In Pol Pot Times

The Khmer Rouge period (1975-79) is commonly spoken of as the "Pol Pot times" in Cambodia. While I have read a little about this period of Cambodia's history, I haven't yet spoken to many Khmer people about it. Part of the reason is that I don't have the linguistic ability to talk about it in Khmer. (I don't mind speaking in clumsy Khmer about the weather, purchases at the market or fashion trends. However, I don't want to insist that a person communicate what may still be painful memories in short, slow phrases that I may or may not understand.) There is also the issue of trust. When the closest relationship ties have been tested, if not broken, I don't expect a person to necessarily trust me by sharing their experiences from these years. So, I don't ask. But still a few people initiate conversations beginning with the phrase,"in Pol Pot times..."

Here are a few examples:

Often when we sit down for an especially delicious me, dad will comment that "in Pol Pot times" there were many days of hunger. He recalls the times when a couple of cups of rice were mixed with 20 litres of water to feed 30 people.

Last week I was studying a text about the Sugar Palm tree (one of the national symbols of Cambodia). It explained the various uses for the palm. For example, the wood may be used to make a small boat, the fruit is used in cooking and the leaves sewn together to build a house. The sweet liquid can be consumed fresh or boiled down to make sugar. The text also described the branches of the palm as having sharp thorns "like the teeth of a saw". This promted my language tutor to add one more use for the Sugar Palm. She said, "in Pol Pot times the branch of the sugar palm was used to cut people's head's off."

One night this week a few of my adopted family members were chatting at the front of the house at dusk. One common thread is to comment if a particularly interesting form of transport goes by. This night it was a Jeep. Dad blurted out, "Sohpeah- (that's me in Khmer) you know what this kind of car is good for?" I shook my head, "No, I don't". Dad motioned with his hands as if he were using a machine gun and said, "Killing Pol Pot."Pol Pot is dead. He knows that. But "the Pol Pot times" still affect people today.