Today was a mix of emotions for the team as we got a rest from the tools and instead got to see some of the darker aspects to Cambodia. Confronted with the history of this beautiful country during the rein of Pol Pot the team got to see what has caused the country to be where it is now.

Our day kicked off with a tour of RAWimpact’s office where one of the co-founders gave as an insight into the formation of, and philosophy behind the work that the team does here in Cambodia.

This included a tour of the office where we got to see what they are about and the sorts of projects which they undertake.

Our next stop was SHE Rescue.

This organisation takes in girls from 7-15 years of age who have been sold for prostitution, raped, trafficked or are in high risk of those. This is the unfortunate reality where exploitation is not uncommon and due to corruption, many cases go without prosecution.

Our journey continued to S21 – a school which was turned into a prison for processing and torturing people during Pol Pot’s reign.

It left a lot of people dwelling on what the country has gone through and exposed a lot of what people didn’t know about Cambodia and its past.

For lunch we had an all-you-can-eat buffet where everyone got to stuff their face with all kinds of food.

After lunch we went out of town to ‘The Killing Fields’ where we traversed one of the killing fields in Cambodia on an individually-guided tour aided by an audio guide which each person listens to while they walk around the different sections.

Each section told the horrific scenes which happened less than 40 years ago and really hit home that we were standing right where theses atrocities occurred and the evidence still there in the ground of bones, teeth and clothing from the prisoners who were victim to Pol Pot’s genocide for reasons as simple as a person wearing glasses or was educated, or even had soft skin.

It gives a real appreciation to a country which has been through so much and yet fronts some of the most beautiful people in the world.

Spirits were lifted when we got back to the hotel for “Deck out a mate”. Each person pulled the name of another team member out of a hat (staff included) and were then given $10 to go to the market and buy an outfit for that person to wear.

Needless to say, there were some pretty hideous outfits which heightened the experience as we all jumped in tuk tuks and headed out through a busy Saturday night in Phnom Penh for dinner.

We culminated the day with some nice cold icecream to compliment a typical warm Cambodian night before returning to the hotel to rest up before tomorrow’s adventures….

ps Tomorrow night we will be sleeping out in the village and there is no electricity and very little phone signal so we possibly won’t get to post another blog until Monday.