Belle Voce Community Choir Christmas Concert 2016

Difficult Job of the ECCC

ECCC Emblem

About a year ago, I visited the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), also known as the Khmer Rouge Trials. I wrote about the visit and the structure of the Chambers in the post "Khmer Rouge Trials." A few weeks ago, I returned to the ECCC with a group from MCC, including many of the Service Workers, the Myanmar Rep, and this years SALTers and YAMENers.

We drove out during lunch, and sat in to witness the afternoon session. The court is still trying Case 002/02, against Noun Chea and Khieu Samphan for "allegations of genocide against the Muslim Cham and the Vietnamese, grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, forced marriages and rape, purges, persecution of Buddhist, as well as other crimes against humanity." The testimony I witnessed during this visit was that of a former Khmer Rouge Cadre, who claims to have been in charge of photography at S-21 prison (now known as Toul Sleng Genocide Museum). He claims to have been in charge of photographing and developing the photographs of prisoners as they were brought into the prison, and of those who died in custody from either sickness or torture. This witness' testimony uncut the testimony of another who claimed to have been in charge of photography at the prison, and this kind of mixed message serves to create doubt as to the chain of command in the Khmer Rouge. For more information on this testimony see this Phnom Penh Post article. 

This testimony is an example of the difficulty faced by those involved in establishing legal guilt or innocence in cases of mass atrocities and breaches of international human rights laws. Not only do specific crimes need to be proven, but the defendants need to be proven as both part of the chain of command and also high enough in it to take the blame for the violations.While it is evident that horrible mass atrocities occurred during the Khmer Rouge Regime, known at Democratic Kampuchea, by the relocation of many citizens of Cambodia and the deaths of about 1.5 million people (out of a population of 7-8 million), establishing the existence of specific crimes under both Cambodian and International law during the period and the guilt of specific leaders if difficult. Almost 40 years has passed since the fall of the regime, and thus much evidence has been lost. Time, trauma, and old age has compromised the credibility of many witness. Some known members of the party have not been called upon to testify. The Chamber's priority in charging those most responsible for the atrocities is made difficult by contradictory accounts and blurry chain of commands, as well as the prerogative to establish what it means to be most responsible. 

Watching this case reminded me that events and history, and guilt and innocence are so often more grey then clear cut black and white. There may never be satisfying answers to what happened, all the causes, and the people involved. Those we view as guilty can almost always find ways to deflect blame. I do not envy the jobs of the judges, or lawyers, for both the defense and the prosecution, in cases of human rights and international law violation such at these. I wish them all the best in discovering and understanding as much of the truth as they can in order to bring a sense of finality and relief to the victims and witnesses of the terrible things that humans are capable of doing to one another.

Visiting Prey Sar

Every time we drive up to Prey Sar Prison, I think about how strange it feels. Every month, a few of us from the Returnee Integration Support Center (RISC) go to Prey Sar, the largest prison in Cambodia, to visit some returnees who are imprisoned there. Entering the prison complex feels nothing like I expect a prison to feel. Admittedly, I have never visited a prison in the US, or anywhere else, but in my mind prisons are dark and overwhelming concrete. I think of high walls around the complex, and large buffer zones around that, lots of security, and few people other than staff and security coming and going.

Prey Sar is not what I imagined. The dirt road leading up to the prison is lined with houses, printing shops, and coffee shops. While there is a security stop before the parking lot, there's a restaurant and small store after the stop. After we park, we receive our NGO passes, and go through another round of security, in the office behind the concrete wall of the prison. My RISC coworker presents our paperwork and the packages of toiletries we bring for the returnees are checked for contraband like illegal drugs, weapons, and SIM cards. After this we each get pat down and leave the security area.

There are three different visiting areas: a section where visitors and inmates are separated by a glass wall, an area where visitor can sit with inmates often used by families, and a building used by visiting NGOs, lawyers, and such. The building is surrounded by a garden, with trees and flowers lining the pathway, and little animal statues in the flowers. The building itself is concrete with open doorways and glasses windows, similar to many Cambodian buildings. There are three rooms, two for visitors and one for the guards in the center, and there are two benches in front of the building. Each of the visiting rooms has a table, a bench and several chairs. The area where the inmates are imprisoned is behind another walled area, with security officers manning the gate between the two sections.

