Casazza

Hope Cambodia - Day 8
Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Cambodia Index: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12

I will start this day with some pictures of the hotel. The morning was focused on Cambodian history. We got the chance to learn more about Cambodia by visiting the Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum. Then for lunch we got to see the fun little shop called, "USA Donuts" where a man ships American products over and runs a little store selling only American goods.

Then we hurried back to get ready for our visit to the New Life church. Our team was going to help with worship for their Wednesday night service and Pastor David preached the message that night. It was a really great experience - being at New Life was just like being back home at Harvest (except we don't have translators back home!)

Here's a pic of the lovely hotel from the road.

Looking toward the road from the front door, there's a fountain with a big rolling rock.

Each day they put a new plate of fruit in the room.
The tiny bananas were always a favorite.

We were so happy to be able to get online again!
There was almost always someone from our group
in the computer room

Gretchen proudly displays a strange fruit the
interpreters got for her. It's the one that's like
a black & white kiwi inside.

Here's a medical center we saw on the street.
We were told the hospitals had long lines but
I never saw anyone at one of these clinic places.

A look at a typical street in Phnom Penh.

A salesman with his portable shop.

Autumn got this shot of a
Cambodian license plate.

I thought this was a funny sign.

Looking down a side street as we drove through the city.

One of many interesting things we saw on the back of a "moto."

One more street scene before we arrived at the first museum.

This was officially called the, "Genocidal Center" which was set
on one of the killing fields outside Phnom Penh.

I will take a break here in case you need a refresher about the Cambodian genocide:

In 1975, the Khmer Rouge gained control of the government. They wanted Cambodia
to return to an agrarian society. To do this quickly, they rounded up everyone in the
cities and sent them to the country to forced labor camps. Educated, professional,
religious, foreign, and other "threatening types" of people were tortured and killed.

Those that remained were worked under starving conditions until a large number of
them had been killed as well. When outside governments tried to offer aid, the Khmer
Rouge flatly it. It took the invasion of Cambodia by the Vietnamese in 1979 to put an
end to the brutal policies.

The number of the victims is estimated at approximately 1.7 million Cambodians between 1975- 1979, including deaths from slave labor. [Cambodian Genocide Program, Yale University] via Wikipedia

At the refreshment stand by the front gate - I hadn't seen return bottles in ages.
Here it was not optional, she would hunt you down to get her bottle back! (Jason)

This building was full of skulls and clothes
and other sad things removed from the area.

One of the many informative (and disturbing) signs around the museum.

John, drinking strangely.

We saw this man running his toe over something in the dirt so we
went to have a closer look - it was a femur.

There were clothes, bones, and hair working up from the dirt everywhere on the path.

I guess the whole area is full of bodies, but the only dug up parts of it.

Astounding, isn't it?

Autumn found this tooth along the path.

It was like this everywhere in the area.

Trying to relieve the emotions with a chat by the exit.

Suja and I taking a picture of each other taking a picture of each other...

Next we went to Tuol Sleng - it was originally a school that the Khmer Rouge
converted into a detention and torture area. They documented every horrible
thing they did to those people, it was horrible.

Below is part 1 and 2 of a big billboard at the entrance to the museum that explains things.

They put these razor wire frames all around to convert the classrooms into a detention area.

These classrooms were converted into torture rooms.
On the wall in each room was a large picture of the aftermath
of a torture that had occurred there.

The blackboards were still in many of the torture rooms.

They took pictures of each person before and after torturing them.

There was one thing of beauty in
the whole place, these flowers.

Sarat in his funny hat gave us a
smile after all that sadness.

Me, Chom, and Ly - trying to think happier thoughts.

OK - now we're back on the road and headed to USA Donuts

Bicycle version of a tuk-tuk: bicycle on the back, person-cart on the front.

Roadside cafe - just like the ones in Paris! :-)

Happy monk, ready for rain.

Apartment complex we passed along the way.

USA Donuts - Mecca for Americans living in Cambodia.

A taste of home!

We had food such as donuts, pizza, quesadillas, pop, and candy.
(OK, so some of that is Italian & Mexican food - but the American versions!)
Then most of us felt really ill afterward.

We overwhelmed their kitchen so it took ages for
everyone to get their food.

Josiah - about ready to throw down.

Lin loads up on the Aunt Jemima.

I found some tiny Chick-O-Sticks - I love those things!

These guys ate EVERYTHING. They were really hurting afterward.

John, sitting strangely.

Yes, this guy actually drove away
on that bike with this tank on board.

A huge clock on the ground in front of Wat Phnom - which we visited the
following day.

The American embassy. I was really stirred by seeing the American flag
flying proudly like that.

Now we've come back to the hotel & changed for our trip
to New Life church.

I think I've mentioned the dedication to safety we saw in Cambodia.

A tuk-tuk in action.

Warm-up / sound check at the church.

Kelly is pleased, but Eric is harder to impress.

John, behaving strangely.

Craziness during praise & worship. They told us they had never had an energy level
that high before - I believe it! There was an unrelated group there from California that
night too, you can see two of them in the lower left.

Speaking of strange behaviour! And yes, he
was facing the entire congregation at the time.

Joe - too cool for school.

Well, until the trip was over,
then he went back to school.

Malika felt moved to give her bass guitar to this girl during the trip and it
meant the world to her.

Sam is an accomplished keyboard player, but found out 3 weeks before we
left that we had no drummer. He learned in 3 weeks and did an awesome job!

Our team doing their thing - with excellence, as always!

Pastor Jesse was amazing, and Pastor David was on fire
that night. They were quite a pair when they got going.

The poster for the Joyce Meyer festival which featured Darlene Zschech from
Hillsong Australia & Delirious? from London.

Group shot - these guys became great friends during the course of the trip.

Pastor Jesse and the team came back to the hotel with us for dinner and a rousing game of UNO (Cambodian rules.)

Cambodia Index: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12