When we could not get in touch with our interviewee, we decided to go to the prison first. It is called Toul Sleng, or S-21, and when the Vietnamese army entered Phnom Penh in 1979 and liberated the city from the Khmer Rouge, they found the prison exactly as the regime had left it, dead bodies in torture chambers and all. The Documentation Center has video footage of the initial discovery of S-21... graphic is an understatement. It was incredibly hard to walk through those rooms... Toul Sleng has become a popular tourist attraction now, and the historic authenticity has been somewhat lost. Example: My instructor, Kosal, was infuriated because since he had been there last the Cambodian government had repainted one of the buildings to make it more attractive to tourists... DC Cam stopped them in the middle of the job, outraged that they thought they could alter the place like that... it is so disrespectful to the victims and survivors. Beggars have realized that tourists are abundant there, as well. There were men at the gates without a leg, without an arm, and without an eye, preying on the tourists who were coming and going.
One of my team mates, Tiffany, who had also been feeling a little sick, got sick at S-21, but I held it together. We headed off to interview a nearby survivor, and it was half way through that interview that I really started feeling poor. I could not look at the video camera and I felt dizzy and sick to my stomach. We took a cab-type-thing back to the hotel (an open carriage attached to the back of a motor bike) and my team went out to lunch while Tiffany and I rested. I was still planning to go to to the border.
When they got back and everyone was packing, I got really sick... and decided to stay in Phnom Penh. I went to bed, all by myself while my whole group went to the province, at 3 in the afternoon. I didn't wake up until 7am this morning. Guess I needed the sleep. :)
Today was sweet. I like to be alone every once in a while, and I got to wake up this morning, do some work, slowly try to eat (which was successful, everything is staying down today, Praise God!) and then go back to bed. Kosal's sister, Rachana, who also works at DC-Cam and is a huge sweetheart, called to check in on me a little before noon. She came to the hotel and took me out to lunch, ordered me yummy soup and plain rice, and told me a little bit more of her and her family's story. What a beautiful woman! I really like her. When conversation shifted, I was able to briefly share the gospel with her, and talk about my heart for missions a little bit, which was what I was praying for... so exciting! Pray for Rachana and her husband and her son, LiebLieb (which means LuckyLucky... so cute!) I think (slash, I know) that Jesus desires to be known by them... Yay great conversations when I was not expecting them!
After lunch I went back to DC Cam with Rachana, and with coffee, water, and a few tums I was able to get through the rest of the afternoon without stomach problems... Thank you Jesus. I am still not 100% but I think I am over the worst of it. DC Cam hires about 10 summer interns, and I got to meet a few of them this afternoon... They are an impressive bunch, all law students from schools like Harvard and Northwestern, here for the summer doing research for the prosecution in the ECCC. It was cool to talk to them, and one of the girls even knew of Campus Crusade (they asked me if I had plans after graduating, like going to Law School... I said that I had different plans, but was open to whatever is in store)
I will say, though, that being here and doing this work while still having so many opportunities to speak my Beloved's name is opening my heart to the idea of not joining staff right away... We will see. It is something to really pray about, though, as I go into my senior year at SC... Any thoughts, words of wisdom, or discerned words from the Lord from any of you, my dear supporters and friends, would be welcome, as always. :)
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