Currently, there are about 15 returnees imprisoned in Cambodia. These men (they are all men at this time) for the most part have found themselves caught up in similar systems of illegal activities as they were in the States, and are imprisoned for minor crimes for a few years. When RISC visits, the returnees are notified and come to the visiting area to speak with us. They all wear orange or blue shirts and pants, depending upon their conviction status, and rubber sandals. The men always great us cheerily, and sit and chat with us as we give them some cash to buy food and water, and the toiletries packages.

Prisons in Cambodia do not provide much for inmate. Prisoners are expected to pay for food and drinking water, and are not given toiletries. Many prisoners have family who will bring such things to them, but for many returnees they don't have family here to care for them in such ways so RISC fills that gap. We've also brought the returnees new sandals and donated medicine such as aspirin on occasion.

While many people react negatively, or worry for me, when I tell them that part of my work is visiting prisoners, it's honestly one of my favorite responsibilities. The guys are always happy to see us, to have people to speak to in English and to hear about the outside world. They tell me about their families, especially if they've recent had a visit- one gentleman loves to tell me about his young son- and they always ask me about my work. They complain about their sentences and the heat. Several of them commented when I came to visit after cutting the pink out of my hair.

2 Years Down, 1 to Go!

With MCC staff at a Khmer Wedding

I can't believe I didn't post a 2 year anniversary post! Well better late than never!

I've officially been in Cambodia for over two years now. I could never have imagined everything these past two years have held. This year I've been horseback riding, said hello and goodbye to many friends, I held a monkey, I found a new passion in the circus, I've attended weddings, I've visited Kep, Koh Kong, Bangkok, Siem Reap, Angkor Wat, Kuala Lumpur, and Bali, I've climbed a waterfall, I've performed in a choir concert, I've taken a home leave and been able to reconnect with my family and old friends, I've visited the Khmer Rouge Trials twice, I've lead part of a workshop, I've gone on prison visits, I've been to workshops in the province, I've made new amazing friends and reconnected with old ones, and most of all I've learned so much about myself that I'm not sure I could put it all into words.

Riding in Areyksat

Holding a monkey in Kep

Going to a Khmer wedding

Wearing a traditional skirt at a workshop

MCC retreat in Koh Kong

Waterfall during MCC Retreat in Koh Kong

Canal tour in Bangkok

Belle Voce Community Choir Christmas Concert

Celebrating at an MCC Wedding

Thmor Roung during WPM Staff Retreat

Bayon Temple at Angkor Wat

Baltimore with friends on home leave

Philly Friends during home leave

Favorite resturant in Kep

Silks class at the circus

Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur

Terraced farming in Bali with Rachel

Contortion class at the circus

YALT farewell boatride

Hoop/lyra class at the circus

Here's to another year of adventures and learning!

Circus Fun

I was never an athletic child. I did gymnastics for a few months in elementary school, and I joined my 8th grade field hockey team for part of a season. That's pretty much all the sports I did. My mom spent most of high school trying to convince me to join a sports team, field hockey, tennis, cheerleading, anything. She thought it would be good for me, though she always framed it as something that would be good for my college applications. I didn't really like sports though. I was tiny, skinny, and weak. I didn't have good hand-eye coordination, I couldn't run fast or for long distances, and when I tried I always felt like my ankles were giving out.

It wasn't until I was sixteen that I found a sport I enjoyed. Several of my friends owned horses, so once we were able to drive ourselves places, they started teaching me how to horseback ride. Horseback riding was frustrating and tiring, and it didn't come naturally to me, but I loved it. The more frustrated I was, the more I was determined to learn it and do it well. Luckily for me, my college offered discounted riding lessons through the equestrian club. I took lessons all four years, and I still can't really canter, but I loved every minute of it. I tried out dance classes, yoga, and pilates during college too, but riding was always my favorite.

In the normal world though, anything equestrian related is expensive- lessons, gear, horses, you name it, it probably costs an arm and a leg. This is especially true when you technically don't have an income. I tried to make myself go to the gym, but I wasn't good at going regularly, so I sought out a fun, interesting, inexpensive fitness classes in Phnom Penh- mostly to not feel like a lazy bum who went from sitting in front of a computer at work to sitting in front of computer at home, but also to give myself something fun to do outside of work (and you know that health thing).

