, and your children are on their way to school. You consider resisting, but see that your neighbor didn't fare too well from similar behavior. Sadly, you gather a few things and join the thousands of people already in the streets walking to ?????????
Millions of Cambodians were ordered out of their homes in every urban center and forced to march for days and weeks to distant countryside areas, sleeping and cooking outside with no protection from the heat and mosquitos. Many die along the way.
In a moment, the Khmer Rouge had destroyed one of the strongest foundations of any society...a shared sense of community and connectedness with family and nieghbors.
4. Kill off all the educated class, government leaders, and all others that had been "polluted" from foreign powers. What better way to quickly gain hold over a society than to kill off all the professional and educated classes. In the first few weeks, you were destined to die if you fit any of these categories;
educated, former military, former government leaders/workers, school teachers, spoke a foreign language, wore glasses, business people from the cities, doctors, lawyers, religious leaders, including monks, pastors, imans.
5. Destroy every societal system. Bomb the central bank, destroy the monetary system, cancel all education for children, purposely destroy infrastructure, including sewer, water, bridges, anything mechanical (that evil "Western" influence), prohibit any type of religious service, and kill off all religious leaders, turn doctors into slave laborers and uneducated peasants into medcal workers.
Destroy the family structure by separating husbands and wives into different work camps, and by putting children into youth camps far away from their parents. Destroy any sense of respect and love for parents by brainwashing the children into believing that ANGKOR was their parent and caretaker.
6. Overwork and underfeed the population. 16-18 hour work days were not uncommon. Backbreaking manual labor moving Cambodian clay by hand to build dikes and dams in an effort to return Cambodia to it's former "agricultural glory years" of the Angkorian Empire. DIDN'T WORK! During the last few years of the failed reign of the Khmer Rouge, many regions of the country suffered staggering starvation. Personal Cambodian friends have told me that often they would receive only a watery rice soup with only 7-8 grains of rice.
7. Keep them in constant fear of torture or death. Being sick, unable to work, saying the wrong thing, being found out that you used to live in the city...anything could give the ruthless K.R. soldiers a reason to torture and or kill you. To this day, every time I drive thru the countryside and see blue plastic bags, I have flashbacks to scenes in the Killing Fields.
8. Take away any sense of control, including the right to choose to marry. Khmer Rouge often chose mates, and married them in simple group ceremonies, in which they were made to promise to have children within the year for the K.R.
By now I think you get the point. This was not just a normal occupation of one nation or group over another. It was an evil, well-planned, systematic means of destroying an entire society of people...by Cambodians. Well-researched estimates point to over 2 million Cambodians killed between 1975-1979. This was out of an estimated population of 8 million....25% of the nation killed. 99.99999% of the population terrorized, starved, overworked, and traumatized.
Never before in modern history of mankind has something of this magnitude, this comprehensive, and this devastating been levied upon a place and it's people. Obviously, there have been other horrendous acts of genocide. After WW II the world said never again....but just 30 years after the Jewish Holocaust..it happened again. And again in Rwanda.
This is not a political article. My energy is not directed toward what was done, what should have been done, and by whom.
My point is to simply to say....Friends, please remember Cambodia today.
Please pray for Cambodia.
Come to Cambodia.
Support NGO's and missionaries working in Cambodia.
Lend your expertise to Cambodia.
Cambodia is just now rebuilding. It has only been 11 years since the last Khmer Rouge leaders and soldiers laid down their arms. The political environment has been relatively stable in recent years. China, S. Korea, Malaysia, and many other countries are investing here. The time is now for this land to leave the past behind and build the New Cambodia.
Jeremiah 29:11-12 says:
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a future and hope. Then when you come to me and call upon me with your whole heart, I will be found by you."
God has a great future for Cambodia, one with hope for a new tomorrow.
Join with me in praying that this promise becomes a reality for Cambodia in the near future.
Look for Why Cambodia? Part 2 coming soon to a blog near you:)
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