Ghosts of Toul Sleng, Harbingers of the Future

Life is so full here in Cambodia. Each day it doesn't seem possible that there could be more wonder to take in. From the heartbreak of the portraits at the genocide museum where over 17,000 Cambodians were tortured and eventually executed, in a former high school... to the uplifting voices and enthusiasm we witnessed from the children at the People's Improvement Organization, a school built for children living in and off of the garbage heaps of Phnom Penh. The still, stark faces of people that are no more left me sad of course, but detached - like a dream, here it was, it really did happen, but how could it be? But the live, sweet, focused faces of the PIO children as they danced with utter skill and conviction, imaging the tenuous support that keeps them in a classroom instead of milling through burning rubbish -- this is what moved me to tears.