Day 6

Yesterday we ended the night with an enjoyable tuk tuk ride around Phnom Penh. It was amazing to see and learn all about the different places in the city.

This morning we took a trip to the S21 Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. We got to see the 'living conditions' the unfortunate victims had to endure during the regime of the Khmer Rouge. We saw the cells, instruments of torture and photographs of the faces of some of those murdered. At the end of the tour we met two survivors of the S21. Only seven people survived this place- and we met the only two still alive. it was an incredible privilege to see such people after they have survived torture and seem to be so positive after everything they have been through.

After that, we continued by bus to the Killing Fields, where the prisoners who survived the torture at S21 were taken to he executed. Firstly, we watched a video about the background of the Khmer Rouge. After this video we were able to have a better understanding of what happened here between 1975 and 1979. Then we walked around the fields, with our guide, Mr Hong, and explored the tragic events that had happened.

When we returned to the hotel we had lunch and then a discussion about what we had seen. One of our main thoughts were the similarities between what happened to the Jewish people during the Holocaust and what happened to the Cambodian people.

Shabbat Shalom

From your most loved Ash's.