Toul Sleng prison S21

Well this morning we went to the inamous S21 prison Touls Sleng. It was the prison of the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot and hundreds of people were tortured there. It wasa sobering thing to think this happened only in in the 1970s How cruel people can be to one another. The tears flooded from everyone seated in the hot and musty prison cell when watching the bographical footage and an interview of a grandmother telling the story of her son and daughter in law and her niece and nephew It helps to see why there is so much mistrust and fear of trusting people outside the immediate family. These were brutal days in this gentle people's history. A gut wrenching experience.

Then we went out to Peace Builders in the afternoon. Barry feels there is some real merit in the work we have done at RDNS using participatory action methods to promote family health. I am going back with Hugo to do an in-service on Monday pm because they are interested in learning more about the transition model and capacity building possibilities of PAR to assist the poorest communities to help improve family health and reduce the very high levels of family violence. Once trust has been demolished as an integral aspect of relationships its affecting every aspect of life for these people. They were so interested in the work we have done at RDNS with CSA survivors and others that it may be that they will organise other NGO workers to understand the model to see how it can be implemented in their stratgic processes to build the capacity of commuities and families. That seems an exciting way to help from my perspective.

It's very hot and wet but we are well and enjoying the look around and having a crack at the language which is challenging to day the least! The poor are indeed very poor and the rising costs of city living fuel, food and shelter (with rents rising by >50% in one year) has seen many really struggle and consequently costs are sky rocketing for the everyone but the poor are always affected worse by such costs of living in the basic needs. Even the disabled still seem to try and sell travel copies of lonely planet to make ends meet as there are no social security few taxes and few services for them. It's so good to see them keep trying to maintain independence.

There is much to learn from these people about resilience and living a life of gratitude.