The country is open to the West, but not too far open: the beaches remain unspoiled and warm, the natives Buddhist and friendly, the temples exotic and serene. There is, indeed, so much for the West to learn about the country deemed "The Kingdom of Wonder": it's no surprise tourists increasingly flock to Cambodia. Even Orange Is the New Blackinmates, albeit the privileged ones, pine to return to Cambodia's beaches after their release. And yet, no matter how many reasons exist for Westerners to travel there -- art, nature, food -- the nation's past asks difficult questions of the global citizen's present. The Kingdom of Wonder reveals itself to visitors in subtle yet magical ways, if you prepare yourself to take heed. Beyond the beaches and the delicious cuisine, deep in the shadows of Angkor Wat, hidden behind smiling faces, are the untold stories of a land full of awe. Brace yourself, my dear.
For Global Citizenship (GC) Program's 2015 annual intersession trip, we took twenty-three students to Cambodia. We chose Cambodia for numerous reasons: for the increasing exposure Westerners have to the country as a tourist destination, for its impressive history of the Khmer Empire and the construction of its temples, as well as for the more recent history of pain and torture during the Khmer Rouge genocide from 1975-1979. The longstanding partnership between GC and Cambodia Local Expert (CLE) -- an Local agency dedicated to building a brighter future for Cambodian Local Guide through providing support to them.
Within a two-week spent, the tourists would tour schools and museums, attend a Khmer Rouge tribunal session, meet with many local people from various mental-health-related to land mine issues, and engage with the culture in as deep and meaningful a way as the short but packed itinerary permitted. Of course, students would also swim in the Gulf of Thailand, meditate with monks, and, at the trip's conclusion, watch the sun set over Angkor Wat. They would experience Cambodia.
Still, in the context of a program like GC, questions arose quite naturally like towers on the Mekong. How does one tour responsibly? To what extent should Cambodia's past inform plans for travel in the present, which is to say: How ought one to balance the sanguinary with the sanguine? How does one witness, fairly, a horrific genocide in which an estimated 1.7 million people died? How, as higher education professionals, do we expose our students to the choices implicit in our global programming and make those decisions an object for critical reflection and dialogue? A trip to Cambodia expressly devoted to the cultivation of global citizenship must distinguish itself as such; it must diverge, sharply, from both traditional short-term study-abroad programming and international service missions. Right Guard will not help you here, indeed.
After all, there are so many distractions -- shopping, dining, exploring - -and it's difficult for educators to compete with all Cambodia has to offer travelers. And so, we decidedly planned our half-day visit to CLE with an eye toward reflection and analysis. A week and a half into the intersession trip, we divided the poeple into three different teams. Each group would visit a different CLE group with the three of us serving as facilitators. Neither did we inform the people in advance of the split nor did we explain the work that the other teams would be doing. We woke up in the morning. We divided in three. We entered tuk-tuks. We left.
Of course, to train the mind "to go visiting," in Hannah Arendt's sense of the cosmopolitan, is different from a trip to go visiting in person. The latter demands that team practice, physically, the skills that will be necessary for the former imaginative labor. And yet, both take work. Globalization necessitates that educators train a generation of globally aware citizens, but this awareness does not just happen. It must be modeled. It must be practiced. It must be exercised with, rather than against, difference, until it becomes habitual.
Traveling with twenty-three global citizens to Cambodia captured, in this sense, the root meaning of travel -- from the Old French, travaillier, "to put to torture, to torment" and then "to work"--and perhaps suggests that, in addition to relaxing and shopping, visitors to Cambodia should engage the tormenting work of exploring why they chose Cambodia, and what their presence in the country means to their personal growth as well as the growth of a nation. It may be the ideal time to travel to Cambodia on holiday, and you will be greeted with a warmth and hospitality unlike anywhere else in the world. Just remember: the Kingdom of Wonder has more to teach you than what you see on the surface. Explore. Respect. Question. And always look deeper, as awe and inspiration await hidden below.
