CGS in Cambodia! Dec 2019

By Jenisa Rodriguez At Tiny Toones NGO, we got to learn from Mr. Short, a Cambodian who used to live in the US. Mr. Short was a refugee who got transferred to Thailand as a kid and then got to come to the U.S. In the U.S., his family had to live in a rough neighborhood in Bowling Green, KY. He got into a lot of trouble and eventually was incarcerated. He was eventually deported due to his record. Back in Cambodia, he had a hard time fitting in. He started to notice poor kids living off the street who needed help like him. He decided to create an organization to get street kids into a safe area where they could learn to play music, dance, paint, and play. His organization has gotten kids who would have otherwise turned to drugs or ended up trafficked into a healthy and safe environment. After spending time with Mr. Short and feeling inspired from his life story, we got to watch some of the kids break dance. After watching the kids dance, we all got a chance to try it out for oursel...

By Shelby Oak E specially due to the fact that the S21 museum was the first place we went, there were a lot of thoughts and emotions being provoked by what we were seeing. S21 is the Khmer Rouge's name for the prison center which had been the Tuol Sleng High School. This was the scene of gruesome interrogations and torture as the Khmer Rouge destroyed the lives of millions of people. The bloodstains on the floor, the images of guards and victims, and outlines of the 2 meters by 1 meter cells provided haunting insight of the horrors that happened here. Because this containment facility used to be a school, one could really picture the turnover from a place of children and the innocence of learning to the grief and tragedy. One part that really resonated with many of us was speaking with one of the last survivors from this camp. He told us about the torture inflicted on him for him to admit to being part of the CIA, which he was not. Once he gave in and said he was, they continued...