Khmer Rouge in Cambodia
Cambodia's recent history is full of pain. One of worst mass killings of the 20th century happened here less than 50 years ago under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge. The brutal regime, in power from 1975-1979, and not fully dissolved until 1991, claimed the lives of up to two million people.
The poverty and lack of education the country is facing right now is a result of an extremely cruel leadership that ended deceivingly recently...
When Pol Pot came to power in 1975, he and his henchmen quickly set about transforming Cambodia - even renaming it to Kampuchea - into what they hoped would be an agrarian utopia. Declaring that the nation would start again at "Year Zero", Pol Pot isolated his people from the rest of the world and set about emptying the cities, abolishing money, private property and religion, and setting up rural collectives.
Anyone thought to be an intellectual of any sort was killed. Often people were condemned simply for wearing glasses or knowing a foreign language.
Hundreds of thousands of the educated middle-classes were tortured and executed in special centers.
Hundreds of thousands of others died from disease, starvation or exhaustion as members of the Khmer Rouge - often just teenagers themselves - forced them to do back-breaking work.
The Khmer Rouge government was finally overthrown in 1979 by invading Vietnamese troops, after a series of violent border confrontations. The higher echelons of the party retreated to remote areas of the country, where they remained active for a while but gradually became less and less powerful.
In the years that followed, as Cambodia began the process of reopening to the international community, the full horrors of the regime became apparent. Survivors told their stories to shocked audiences, and in the 1980s the Hollywood movie The Killing Fields brought the plight of the Khmer Rouge victims to worldwide attention.
History of Cambodia is a lesson for the global community. It reminds us to stay united to protect future generations from violence and mistakes of the past. People like Jimmy are our heroes who truly dedicate their lives to making the world a better place with the most positive attitude and a smile.
“Education is the first step to recovery”
Cambodia is now desperately trying to recover economically, but that's a tall order when the country's industry was basically crumbled back to the stone age. Making matters worst, since any person that seemed remotely intellectual was punished or killed, it leaves very few that are qualified to lead this charge to reintegrate the country into the global economy. That's why the most important gift anyone can give Cambodians is education. That's the first step to recovery.
"In order for Cambodia to recover first we need to educate young people. We educate them the right way. We teach them history, we teach them the culture, we give them love, and teach them the way they can create their own personality, philosophy, ethics .. EDUCATION IS THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON THAT CAN CHANGE SOCIETY EASILY"
- Jimmy