After three decades of war, peace has finally come to this beautiful yet blighted land.

photo: Taiger808 photostream

Today the nation is struggling to rebuild its national institutions and repair a society devastated by the rule of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. The Khmer Rouge was one of the most horrific regimes of the 20th century. After coming to power in 1975, the Khmer Rouge imposed a brutal agrarian communism, forcing city dwellers into labor camps and rejecting western medicine. Of a population of 8 million, it is estimated at least 2 million were killed for political reasons or died of malnutrition or illness.

Doctors, teachers, artists, and lawyers, who were critical to the functioning of society, were targeted in particular. Cambodian civilization stretches back more than 1,200 years, but the Khmer Rouge, and the resulting 13 years of civil war after its fall, wreaked havoc on the cultural, economic, social and political life of Cambodia. Much of the population still subsists on less than the equivalent of US$1 a day. Cambodia remains one of the poorest countries in the world.

Outside of a few larger cities, there are essentially no utilities or infrastructure. Human exploitation in the form of slavery, and human trafficking is widespread. The pervasive danger of uncleared landmines remains a significant challenge. But the future of Cambodia is the children and when you look in their eyes you will see they are full of HOPE