Under the Pol Pot regime, the Church lost everything: bishops, priests, men and women religious and catechists. Since the 90s it has emerged from the catacombs and is slowly growing in numbers as well as in social commitment. Monday, April 14, 1975, was an overcast afternoon. From his window, Father Joseph Chhmar Salas watched as…

Still traumatised by the bloody Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia is struggling to recover its economic strength, which is leading to a real social “cultural revolution” for the seventeen million inhabitants of the Land of Smiles. Cambodia is one of the oldest empires in the world. Throughout its history, it has been marked externally by wars…

The onset of industrialization brought about the brutal decomposition of rural Cambodian families since poverty and indebtedness led to the emigration of an unskilled workforce from the countryside especially to the capital, Phnom Penh. The first clothing factories started up here and were followed by many others. They are run by Chinese, South Korean, Bangladeshi…

Pol Pot’s regime caused one million seven hundred thousand deaths, devastating families and the entire country. Being a French protectorate brought no significant changes in Cambodian life or economy except for introduction of more formal rules for civil registration and education. Thus, the pagoda monks retained responsibility for primary schools but were required to obtain…