Today in Phnom Penh we had a packed day. In the morning, we went to the RAW Impact offices to learn about the project we are involved and the organisation we’re helping, meeting the founders Troy and Nic. After that, we visited another NGO known as She Rescue which works to rehabilitate victims of child slavery and prostitution. Some of the statistics we heard were really confronting as we were told stories of children as young as 5 were sold by their parents into the sex trade. After this, we visited S21, the genocide museum, a former school that was converted into a torture prison during the Khmer Rouge. Again, this was a shocking experience as we were exposed to many images of the victims and saw some of the survivors who had harrowing experiences to tell. After lunch, we caught a Tuk-Tuk from the city to the killing fields. Here we listened to an audio tour that took us around the grounds where many were slaughtered, hearing many confronting stories and seeing elements and remains that still exist today. As this was a lot to process, we had some time to relax and reflect on everything we heard and saw. To finish the day we ate our dinner on a boat cruising along the Mekong River. After a cultural day, we’re all ready to get some sleep before our first build day tomorrow.

Ami, Josie, and Liv