Two men escaped death during the Khmer Rouge regime, and flew to France. One ran away after seeing his entire family executed and after taking a bullet himself. He was luckier than his family, the bullet flew close to the spine, but was not lethal. In another place, another man was tied and transported to a killing field for execution. He broke out and ran away with Khmer Rouge shooting at him. He walked 25 days to the Thai border, eating only fruit. After crossing the border, he was arrested on suspicion of being a Khmer Rouge infiltrator, and was put in prison, awaiting execution. After some while, a French missionary that spoke Khmer talked to him, and he could explain that he was not a spy, rather the opposite. He was eventually liberated and flew to France, with no money in his pockets.  

    These two men and their families were executed solely because they were intellectuals (they had medical training and worked in hospitals). The Khmer Rouge regime put to death in the Killing Fields all the

people who had the threatening ability to think for themselves, all the intellectuals even all those who simply wore glasses (if you wore glasses, there was a good chance you studied), also all the people from different ethnic groups, all the Buddhist monks, all those who opposed the regime, all those who were suspected of connections with foreign

governments and so on. They killed children merely to stop them from growing up and taking revenge for their parents' death. They managed to kill somewhere between 21% to 35% of the total population through execution, starvation and disease. They also destroyed 95% of Cambodia's temples, the education system and the story goes on.

   After the regime fell, these two men returned to Cambodia. One of them decided to do something for the children here. With the help of several friends from abroad he started Le Refuge. In a few words, in seven years, what used to be barren ground now hosts several facilities: after school, kindergarten, children playground, library, clinic, silk workshop, water purification and volunteering center. The second was still in France when he saw a story of Le Refuge, and decided to come back to Cambodia to help.   When I came here I was expecting to live in a jungle, in a tent, fighting spiders and mosquitoes, no electricity, running water or any sign of civilization. Instead I found a place with solar panels, water purification and even a basketball court in the middle of a faraway small village in what used to be a jungle. Now, do not imagine a 5 star hotel, you still have to bathe using a bucket and electricity does not last all day, but it is still way beyond expectations.    I was amazed to see how much they managed to build with very few resources. One would think that these guys must be innate managers or at least went through some good training. In fact, this is hardly the result of good management, overwhelmingly the result of a great heart.

Le Refuge, Village du Kol, Cambodia, 08.11.2010