History Lesson

Day 70: Phnom Penh (K). “We learn from history, but we do not learn from history”. At some stage in everybody's lives we have all had a teacher who has been inspirational – whether that was a schoolteacher, a family member or a life coach, we always remember their words and advice. For me it was Mr Hodgeson, my modern history teacher back in the early 1980's, whose thoughtful simplification of complex matters captured my attention and stayed with me for thirty years. However, never had his words seemed so poignant as they did today.

Towards the very beginning of our adventure, 12,000 miles ago back in eastern Europe we had visited the grim remains of Auschwitz. The site is now a museum dedicated to the thousands that died there in mankind's darkest hour - a reminder to humanity that we should never again repeat those terrible atrocities. But tragically, like my wise old teacher advised me, as a society we didn't learn and 35 years after the Nazi's, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge perpetrated the same unspeakable genocide on the Cambodian people to form the next tear stained chapter of our history books.

Walking around the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek in total silence both Karen and I were completely overcome by the emotion that this place generated. As with Auschwitz, it was totally incomprehensible how anybody, no matter how evil or depraved could commit such heinous crimes against his or her fellow citizens. For here in this now peaceful place just a few miles from the city centre, 17,000 innocent men, woman, children and infants were brutally murdered after enduring years of torture at the infamous S-21 concentration camp. Many were bludgeoned to death to avoid wasting the Khmer Rouge's precious bullets.

In 1980, after the world uncovered the truth behind Pot's tyrannical regime, the remains of almost 9,000 people, many of whom were bound and blindfolded were exhumed from these mass graves and their bones were laid to rest behind clear glass panels of the Memorial Stupa, erected in 1988. 43 of the 129 communal graves remain untouched and we can only hope and pray that their occupants eventually find an eternal peace.

The comparative recency of these events added to the intensity of our emotions and the feelings of helplessness that we were suffering - a point summed up excellently by Karen “Whilst all of this was going on, I was a little girl playing with my friends. Totally oblivious to the horror that was occurring on the other side of the world”.

Can you imagine what mankind could have achieved if all of the energy we have expended over the years pursuing evil had been channelled into making this world a better place?

God help us all.

Day 70: Total Mileage to Date: 13,625: Number of Time Zones: 10; Number of Countries Visited: 10; Number of Transport Modes Used: 34, Maximum Temperature Encountered: +35C, Minimum Temperature Encountered: -32C.