Cambodia has arrived and already had their first history lesson

Read our first blog from our Cambodia team! For the latest updates, be sure to follow our blog and social media – Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram!

Finally arrived here safely! The flight was long as was well worth it. We checked into our hotel and went straight to the killing fields and S21. S21 was our first visit where we witnessed with buildings with horrific evidence of the genocide. We saw the tiny cells that the Cambodians were forced into staying and saw how these people were brutally tortured. There were mug shots of the prisoners and were filed by year of execution. It was eye opening to see the extreme event that these people had to go through. Later we went through the killing fields and had a head phones which personally taught us all about each of the historical areas that we passed through. Many died here with thousands of graves covering the land. The last sight that we saw was the 17 leveled skull case inside of a memorial. Each skull was categorized with how they died. It was saddening to see the evidence of the S21 and the killing fields with thousands killed. We learned that education is very valuable and that we need to share the knowledge that we have with others. People with education was killed in the event because the government knew that the knowledge is power and that the educated could start a rebellion. That evening we were all so tired that dinner felt so long. We decided against going to the market because everyone was so tired.

We woke up early this morning and left for the very bumpy 5 hour bus ride to Pursat. We attended the opening ceremony at Sustainable Cambodia where we saw the top students of their classes get an award. When we walked in to the site, the kids were all lined up to greet us with paper chain necklaces. Then the Cambodian students shared some traditional dances and songs including a harmonica version of Silent Night. It was so great! We danced to a U.S. remix and taught the students to dance with us to the song “Party in the USA”. We ended the night with a huge dance party. It was a blast!