カンボジア訪問
明日から１週刊の予定でカンボジアへ行く。目的は、昨年７月に完成した松谷スクール（TASAENN,COMMUNIの小学校）の訪問である。生徒数は３００名。何を手土産にと考えるが、一般的なものしか思いつかず、結局、サッカーボールと縄跳びにした。喜んでもらえるかな・・・？。
当地区は、ポルポト軍が最後の砦としたタイ国境に近い僻地で、見事に何もないところ。車で何時間走ろうが信号一つなく、高床式の小屋と畑と野良犬ばかり。ただ救われるのは、裸同然で遊びまわる子供の笑顔と、住民の礼儀正しさ。見ず知らずの小生に対しても、顔を合わせれば、両手を合わせ頭を下げる。こちらも見様見真似で両手を合わせ頭を下げる。言葉は全く通じないが、ただ何となく人の温もりを感じる。
多くの住民は、旧ポルポト軍の兵士であり、その家族。内乱で２００万人近い国民が殺し殺されたとはとても思えない、ホンワカとした雰囲気を醸し出している地域である。
小生のような凡人にはよくわからないが、ロンノル政権（軍）とポルポト軍の戦い、また、ポルポト軍によるクメール人（カンボジア国民）の無差別殺人ともいえる大量処刑のわだかまりが僅か２０、３０年で消えるとは思えないが、今のカンボジアには意外とそれが無いらしい。そんな事は・・？と思うが、現地に腰を据えて１０年にもなる高山（IMCCD代表）に聞いても、「そうだ・・」と答える。これは国民性なのか・・・、それとも仏教国の関係なのか・・・。
昨今、世界を騒がせているイスラム国なる地域がいか様になっているか、小生には分からないが、一日も早く、何らかの解決をみて、カンボジアのような平穏を早く回復して欲しいものだと思う。
I’m going to Cambodia tomorrow for a week-long series. The purpose was to visit the Matsutani School (elementary schools in TASAENN and COMMUNI) which was completed in July last year. The number of students is 300. I thought about what to take home as a souvenir, but could only come up with something common, so I ended up with a soccer ball and a jump rope. Do you think he’ll be happy with that?
The district is in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere, near the Thai border, where Pol Pot’s army made its last stand. No matter how many hours you drive, there is no traffic light, only huts, fields and stray dogs on stilts. The only thing that saves me is the smiles of children playing around naked and the politeness of the residents. Even to a complete stranger, when we face each other, we put our hands together and bow our heads. They also put their hands together and bowed their heads in imitation. They don’t communicate with each other at all, but they just somehow feel the warmth of people.
Many of the residents are soldiers of the former Pol Pot army and their families. It’s an area with a hospitable atmosphere, where it’s hard to believe that nearly 2 million people have been killed in civil war.
It is difficult for an ordinary person like me to understand, but I don’t think that the battle between the Lon Nor regime (army) and Pol Pot’s army and the indiscriminate murder of Khmer people (Cambodian people) by Pol Pot’s army, which can be said to be a mass execution, will disappear in just 20 to 30 years, but it seems to be surprisingly absent in Cambodia today. You don’t think that’s…? When I asked Takayama (IMCCD representative), who has been in the field for ten years, he replied, “Yes… Is this a national trait, or is it a relationship with a Buddhist country?
I don’t know what’s going on with the Islamic State, which has been making a lot of noise in the world recently, but I hope that some kind of solution will be found soon and that peace like Cambodia will be restored as soon as possible.
