Cataract Chronicles-25 years
As I celebrate my 25th year volunteering as an eye surgeon in Southeast Asia. I am delighted to share photos and stories about the vision challenges and the people and cultures of India, Nepal, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. - Dr. Gary Barth
Chronicle 10 - Cambodian Memorial of Unfathomable Suffering:
Warning: This Article Contains a Disturbing Image
One afternoon in Cambodia, my wife and I left the city of Battambang and walked to a Buddhist monastery in a forest. Full disclosure: I was living at the San Francisco Zen Buddhist Center, where I rented a typewriter(sic) and applied to medical school. I search out monastic communities.
Once we reached the forested off-the-beaten-path monastery, we were surprised to find this two-story monument. On closer inspection, we were horrified to see the skulls and femurs in each window on all four sides.
The Pol Pot-led Khmer Rouge had taken over the Buddhist monastery. On these monastic grounds, they executed thousands of citizens, including children.
This tall tower contained hundreds of skulls, and femurs-potent evidence of the excesses of intolerance and man-made suffering.
Unlike other National Museums and Killing Field cemeteries in the tourist city of Phnom Penh, this monument was funded by Cambodian communities throughout the world as a remembrance of the tragic period of the Khmer Rouge. It was not intended for Western tourists but rather as a reminder to all in the area.
