A Warm Welcome to Cambodia

We spent our first three nights in Cambodia in a town called Angtasom at a wonderful homestay run by a couple, Siphen and Mach. They welcomed us warmly into the country, fed us great food (including pancakes), and shared with us their lives and their story. They are both teachers at a public school, where Siphen has been working to build up a library so the kids can continue studying and learning English on their own. We spent one morning reading with some of the kids, watching them open up to us and build up their confidence as they went from listening to us read, to reading to us. Additionally, Siphen and Mach opened a school near their house where students can come for an hour a day to learn and practice English for free. Many of these students are older, so we were able to do activities with them and have conversations to help them practice and get to know them.

Just before crossing the border I started to read "First They Killed My Father", a book written by Loung Ung about her life during (and following) the rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Along with that, we were given a talk on the history from Kevin, and Siphen and Mach told us their story. It's alarming to me the lack of information we are taught in school about Southeast Asia. The Khmer Rouge were in power for less than four years, yet they brought the country into complete turmoil. They evacuated the cities, killed all of the intellects, and left the people nearly starving, the death toll somewhere between one and three million. Listening to Siphen and Mach talk, hearing how grateful they are and how happy despite all the hardship they have faced, is incredibly empowering. I'm so much in awe of all the people I've met, and blown away by their kindness.

-Emily