Killing Fields, Gendercide....Evan Grae Davis....we can overcome and we shall....deep in my heart I do believe.....

It can not be a colourful font I use today. I usually blog in bright happy colours, I am a happy colourful person.....but today my mood is black and my heart is weeping. I am not here to blog to win prizes!!?! My mind is screaming. 

But, yes, I am very glad of the cue that I got from the videos I watched sent to me by Indiblogger. Franklin Templeton Investments partnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012, and honestly what a good job done. 

Because, I strongly believe that to  be able to change something, we first and foremost need to admit to it. We need to admit to ourselves that we all as a society, as a race, as a whole, are responsible for the evils we create and the killing (physically or by killing her soul by physical abuse and torture) of girl children is the worst evil there is. Whether it is China, India, Cambodia or any other place in the world, this crime is rampant and must stop. By these talks and through blogging much awareness can be built around these issues.

I will use black and green for this post.I equate green to nature and peace.....to an attempt to appeal to the natural tendencies of humans of love and caring, nurturing and protecting one's own fellow humans and protecting those who are vulnerable.I would like to warn you my dear readers and friends that this post is not for the weak hearted. It is a hard hitting, time consuming, pain causing, thought provoking and action demanding post. So, let us say, proceed at your own risk but if you choose not to proceed, do also remember, that the risk you take by choosing to ignore these facts that are about to unfold in front of you, you are risking the future and even the lives of many many many young innocents.

Evan's talk on TedX is simple yet impactful. He talks about the documentaries he has made on genocides and human suffering through which he hopes to bring awareness on these issues. He further describes gendercide which troubles him deeply as it does me.His talk presents clear statements of facts for us to first and foremost acknowledge what we all have allowed happen by simply not screaming out against it at the right time.

Here is a picture of the tree at Killing Fields in Cambodia, Evan Grae Davis talks about in his documentary. Here at the Killing Fields, genocide took on an entirely new meaning....sometimes one wonders at the mean capacity of human thought, and it leads one to question many things including the presence of God.If there is a God then how does he/she allow this?

The above picture shows the pain and sorrow at getting to know about the many many young kids who were smashed against this tree by the perpetrators of the Khmer Rouge crimes.This barbarous act was done so that no children and women remained to inflict revenge in later years on the Khmer Rouge.

To read more about the Khmer Rogue read here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge

Yet, when one is lost for answers, who does one turn to? One has to appeal to a higher presence to help ease the pain, to beg for peace and love for those who have been taken from us so brutally, to beg for forgiveness for the inhuman humanity that lost it's way and became the barbarians they did. Frantically searching below, for a paper and pen to write a prayer for those thrown uncaringly 

into these mass graves.

With a fervent hope that the love and prayers reach the other world.

After a troubled tour of the entire Killing Fields seeing human teeth and nail remnants in trails, patches on the field and praying the many skulls of those gone by through the genocide here....... 

.................we arrived at the counter to write our experiences.

How sensitive a young child's note towards the people who were so brutally killed ,of whom most were women and young girls. To understand that it is important for them, even in death, to know that people care for them...it brought tears to my eyes.....but somehow the above note did not say just about enough.So, some discussion was done as to what should be added...

......some more minutes of concentration and some more writing.....

The final note below which gave some solace to the heart and troubled soul of a young sensitive mind.....

By making our own children aware and sensitive to these issues in every small way possible, we can go a long way in hoping for a peaceful future for humanity.

Just say the statement below ten times to understand the meaning of gendercide.

Millions killed, aborted or abandoned or trafficked simply because they are girls.

I am aghast at what I see and what I read around me.

Look at the picture of this girl. 

I am unable to sleep many nights just hoping and praying she is safe....why you ask.....here's why.....

Because there is a craze in South East Asia for sleeping with a young virgin....

Here is an excerpt from an article ,I recently read, by someone who worked at the International Justice Mission here....on sex-tourism in Phnom Penh Cambodia and other South East Asian countries.

As heartbreaking as this problem here is, these Westerners only account for roughly 10% of men seeking underage girls. There is also a large demand for virgin girls from groups such as Asian businessmen travelling through Cambodia believing that sleeping with virgins will bring them luck in their business endeavours.

The greatest demand for virgins, however, comes from Cambodian nationals. Beliefs that sleeping with virgin girls will keep them looking young, make them more powerful, cure them of HIV and bring them luck produce a high demand amongst Khmer men.

