Cambodia, out of a bloody regime, the people work to rebuild.

While traveling through Cambodia, much poverty was evident.  The most I have seen since I spent a day in a Mumbai slum.  The country is still recovering from the repressive, destructive and bloody Khmer Rouge regime.  The brutality was portrayed at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh.   I live in Long Beach California, a diverse city that has the largest Cambodian population in the US.  I remember in the seventies when the large influx of Cambodian refugees were welcomed into our city.  At the time I didn’t fully understand why they fled but now I do.  Three decades later the Cambodian people are working hard to better their small nation of just under 15 million people.  In the village of Pichnil, we had an opportunity to interact with a shopkeeper and his family.  The children, except for the youngest pictured with me here, were all working.  I sensed a strong work ethic and there was a genuine desire to please.  And while this family was obviously struggling, there was a collection bin for the Cambodian Red Cross.  I felt compelled to place a donation in the receptacle to help in their effort to help others.  Earlier in the year, I blogged about the Cambodian Children’s Fund.  It is well worth a re-visit to their website.  www.cambodianchildrensfund.org