Day 5 - Phnom Penh

Hey everyone:)

After waking up after what seemed like not enough sleep, we quickly ate our breakfast, packed up our rooms, loaded our suitcases onto the bus, and climbed on for what seemed like a lifetime of driving. Two rest stops and a million "are we there yets" later, we arrived at the Tabitha Foundation in Phnom Penh. Although we were all exhausted, we were intrigued by what Janne (the founder of the tabitha foundation) had to tell us. She explained to us all about the Pol Pot Regime, and what had happened to Cambodia when he was in power. Janne was extremely unhappy about how the rest of the world was refusing action against the extreme sufferings that the innocent Cambodians were experiencing at the hands of Pol Pot, so in 1975 she moved from Canada to Cambodia, and never returned home. She has so much passion for her new home, and she is so determined to make a better life for those who suffered in the Pol Pot Regime. After she had explained the history of Cambodia, the real reason for our trip hit all of us. We aren't just here for a holiday, to sit by the pool for 8 days and then go home. This trip is for us to help repair this community for the incredible people that live here. Janne then gave us a briefing of what we are to expect tomorrow when we build the 4 houses. She informed us of all the rules we have to be sure to follow tomorrow. Janne made it very clear to us, that we must be willing to put in 110% throughout the entire day, and we must smile and be happy the entire day, so that the families we are building the houses for know that we are there out of choice, and that we want to help them.

After Janne spoke to us, we left Tabitha and made our way to S-21. S-21 was a ordinary high school until pol pot came into power. It was then turned into a prison, and was used to torture the innocent Cambodian people, who to pol pot and his followers, were not worthy of living in his "great" country. S-21 is now a museum, although all of its original structures are still in place. It was a very confronting experience for most of us, and it really hit some of us quite hard, because it reminded us of the Holocaust, which we all feel a strong connection too. We were able to actually walk into the cells that had once held prisoners. There was a whole row of rooms that was completely lined with pictures of all the people that had once been in the prison. The majority of the people who were forced to stay in this prison were innocent people who simply didn't fit into Pol Pot's definition of perfect. We then went to the killing fields, which was as confronting as S-21. When you walk into the killing fields, the first thing you see is a massive temple type of structure that holds every single skull they managed to excavate. Even though we were shocked by what we saw, we all agreed that it was such an interesting way to honour and remember those who perished.

After a long and emotional day, we finally arrived at our new hotel where we all hurriedly got settled into our rooms, and then went down for dinner, cooked by our new chef, Ken, who cooked the most amazing spring rolls we have ever had! We can definetly say that we have had an extremely eventful trip so far. How many other past Cambodia teams can say that they had two passport scares? Thankfully, after lots of searching Romy found her passport, and we all began to breathe again.

We're off to bed now, to get our rest because tomorrow is the big day! Tomorrow we will build the 4 much needed houses!

Shoutout to our siblings back in the hood, Ashleigh, Jarrod, Alix and Sophie. We miss you homies!

-Tara Kiven and Ruby Harris xo