V.I.P.

Wednesday 9th January

Today, I was officially a Very Important Person, or just Volunteer in Public, depending on how you look at it!

This week, Sarey and I found ourselves invited to a ceremony held at the District Governor’s Office – which is in the same field (literally) as the District Education Office where I work. I donned my traditional Khmer outfit and discovered I was to be guest of honor sitting on the stage along with a group of monks and the top ranking officials of the District. The purpose of the ceremony was to honor Victory over Genocide Day which was on Monday 7th January, and also to congratulate some of the District Governing staff on their various promotions.

For about 2 hours we sat on the stage, watched by about 500 pairs of eyes from the audience including my colleagues and a load of students from the local high school. There were many speeches and presentations during Sarey faithfully translated and I nodded at the appropriate times, with a fixed smile on my face and trying not to fall asleep!

The most interesting part – apart from the lunch that was served afterwards – was a speech from one of the provincial governors who was also a V.I.P. He spoke of the Khmer Rouge regime and the millions who had died in Cambodia at the hands of Pol Pot, urging people not to forget what happened and that it was important for us to celebrate the day the regime was destroyed nearly 30 years ago. All eyes were fixed on him, and even the cows were silent as he described some of the torture and misery Cambodian people went through. It was the first time I had heard a Khmer talk so publicly about what happened and I found it really interesting that he described the ‘win-win’ situation which resulted at the end of the fighting and all the weapons were handed over. Well, ‘win-win’ was how Sarey translated it to me, and to my understanding it refers to the fact that after the fall of Pol-Pot and the civil war which continued afterwards, all weapons were handed over so that peace returned to Cambodia so that ex-Khmer Rouge now live side by side with Cambodian civilians as farmers and the like.

It struck me, not for the first time, of how recently this country was a battlefield, particularly Banteay Meanchey and Battambang provinces which, being close to the Thai border, were the last strongholds of the Khmer Rouge and where there was still fighting only 8 or so years ago. Even 22 year old Sarey remembers men with guns walking the streets when he was a child. It also struck me that I might be sharing the stage or being watched from the audience by ex-Khmer Rouge soldiers – in fact it’s highly likely. It amazes me to think that people who were once dying of starvation, some of whom lost their whole families, might be living peacefully alongside some of the people who were the cause of such terror and anguish. Is this true forgiveness? or just acceptance? or the Buddhist attitude of live and let live? It seems to me that Cambodia is still in a state of recovery and the more I learn about the country and its people, the more I don’t yet (and perhaps never will) understand.