By far, the most touching part of this trip for me has been the children, with their beaming smiles full of hope. Maybe their smiles reflect hope because, unlike their parents and grandparents, they have no experience of the Khmer Rouge and it's devastating brutality. Lee Michaels explained to me that when the Khmer Rouge was done with its genocide of the educated adults in this country it was left with hoardes of children with no parents. That generation had life as they knew it taken from them and consequently, no childhood, so when they became adults they were basically still children themselves as they became parents. This generation though has no experience with the Khmer Rouge and their parents are so very proud of them. The mothers continually ask me to take pictures of their darlings and giggle with delight at the images portrayed on the screen.
There are going to be a series of short blogs on some of the more memorable experiences we have had with the children in Cambodia. I hope you will appreciate them as I have.
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