Скачать или смотреть Anlong Veng -- The Visible Gap of Reconciliation

Knowing that Anlong Veng is the last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge movement, the thought of torture, punishment and deprivation of one’s rights lingers within me. And learning that we will have to produce either an article or a photo story terrifies me even more since we will have to not only ask them some very personal questions but to also understand them as an individual, not as the one which we dubbed “The Khmer Rouge people.” But before going there, I questioned myself regarding the hatred I projected on the people at Anlong Veng, thinking and believing that people will inevitably change.

When reaching Anlong Veng, peeking my head out the window, I felt startled noticing the image I imagined was a farce, a complete 180 from my speculation. They were no less ordinary than us. If anything, of all the provinces I visited, Anlong Veng is the most peaceful place and the people there are very friendly. Once we have the perception of them as the “bad people,” we are the one who are different. People are casually doing their daily routine of knitting, fishing and selling items. Furthermore, within those five days at Anlong Veng, I learned many techniques of photography as well as meeting and talking to the people there. I got to understand how to speak to the former Khmer Rouge survivors by using words/phrases that wouldn’t let them think of a bad aspect of the past. Moreover, during the five days of staying there, I also learned that among people over there at Anlong Veng are foreigners who have stayed there for over 3 to 4 years (at a Christian residence next to where we stayed). I talked with one of them and interviewed him regarding his stay there, which intrigued me so much to see a foreigner living there regarding the atrocities that happens at Anlong Veng.

Seeing the smile, the enjoyment of the people there, ranging from all ages has enlightened me to have a new perception toward the people who live there at Anlong Veng. A drive of generation gap and mutual understanding between one another is and would be the only best medicine for reconciliation.