What I found was the circus and aerial arts classes offered by the National Circus School of Cambodia. The school opened in 1980, mainly teaching students who had lost their parents during the Khmer Rouge Regime, and helped to resurrect traditional Khmer circus art. The Cambodian run school teaches young Cambodians both full time and part time, features performances at their own big top (these performances are sadly currently on hiatus because of storm damage to the tent), sponsors a competitive troupe, and offers drop in classes for locals and foreigners.

Since November, I've had the joy of attending tumbling and flexibility/contortion classes with two of the professional circus artists and teachers at the school (one of whom was a competitor on the show Cambodia's Got Talent). These classes are always both a challenge and some of the most fun parts of my week. It's been amazing to see how much I've improved in the past few months. When I first started I couldn't quite do a split with my right leg forward or hold myself in a bridge for very long, but now both are comfortable positions I can hold for some time. I'm still working on doing a full split with my left leg forward- hopefully I'll get there soon. I often wake up so sore that I contemplate calling in sick after tumbling, but for the first time in my life I revel in the feeling. Last week I attended my first aerial silks class (basically you do tricks while hanging from two pieces of cloth suspended from the ceiling)- at one point during the class I had a flashback to being a weakling elementary schooler who couldn't do any tricks on the monkey bars, which made me even prouder when I achieved the moves and poses. While the regular silks class does not fit into my schedule at the moment, I look forward to joining the classes in the near future.

Who knows, maybe I've finally found my athletic side?

My Apartment

I've live in my apartment for about a year and three months. It's amazing for me to look back on what my apartment looked like when I was just moving in. It was bare with little personality.

In the year I've lived here my apartment has truly become my home. I think about buying stuff to decorate it with all the time. Everytime I near the end of a trip I look forward to coming home to my apartment and flopping onto my bed (even if it's not the most comfortable mattress I've ever slept on). I get excited to invite people over to share my space with me. I even went out and bought a tiny Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. A few days ago, a friend and I discussed the potential of us moving in together- but honestly I couldn't imagine moving out of this apartment.

Here's a link to my blog post of photos of what it looked like before I started decorating! My 1st Apartment.

WPM Domestic Violence Video

Many organizations in Cambodia collobrate with eachother to share knowledge and reasources. Recently USAID hosted a program to teach local NGOs how to create informative videos. Several of my co-workers at Women PeaceMakers joined this program and created (wrote, directed, edited, and starred in) this video about different types of abuse:

Siem Reap... Finally!

Angkor Wat

WPM Retreat in Sihankouville

I had a quiet holiday season this year. For Christmas, I had a bunch of the other MCCers over for Christmas brunch (which they did most of the cooking for, thanks all!), then for New Years I just spent the evening at home. But, I have gotten some traveling in during the first few weeks of 2016.

First, Women PeaceMakers had a staff retreat, with all of the staff and their families. We all piled into a van, and headed off to Chi Phat, a community based eco-tourism site. Getting there took six hours, driving down windy dirt roads, and crossing a river on a ferry. When we finally arrived at Chi Phat, we found a spot by the river and had a picnic of fresh cooked seafood. After lunch, we got back in the van and headed off to Sihanoukville where we stayed for the next two nights. We spent the next day relaxing and bonding at the beach. The next day we headed back to Phnom Penh via Thmor Roung National Resort, where we had wild boar for lunch and played in the rapids.

Bayon Temple

The next week, I went on vacation to Siem Reap for the first time. Siem Reap is the most popular tourist site in Cambodia, because it hosts the Angkor World Heritage Site, known as Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is an archaeological site of temples and palaces dating back to at least the 12th Century. The ruins were also where the movie Laura Croft: Tomb Raider was film. While I was there I met up with two of the Cambodia SALT participants, and together we explored the park. We went to watch sunset one evening, then woke up early the next morning to watch the sunrise and to explore the ruins. The archaeological site is huge, way more than someone can see in one day or even a week, so we only saw a few of the buildings before we decided that we were too hot and tired to continue. We went back to my hotel relaxed and took the evening easy.

Ta Prohm

Angkor Wat

Bayon Temple

Fish massage post Angkor Wat