Hello readers,
Well, I have been hounded to post a few pictures of the city that has been my temporary home for the past three weeks and I figured that it would be a good idea to give a brief description of what life is like in the city of Phnom Penh.
My Room
Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia and is home to over two million people. The cultural majority is the local Khmer people but there is also a strong Chinese population in the city. Another cultural group that has seemed to make a home for itself here are the Russians, but it is harder to find the influence they have (at least in the open). There are also ex-pats from almost everywhere, but the majority are from English speaking countries (U.K., Australia, New Zealand).
The architecture of Phnom Penh has a large French influence due to the imperial colonization, which they did not win their independence from until the 1950s. From that time on there were various changes in government, but perhaps the most notorious is the Khmer Rouge.
The Khmer Rouge is the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. They were a brutal government who were set on returning the country to an agrarian-based culture. To do this they committed one of the worst genocides in recent history. An estimated 1.5 million Cambodians died from starvation, torture or murder and the area just outside of the city has been given the ominous name of “The Killing Fields.” They say that on days when it rains particularly hard you can still find bones sticking up out of the ground. The Khmer Rouge took power in 1975 and then was driven out in 1979 with help from the Vietnamese. Because of this there is a large memorial to Vietnam in one of the central parks. One of the more disturbing points of the ousting of the Khmer Rouge is that the U.S. government opposed it because of deep anti-Vietnam sentiments of the time. Not one of our prouder moments.
Memorial to Vietnam
Despite this and other setbacks, the Cambodian people are incredibly friendly and helpful to everyone. They are excited to talk to anyone in English and the government is taking a very aggressive position on education. Students start taking English classes at a very early age and it is regular for families to devote a large part of their income to sending their children to private language schools. Their culture is a rich one and the people are very proud of their heritage. They may be pushing their population to learn English, but it is never at the expense of their identity.
Well, that is a brief description of the city I have called home for the past three weeks or so. I will talk a little bit more about the education system after I get a few pictures of the class that I am teaching right now. They are adorable and I am grateful to have been their teacher, even if it was for only a few weeks. I will miss them in China.
Keep checking in and I’ll have more from Cambodia soon.
-Henry (Hank) Young
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