One man who purchases sex with young girls claims, ‘I was told that if I had sex with a virgin girl it would enhance my powers. Enhance my beauty, that is, stay young forever’.

Another said, ‘Most people might see that I look young. Personally I believe it. I think I stay young because I have slept with young virgins.’

The demand for virgins is self-perpetuating. The value placed upon virginity means that men seek younger and younger girls in order to ensure that they are virgins. Of course, where so many of Cambodian sex workers are HIV+, the demand for a true virgin becomes even greater, as men want to protect themselves.

What does one do? How does one react to the above? It is bizzare to say the least. I agree that it might take ages for thought processes and things to change. Everything is so ingrained in the socio-cultural fabric of these societies that any change would take years and years. But, because of this, one can not give up and let such crimes continue.

As Rita Banerji of the Fifty Million Missing Campaign rightly says in the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=42i1sIZ-9kQ
we need to turn the mirror around...we need to look at ourselves.

Please watch the (entire) following video by pressing the link below to understand the true impact of her statement.The climax of the video is extremely important.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bcrfQmqhIA

We must all take some time each day to think, reflect and take action at our own level, however small, to change our perceptions towards the girl child....and according to me any change in society starts within my own family.

This beautiful kid has an equal right to live a decent happy carefree life as do my own children. In our own small way we try to exchange some moments of happiness with these young perturbed girls...

There comes a time when we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We all are a part of God's great big family
And the truth, you know,
Love is all we need......(We are the world)

The Perfect Road Trip

And so just like that, it was decided that we would travel to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam from Phnom Penh in Cambodia!! Just the name Vietnam had always fascinated me, what with all the movies seen in early adolescence especially the rather impactful 1978 Robert De Niro and a dainty Meryl Streep, starrer, The Deer Hunter, an Academy award winner and what a fantastic movie!!

Picture Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt007741

Meaning of Vietnam: "Viet" was a pronunciation of a Chinese word for "far", which described a nomadic (wandering hunter) people in that region of Asia. Historically these wanderers migrated southward into current-day Vietnam. "Nam" means South. Therefore, Vietnam means "Viet (ethnic) people of the South."

My better half, oh! of course I understand your loyalties my darling readers and friends lie with me, and so they rightly should, and I do understand your agony at having to bear the connotation of terminology such as 'better half' but in this kind of trip planning I do fully endorse him to be in fact "better' than me!! Well, as I was saying....my better half usually makes these impromptu plans and just tells us "okay so we leave tomorrow morning at 6.30am by bus for Vietnam" and all three of us, my two daughters and I say.... like ....."ooookay....as in five hours from now and we are going to another country??" Hahahaha!! This is how the 'better half' operates and we have grown to love the man for his surprises and so we hustle to pack our mini bags for a three day road trip to Vietnam. So, now I use pictures to take you through the surprise packages we encounter on this so called road trip!!

There is thing about road trips....there are the happy early morning travelers and then there are the not so happy early morning travelers,

 The not-so-happy early morning travelers one with head down on the table and other with head buried in a book, in the waiting room of the bus journey from Phnom Penh to Vietnam.


So far nothing much had been said about the bus.The waiting room seemed to be quite the backpackers haven and the younger ones of our pack were not too pleased: not with the people but with the prospect of lack of comfort amenities in the six hour journey to Vietnam.So much for surprises!! 

Finally we all were ushered into a mini-van sort of vehicle with five co-passengers. All of us were a little perplexed as to how we would manage six hours in this confined not so comfortable space.Was this the bus that was to take us to Vietnam!!? Took us all, all of ten minutes to break the ice. Music came to the rescue and we all sang Abba songs as our co-passengers were from Sweden and knew the songs.

At least the part about singing all along the way on road trips was coming true, even if the vehicle was not right and the route unknown. So here we were getting used to the idea that we would be spending the next five hours like this when suddenly the mini-van came to a halt.Out jumped the driver and opened our doors and asked us to step out. Huh?? The kids and I were somewhat surprised.We are really far from Vietnam still we said!! Is something the matter? Do we have a flat? 
Well, we hopped out and were asked to take our belongings and vacate the van. Here I am with two of my Swedish friends and the van in the background.But, where exactly am I?? I wondered....but was patient!

