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| Taken in the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, Building B. |
On August
13, 2016, I went to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We
took a tuk tuk (local taxi transportation) there for $3. It was $3 for student
admission and $6 for regular. Of course, we used our UCD student ID and got the
discount. The entrance had mist spraying from the roof top to cool down
visitors on a hot summer day. It was an intricate system. They had an audio
device that straps around your neck like a necklace and you can listen to
different tracks depending on the location you are standing in. There were
about 30 stops that tells a different history about S-21, a security prison for
the Khmer Rouge killing in the mid-late 1970's.
There
were 4 buildings for show. Building A was the torture chamber and each cell had
giant photos mounted on the wall illustrating the gore and the horror that
happened. Building B had photos of victims and Khmer Rouge officials. There I
found something special. Building C was the prison cell for the victims. Each
cell was made of crumbling red bricks reinforced with steel bars. On the top floor,
the cells were made of wood. There were very little room to move around in each
cell. It seemed almost like the cells in a horror movie. Walking through these
cells, I felt a chill around my neck. A few steps more, a voice in my head told
me to stop and turn back. It was as if the voice was warning me about something
evil lurking in the background. Perhaps I was just paranoid, but I can't help
but feel there was something paranormal about this experience. Building D had
paintings that depict the types of torture that S-21 once used. There were
machetes, pickaxes, and insect/water torture devices, actual skulls of victims
and shackles that hold groups of prisoners together. Though I was not
alive during the event, years have passed and S-21 had become a museum, I could
still feel the horror it once brought to these victims.
Building
B. What was so special about building B? What did I find there that got me so
obsessed with this experience? Building B was essentially the record holder for
the victims that were brought to S-21. There were black and white photos of
many victims. One in particular caught my attention. Her name was Hout Bophana.
She was also known as Seda, or Sedadeth. A quote from Shakmati's photo
description about Bophana describes her well, "Born circa 1951,
executed by the Khmer Rouge at the killing fields on 18 March 1977 at the age
of about [25]. In her short life, she had survived rape and the resultant
birth, starvation, persecution and finally several months of torture in the
s-21 prison. Her husband Sitha also spent several months in the same prison,
unbeknownst to Bophana and possibly only 10s of meters away. He also perished
at the killing fields in 1977. Her calm and dignified pose shows a strength of
spirit that makes her stand out from the endless walls of photos in the prison
museum. But even such strength wasn't enough to stop her turning in countless
relatives and contacts through 1000s of pages of mainly fictional confessions
she was forced to write under torture."
If you
want to learn more about her story, you can research about her through
Elizabeth Becker's book Bophana:
Love in the Time of the Khmer Rouge.
http://bophana.org/boutique/1284-2/
When I first saw her
photo, I can't help but feel a sense of familiarity. It felt as if I knew her
and she was communicating to me through the glass penal that encased her
thoughts and spirit. The unyielding stare from her eyes, the strength in her
posture, and the beauty that was captured was overwhelming. She seemed almost
modern; someone from this period in which I live in. Her story was like a
fictional tragic story that you see from a love drama. When listening to the
recorded track in the museum about her, I can't help but want to cry. Her story
resonates greatly and I can empathize with the turmoils she felt and
experienced. The anger and sadness I felt was immeasurable. The feelings I felt
cannot be put in words.
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