The work was hard, hot, and humid. We did our best to keep up with our Cambodian mentors, who showed us how to filter sand using tattered mosquito nets, and then how to find the right consistency of cement to coat the inner walls of the catch basin. Moving huge boulders to make way for pipes was an entirely harrowing proposition as our only equipment was an ancient chain winch! However, our leaders were not concerned, and got the job done.
LWD provided boxed lunches, and we were offered fresh fish right out of the stream.
Our mere three hours was tough, and we marveled at the patient ingenuity of our hosts. We packed back into our van, and were off to meet with a local man who was told to us to be a former Khmer Rouge solider. After working on a project intended to be lasting and useful, it was difficult to frame questions for someone who was involved in such destruction.
We arrived at a tidy home in a small village, and were warmly welcomed inside by a quiet man who offered us tea and a seat out of the sun. To our surprise, he was not an ex-soldier, but rather a survivor who had been kidnapped and taken from his wife and children for a period of four years. He showed us scars from repeated torturing, and spoke of his 27-day walk back to his family upon his fortunate release.
Our host was thankful to be able to share his story with us, and admitted he had been asked many times in the past to speak about what had happened to him. I think we were all surprised to listen to him speak of how he found favor, and perhaps sympathy, from his captors over the course of his imprisonment.
We returned to our host pagoda tired but full of new questions, always a positive sign! After a short break (maybe a welcome nap under the mosquito nets), the team reconvened for a provocative, detailed presentation on democracy and development in Cambodia, led by Selin and Rachel.
There are innumerable questions of what democracy and development actually mean in a country like Cambodia, better known for its track record of corruption and collusion. Selin and Rachel facilitated an engaging discussion that drew on elements of all the meetings from the week, including our dinners with Mu Sochua, Theary Seng, DC-Cambodia, and the UN.
An intense but enormously rewarding day ended at the roadside ‘restaurant’ where we had spent the prior evening. We shared laughs, beers with friends from LWD, and our fearless STAR Kampuchea guides Sebastian and Brem, without whom our trip would have been far less meaningful. Our mosquito nets never looked so inviting as when we arrived back at the pagoda for a final night under the dark clear sky in Thpong.
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