After the end of the Cambodian Genocide in 1979, life returned to ‘normal’. Or as normal as it could get after such an experience. But there are some interesting stories that came out of the aftermath of the genocide.
- Nearly half of the population of Cambodia is under the age of 25. This is a result of the large number of people killed during the genocide and the subsequent baby boom.
- Apparently there is an almost cultural aversion to education. As an entire population watched their peers get persecuted for being educated, that bias has transferred to the younger generation. Most of the current generation doesn’t read and has no interest in learning, and the majority of their information comes from social media.
- During the genocide period, almost all families in the cities were forced to relocate to farms. After the Khmer Rouge was ousted in 1979, people started to move back to the cities. They found that their homes were in tatters, after having been completely untended for nearly 4 years.
- Many homes were damaged by the elements, but many were damaged by the war itself. Walls were destroyed by grenades, and many people returned to their homes to find the bodies of long-dead soldiers lying in the house
- People, finding their old homes unlivable, would then find an unoccupied house that seemed like it was in semi-decent shape, and clean it up.
- As part of Pol Pot’s anti-bourgeoisie effort, bank records were destroyed, which meant that people could not trace property ownership
- If and when the rightful owners showed up, the residents would simply say that there was no proof of ownership, and that they had done the work to clean up the house, so the house was theirs. Lacking any recourse, the actual owners would have to find another place to live.
- Some families took on several homes or apartments in this manner. The major hurdle was that they needed to be able to be in each of the properties to protect them from other attempted occupants.
- As the economy has grown in the decades since the genocide, some of the properties that were appropriated became quite valuable, with some exceeding $1M USD in value. As a result, there are survivors of the genocide driving around Phnom Penh in high end luxury cars that are the result of selling property that wasn’t rightfully theirs in the first place.
Unrelated to the genocide, the average income in Cambodia, even by the most generous estimates, is under $4 USD per day. That includes all of Cambodia, from office workers in Phnom Penh to farmers in the fields. Our tour guide’s sister-in-law is a teacher, and 5 years ago, she was making $40 USD per month. That’s less than $1.50 per day. After several raises, she now makes $150 per month, which is over the average salary. It’s hard to haggle with someone when you know that the dollar that you’re haggling over just for the sake of haggling could be 25% of their daily income.
