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Archives for April 2016

Cambodia Killing Fields

Today is 17th April, a particularly significant day in Cambodia. On this day in 1975, the nation’s civil war ended and the Khmer Rouge, under the authority of Pol Pot, captured the capital city, Phnom Penh.
prison bars overlooking S-21Yesterday, in searing forty degree heat, we visited the S-21 prison camp and the famous killing fields of Cheoung Ek, both of which are now dedicated to preserving the memory of the horrors committed by the Khmer Rouge for future generations so that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated.
Both genocide memorials provide audio guides in multiple languages so that tourists can wander round at their own pace, taking in as much or as little information as they desire.
It is not easy listening.

A Dark History

The Khmer Rouge, for those who are unfamiliar with the history, was a revolutionary communist group which had its roots in the Marxist movements of the 50s. Their vision was of a Cambodia free of institutions, like religion, banking and education. Instead they wanted to return the country to its agricultural past, or year zero as they called it; a dream which led them to force millions to leave their homes in the cities and relocate to the countryside.
Khmer Rouge leaders planned to triple agricultural production within a year, whilst simultaneously removing modern equipment and demanding that untrained city dwellers become farmers overnight. They believed that their communist ideal could be achieved without intermediary steps and anyone that opposed their goal would simply be exterminated.
Their policies ruined the country and saw roughly two million people lose their lives. Many were worked to death. Others, who didn’t fit the Khmer Rouge mould, were arrested, tortured and executed. These included teachers, bankers, doctors and religious leaders. People could be arrested for simply wearing glasses or having soft hands because it was viewed as a sign of being an academic.
prison cells in S-21As we walked around S-21, where thousands were processed and tortured, the audio guide tells us about how some prisoners were so desperate that they threw themselves off the higher floors of the buildings which were at one point used as a school. Torture was brutal and merciless and continued until the prisoner confessed to working against the state in some way, however insignificant. Even a tourist from New Zealand who strayed into Cambodian waters during a sailing trip ended up at S-21 where he was forced to admit to working with the CIA. In a forced written confession, before his execution, he named one of his co-conspirators as Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC. The comic absurdity of his claim was lost on his captors.
skulls of victimsIn Phnom Penh’s killing fields many bodies remained buried and many of those that have been excavated cannot be identified. The audio tour explained the horrific way in which men, women, children and babies were driven to the fields in a truck and then systematically killed, often with blunt instruments to save on bullets. At the same time, music blared out over loudspeakers hung on a tree carrying a message of Khmer Rouge propaganda. It was the last sound that thousands heard as they went to their deaths.
Heading back to our hotel we tried to process the awful stories we have heard, some of them were too horrible to even write down.

Rebuilding a Broken Nation

Today Cambodia still carries the scars of that dark period of history although they are often hidden below the surface. The economy suffered greatly but the people even more so. Cambodia is still catching up with its Asian neighbours and there is a great need for growing business and better education.

We are in Cambodia to meet Rajana, a social enterprise that uses local artisans to make products from refashioned artillery shells. We are excited to be working with them to help them sell more of their products abroad thereby expanding their market. Rajana creates employment opportunities which are sorely needed in Cambodia especially in the wake of the devastation left behind by the Khmer Rouge.
There’s more on our work with Rajana to come in our next blog post. You can also read about their fair trade keyrings that we sell in the UK.

Filed Under: Blog

City Of Thorns

Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp

city of thorns book coverIn this book, Ben Rawlence interweaves the stories of nine individuals to show what life is like in the camp and to sketch the wider political forces that keep the refugees trapped there.

To the charity workers, Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya is a humanitarian crisis; to the Kenyan government, it is a ‘nursery for terrorists’; to the western media, it is a dangerous no-go area; but to its half a million residents, it is their last resort.

A Bleak Existence

Situated hundreds of miles from any other settlement, deep within the inhospitable desert of northern Kenya where only thorn bushes grow, Dadaab is a city like no other. Its buildings are made from mud, sticks or plastic, its entire economy is grey, and its citizens survive on rations and luck.

Rawlence, a writer who studied at the School of African and Oriental Studies in London, spent four years getting to know Dadaab. In City of Thorns, he tells the harrowing stories of those who have sought sanctuary there. They include the stories of Guled, a former child soldier fleeing al-Shabaab, who lives for football; Nisho, born on route to Dadaab in 1991, who scrapes an existence by pushing a wheelbarrow and dreaming of riches; and schoolgirl Kheyro, a student in the camp and later a teacher who came to the camp aged two, with her mother, fleeing civil war in 1992.

No Refuge for Refugees

If you have ever wondered what can drive a person to leave their homes to undertake the precarious journey across the Sahara desert and Mediterranean Sea to seek a new life in Europe this book is for you. If you want a glimpse of the limits to the sanctuary being provided to millions of refugees around the world you should read this lucid, vivid and illuminating book. City of Thorns can be purchased online from a number of retailers.

Filed Under: Review

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