From Geoffrey and Jessica; WE WENT TO THE KILLING FIELDS

Yesterday we ventured out and visited the two most heart breaking and grim places I have ever been to and I’m finding it difficult to finds words to fully articulate exactly what we encountered there. We went to the killing fields, the location where thousands of innocent men, women and children were horrendously slain and to the biggest prison during the Khmer Rouge rain of terror.

The silence was deafening as we walked through a field laden with dug up pits where thousands of unmarked graves had previously been. The victims were forced to kneel next to the pit before the back of the neck was beaten with a hoe. As we meandered through the massive burial sites we couldn’t help but notice old tattered clothing that had been embedded in the soil over the years. We were walking on the clothing that had been stripped from the backs of those facing horrific demise. We came upon a thick tree with a sign that explained how the oppressors would grab babies by their legs and smash their heads against it. Our stomachs turned as scenes of this gruesome, horrid and barbaric action were depicted in photos, paintings and a movie. Hundreds of shattered and pierced skulls and bones had been piled up in different locations in an attempt to prevent forgetting the atrocities that occurred in this country not too long ago. We then went to S-21, the largest prison that had housed, tortured and killed thousands upon thousands of innocent men, women and children.

S-21 was haunting to say the least. This massive and abysmal structure reeked of destitution. We stood in the prison cells where young men and women were chained to beds and tortured to death. We gripped the same bars on the windows that caged the innocent until it was their turn to be executed, how many poor souls must have clung onto those same bars of imprisonment as they cried out for help and justice. We endured the overwhelming feeling of abandonment and desperation as we walked through the inhumanely small and hopeless prison cells constructed of wood and brick. We touched the chains and shackles that had bound the legs, feet and hands of the ill fated. We ran our fingers over the edge of torture devices that had robbed so many of life and hope. The most horrid, by far, was walking through the rooms filled with the photos of thousands of women, men and children that had been taken as they awaited their death. The images of the children is what struck me the hardest, the look in their eyes pierced my inner most being. When you looked into their eyes all you could see was hopelessness, pain, fear, and anguish. When you look into their eyes you see what it must be like to see death coming.

I don’t think any amount of words can express what is deeply stirring within me. I can’t tell you what it was like seeing the gravesite of thousands, walking across the remains of worn and frayed clothing of the victims, seeing the pierced and shattered skulls of the casualties, touching the shackles that had imprisoned so many, standing in the prison cells that had stolen life from the multitudes, and seeing the fear of death in the eyes of those children.

This outing definitely had its toll on me emotionally but I feel as though it encouraged me to do what I can with what I have. It reminds me of a quote I heard many years ago, “I can’t do everything, but I can do something. What I can do I ought to do and what I ought to do by the grace of God I will do.” I may not be able to feed everyone, clothe every child, or provide for all but there is a sphere of influence I will have. There are going to be people, maybe five or possibly five hundred that I am going to be able to pour my heart and life into. I ask that you share in my prayer for this trip which is for me to give it my all and pour out everything I can into who I can, touching those within my reach and loving on all who I encounter.

Blessings,

Geoffrey

RANDOMS:
Jessica broke my glasses
There is apparently a westernized pizza place that we are going to hit up on Tuesday
Fried bananas are AMAZING
Stuffed tomatoes are pretty sweet too!
Today was SOOOO hot… I am not looking forward to the hot season at all
I attached a few videos of Jessica and I from today. We ventured out for the first time on our own.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 9:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.