And here are my better half and our friend from Germany...moving towards the border crossing point.And then I realized it. We were at the border of Cambodia and Vietnam.So, our road trip took us from Phnom Penh Cambodia to another province of Cambodia from where we had to cross over on foot to Vietnam as our vehicle had a Cambodian registration.

So,I thought from here we are to take another bus to go to Ho Chi Minh city.Well, on and on we marched in the sun.It was not a very short jump over the border...it was a fairly long walk.

  Here is the international border checkpoint and imagine my surprise when from the border post I spied the huge Mekong river. Vietnam and Cambodia are linked by the mighty Mekong river. Yaaayyy !! I realised the surprise my 'better than the best half " had planned for us. We were going to Vietnam via the river!! Amazing! We were going by a large boat to a place called Chou Doc.om where we were again going to take a bus in

Here we all are, all ten of us, except me as I am clicking the picture, inside the restaurant where we had some interesting soupy noodles and waited patiently for an hour or more for the boats to arrive.The Europeans were travelling by speed boat to Ho Chi Minh directly whereas our family of four was going by a much slower languorous boat to Chou Doc where we were to spend the night and take the bus to Ho Chi Minh early the next morn at sunrise!!

And so after this delicious simple meal and some glorious hilarious braiding and being photographed, fun, we parted ways with our dear friends with the promise that we will look each other up at Ho Chi Minh City over the next few days.

This is the lower deck and the following pictures show the relaxing upper deck of the long boat we took to Chou Doc.

As the evening progressed the sky clouded up and as we cruised the Mekong Delta towards Vietnam, singing many happy and sad songs, we saw some wondrous rain.

And after this lovely perfect river trip we finally reached Chou Doc.The boat docked next to a floating hotel and imagine our joy and surprise when we learnt that we were to spend the night right here in this hotel's room, being rocked gently to sleep in the Mekong-Bassac waters.

                                             
                                                   The docked boat

Just outside our room window

One of the beautiful royal boats below in which we spent some relaxed hours at Chou Doc.

One of the most wonderful experiences of human life is to see the sun rise on a brand new day. It always fills me with hope and joy for a better world!! We were really lucky to catch this beautiful sunrise early the next morning!

After this wonder of nature it was time to grab a quick bite and head for the sleeping bus to Ho Chi Minh. The most delightful thing about the breakfast were the freshly baked buns, no doubt a remanent of the French pasts of Cambodia and Vietnam and the very strong and sweet delicious VietCoffee. Do remind me to give you the recipe at some later point my dear.

And then again on the road this time to board the bus to Ho Chi Minh. Here are some moments in Chou Doc early at around 7am. These countries are surely up and about really early in the mornings!! 

Waiting at the bus station.....and here it rolls in..... and what a bus!!

And so we slept and ate and watched TV and had a lot of fun having been given the four seats right at the back so we could enjoy the trip like a family!! Some people on the bus ate Durian, a favourite fruit here, for which it is rightly said "tastes like heaven but smells like hell" and all the time I kept thinking oh!dear Lord if one thing could take away this and make the bus "smell like heaven" in spite of the Durian it would be AmbiPur, which always made our personal spaces feel like fresh and heavenly.So, here's a new slogan I just coined...

"Durian: Tastes like heaven and NOW even smells like heaven...AmbiPur....need one say more??" (https://www.facebook.com/AmbiPurIndia) 

In between at some point the bus had to cross the river and as there are no bridges on the extremely wide Mekong-Bassac river our bus rolled into this boat which ferried us across the river!! So, in the bus on the boat across the river!! Hahhhaaa!! This was turning out to be quite the awesomest (as my kids put it) trip of all of our lives :)

The first views of the wonderful city of Saigon now known as Ho Chi Minh.

Just imagine our delight when as soon as we checked into the hotel and stepped out to explore the city we bumped into our dear German friend. It's true what they say what is destined to happen will happen.We were destined to meet and have share many memories of Saigon and so we did.

The wonderful views from our hotel window of the city where we spent the next few days exploring a turbulent past :the Cu Chi tunnels the War Remnants Museum and many many wonders that will take up yet many more posts for you to enjoy,But for now my dear readers and friends I leave you with thoughts of the journey we just took together! :)

We took a direct bus back from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh.....

Just waiting for the next road trip plan to materialize ..who knows this wonderful surprise filled man might just come up with one in the next one hour...it is Friday you know ;))

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