Cambodia: Genocide

In the early 1970's, Cambodia was involved in civil war. The end to that war came when the Pol Pot regime came in to power in April 1975. The people hoped for peace, instead what they got was genocide now known as the Khmer Rouge.

Pol Pot established a communist nation and the citizens became their slaves. Creating a society where the citizenry worked as peasants in the coutryside was the ideal. "Peasants were seen as simple, uneducated, hard-working and not prone to exploiting others. Their way of life had not changed for centuries, yet they always managed to survive...The Khmer Rouge felt that new people had made an active choice to live in the cities and thus declared their allegiance to capitalism. All city dwellers became enemies of the new communist state, a status that would cost hundreds of thousands of them their lives." (The Khmer Rouge Years)

As I understand it, this viewpoint is what made the Khmer Rouge so destructive. Though the regime may have lasted a short time (I believe they were in power four years), infrastructure was lost for decades. Education was not valued, thus it was not encouraged and often not available. A generation was raised with a lack of access to education. Those with education were targeted for elimination because they were enemies of the state. Imagine a country that lost it's entire professional class. All doctors, lawyers, teachers - gone. That is what happened to Cambodia. The "intellectuals" were either killed, or they fled to other parts of the world and most have not returned.

This lack of educational opportunities makes our work difficult. We need a highly skilled labor force to accomplish our tasks. Every employer needs skilled workers. The skill set is limited in Cambodia because the educational infrastructure still has not returned at a prominent level. This demonstrates a lack of capacity, but not a lack of ability.

It is my belief that every person on earth wants meaningful work. It is my belief that if given the opportunity to learn, most rise to the occassion. I have seen this happen in other areas lacking infrastructure. It takes more work on our part because we are starting from a low level of base knowledge, but I am convinced that if we are willing to make the investment in individuals, train them up to do a professional job, they will respond positively and do what it takes to accomplish the task. Did I mention this isn't easy? Because, it's not. Frankly, I wouldn't be so interested if the task was easily accomplished. Personally, I love a challenge. What better challenge than to invest in individuals to help them make a better life for themselves, their families and ultimately their nation? I can't think of anything more noble to dedicate my life to.