Commentary
Cambodia remembers lives lost and courage broken
By Kristi Rendahl
Kristi Rendahl is the organizational development adviser for a project of The Center for Victims of Torture in St. Paul.
Before arriving in Phnom Penh this month, I hadn't considered how personal the Cambodian genocide would feel to me. That shouldn't be the case, of course. Any genocide is an assault on my species, and it doesn't get more personal than that. But this was personal because the Cambodian genocide and I were born at the same time.
On April 17, 1975 — just 43 days before I was born — the Khmer Rouge regime launched a terrifying and bewildering attack that took the lives of one in four of its own people in under four years.
The genocide museum today is housed in the former Security Prison 21, notorious for detaining, torturing and sending thousands to their death in the killing fields.
My tour guide in the museum had been held in a children's concentration camp from the age of 13 to 17. Her clear eyes, high cheekbones and strong, square jaw exuded strength. I wondered how she had fared as a child.
The next day I visited a nearby killing field — of which there were many — and I was confronted with the harsh realities of misery and murder, as well as the nagging impunity that permeates everything. Just one person has been prosecuted by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia — also known as the Khmer Rouge Trials — and that was last year.
I was there working with the staff of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization Cambodia, or TPO Cambodia, a partner of The Center for Victims of Torture. The director has developed what he describes as the Cambodian construct of Post-Traumatic Disorder. It is called baksbat, which means "broken courage" in the Khmer language.
I can't think of a more elegant way to describe trauma than broken courage.
My present-day colleague, the director of TPO, was a young child when the regime forcibly expelled him and millions of other people from the cities into the countryside by foot. Six weeks later, on the day I was born, he was still walking.
In 1998, the world witnessed the first prosecution of genocide. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicted Jean-Paul Akayesu of nine counts of genocide during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.
There are some who believe that the world should forget the dark past and simply move on. That's a convenient position for a perpetrator or a revisionist, but not the rest of us. The rest of us must advocate for some semblance of justice, everywhere.
It's tragic that there are those who willfully break the courage of others. It's tragic because of the pain they cause and the waste they create. But those who choose lives of destruction will be disappointed, because courage broken is not courage lost forever.
Comments (5)
Hi Kristi,
Thank You with witnessing Cambodia attrocity from the past and present! and bring it on to the internation attention... If we look at today's Cambodian living standard and peace, they are living better compared to 1975-1979 and many were killed...But if you look closely to their reality... many were still unfairely miss-treated by the rich and powerful people and slave by neighboring country like Thailand , Vietname, Singapore hundred of thousand of Cambodian are killed in forein land and gov. is completely ignored their existance... Where are justice for Cambodian people event today...But your helps will help these numbers...
Thks Kristi... Holocaust is nothing compared to Killing Field... UN and the world ignored Cambodian problem. Please Help them.
Hi Kristi,
I grew up in Phnom Penh City and not far from S21 Center. I was in my senior high school year on April 17, 1975. With 12 of us and only 2 of us have survived to date. Cambodia has come a long way and they need to imporve the human rights over there.
Thank you for sharing your valuable information to the world.
Theary Kem
Shoreview, Minnesota
Hello Kristi – After reading your article I was compelled to respond. I am a survivor of the killings fields and was born in a concentration camp. I have invested a lot of time and engery to educate people on the killings fields. The interesting thing is the amount of pushback I often get from the elders. Many feel that its not my place to tell our story to the public and they would rather forget everything. It’s a cultural perspective that many older Cambodians share. The scary thing is that there story is slowly disappearing as this population dies off and their kids have no idea of their parents struggle.
Here is a YouTube clip about my story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn6tCmtNUsg
Thank you for sharing.
Dr. Emad Rahim
Thanks Kristi, it is an amazing story. Your story and the testimony of Al Rockoff (Photo journalist who witnessed the fall of PP) reminded me of the evacuation and my childhood time during the regime. Thanks for sharing broken courage (Baksbat), I hope that I can share to continue to share it to the world.
For Dr Rahid, also thanks for your amazing story too. I am proud that you could find a turning point and get out of the circle of violence. If you ever visit Cambodia again, please come and visit transcultural psychosocial organization Cambodia (www.tpocambodia.org).
best wishes,
Sotheara
Hi Kristi. TPO is a wonderful organization that we have had dealings with. We are making a documentary called In Search of Camp 32. Www.camp32.com It is the story of a camp survivor trying to locate the camp and fellow survivors. I met Al Rockoff recently. In some ways Cambodians are worse off than they were before the war. They are living in abject poverty, don't know where the next meal will come from and live on tiny wages. They need all the help from wealthy western nations that they can get. Best wishes to Sotheara.
Post a comment
Please be civil, brief and relevant.
E-mail addresses are never displayed but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments are moderated. MPR reserves the right to edit any comments on this site and to read them on the air with attribution. Please read the Terms and Conditions before posting.
You must be 13 or over to submit information to Minnesota Public Radio. The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited e-mail and will not be sold to a third party. For more information see Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
