Friday, June 29, 2007
Dictator Bush
It's interesting talking politics in Cambodia. It's brought me a renewed sense of being happy to be American. One of my students asked "why do you love America?" out of the blue, and I told him I was happy for our comfort, our freedoms, but then talked about a few things that I didn't like (for instance, our role in helping the Khmer Rouge come to power in the 1970s). I realised though, how lucky I was when as I began to critise the Cambodian government, a bell went off in my head. The bell said something along the lines of "this is how you end up in a Cambodian prison accused of drug trafficking for 3 years until the embassy can negotiate you out." I stopped talking. I would never have to do that in the States. I thought about all of the protests I attended in high school, when I was at Beacon, proclaiming President Bush to be a dictator and an ignorant savage. It's not infrequently I regret what I said, thought, and did during that time, but this was just another instance that I have been shown how truly naive I was.
I am currently in the upswing of a dengue outbreak here in Phnom Penh and in the whole of Cambodia. Last summer about 1,500 people died, but already 70% of that number have died in the past month, and there are 3 more months of the rainy season to go, it's just beginning. Doctors here are predicting one of the worst outbreaks in modern history. Jessie came to Cambodia twice in the two previous summers with an NGO group, and they have arrived again a week ago. Already one of the girls had to be medivaced from Phnom Penh to Bangkok at 2AM, and she hadn't even been out in the provinces. She had only been staying a few blocks away. It's a bit scary, it's a traumatic disease, however, given that I have oodles of health insurance it would do little more than put me in a helicopter to spend a few days in a hospital before going home early, something I certainly don't want to do. I smell of insect repellent all hours of the day.
In one of my classes we were discussing death and dying. One of the class discussion questions was 'if your grandparents have died, how did they die?' I had five students in the class and four of them said all of their grandparents had died in the "Pol Pot regime", and the fifth said he lost two of his four grandparents due to genocide as well. An interesting cultural thing is that when Khmer people get nervous, they start to laugh, which is what the last student in the class began doing as he acted out a hacking motion, showing how his grandparents were killed, while laughing. It was one of the more awkward moments I've had here.
It's really interesting being here and seeing how much the events of the late 1970s have shaped this country. Almost 2 million people are said to have died under the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot, however, as is always the case with history, the current government is distorting it. Due to historically poor relations with Vietnam, it is conviently forgotten that it was them who invaded and disbanded the Khmer Rouge, sending them into the forest. The holiday marking the end of the regime is called "The victory over the genocidal regime". Being here has shown me how much power is held by those who control history, and has made me seriously consider a job in teaching history, as I'm my happiest when I'm telling my students things they have never heard about, like the Holocaust or the American Civil War. One of my students asked me the name of my President that had been killed, and for a moment I thought he was talking about President George W. Bush and my heart got stuck in my throat. He was, actually, talking about Abraham Lincoln, and was suprised to learn that it was in the 1800s, as he was led to believe it had been quite recent. People here live in quite the bubble, and it's shocking how little is known about foreign affairs and global news. However, national stories are riveting enough, for instance a headline a few days ago read "Man hacked to death, accused of sorcery". I feel as though I'm in the Wild West, witnessing a unique turning point in Cambodian history, and while I don't feel as though it is necessarily turning in the right direction, it has the potential to. But this moment is where futures are decided, and I'm glad to be here witnessing it.
I am currently in the upswing of a dengue outbreak here in Phnom Penh and in the whole of Cambodia. Last summer about 1,500 people died, but already 70% of that number have died in the past month, and there are 3 more months of the rainy season to go, it's just beginning. Doctors here are predicting one of the worst outbreaks in modern history. Jessie came to Cambodia twice in the two previous summers with an NGO group, and they have arrived again a week ago. Already one of the girls had to be medivaced from Phnom Penh to Bangkok at 2AM, and she hadn't even been out in the provinces. She had only been staying a few blocks away. It's a bit scary, it's a traumatic disease, however, given that I have oodles of health insurance it would do little more than put me in a helicopter to spend a few days in a hospital before going home early, something I certainly don't want to do. I smell of insect repellent all hours of the day.
In one of my classes we were discussing death and dying. One of the class discussion questions was 'if your grandparents have died, how did they die?' I had five students in the class and four of them said all of their grandparents had died in the "Pol Pot regime", and the fifth said he lost two of his four grandparents due to genocide as well. An interesting cultural thing is that when Khmer people get nervous, they start to laugh, which is what the last student in the class began doing as he acted out a hacking motion, showing how his grandparents were killed, while laughing. It was one of the more awkward moments I've had here.
It's really interesting being here and seeing how much the events of the late 1970s have shaped this country. Almost 2 million people are said to have died under the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot, however, as is always the case with history, the current government is distorting it. Due to historically poor relations with Vietnam, it is conviently forgotten that it was them who invaded and disbanded the Khmer Rouge, sending them into the forest. The holiday marking the end of the regime is called "The victory over the genocidal regime". Being here has shown me how much power is held by those who control history, and has made me seriously consider a job in teaching history, as I'm my happiest when I'm telling my students things they have never heard about, like the Holocaust or the American Civil War. One of my students asked me the name of my President that had been killed, and for a moment I thought he was talking about President George W. Bush and my heart got stuck in my throat. He was, actually, talking about Abraham Lincoln, and was suprised to learn that it was in the 1800s, as he was led to believe it had been quite recent. People here live in quite the bubble, and it's shocking how little is known about foreign affairs and global news. However, national stories are riveting enough, for instance a headline a few days ago read "Man hacked to death, accused of sorcery". I feel as though I'm in the Wild West, witnessing a unique turning point in Cambodian history, and while I don't feel as though it is necessarily turning in the right direction, it has the potential to. But this moment is where futures are decided, and I'm glad to be here witnessing it.
# posted by Bethany @ 12:40 AM 
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