Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Series of meetings with officials. Met first with Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. It was clear that Cambodia was far less well-prepared than Thailand for a bird and/or human pandemic. Met with Deputy Prime Minister and Amb Mussomeli had a firm exchange with the Deputy Prime minister in which Joe objected to the fact that the Cambodians had arrested a Cambodian Journalist for writing a story negative to the regime. Next visited the Institut Pasteur in Phnom Penh. The Institut Pasteur has 29 foreign satellite institutes throughout the world. Cambodian institute began in 1935, but was wiped out by the civil war and then by Khmer Rouge. It was re-established in 1995. Sirenda Vong is a young scientists at the Institut Pasteur who made a very nice presentation about their work. He is a rising star in my mind.. Lasted only part of a day. Met with King Norodom Sihamoni and toured the Imperial Palace. The King is an exballet dancer. He is single. Visited the Genocide Museum. The story is horrible. 1.2 million people (10% of the population) were murdered, usually following torture over a 5 year period. After the Khmer Rouge took over, they evacuated Phnom Penh and literally murdered anyone who was middle class and/or educated. They murdered people merely if they wore eyeglasses. They had this genocide maniac mentality (similar to the Nazis) of documenting everything that they did. The walls of the museum showed thousands of photos of people who were put into the prison (now museum) which was originally a high school. They would photograph them, document their arrest, torture them and then kill them. Either they died of the torture, starvation, etc. or they sent them to the killing fields to be hacked or bludgeoned to death. They kept meticulous medical records of the dying and deaths of the prisoners. We then visited with a group of NGOs who explained to us the problem of trafficking in Cambodia. It is a complex problem since the people who are trafficked are usually sold by their family because of poverty. That afternoon, we flew to Vientiane, Laos and check into Lao Plaza Hotel. Bill Steiger and I had a terrific evening run (right as the sun set) in the National Stadium where the Lao National Track Team was practicing. Had a reception-dinner that night at the home of Amb. Patricia Haslach.