Stored in Glenn Blanchard's digital camera are photographs he took of black and white images of children, taken in the 1970s before they were imprisoned and killed at Security Prison 21, the most notorious jail in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge's bloody reign.
Blanchard, a social studies teacher at Tuscarora High School, visited the former prison – now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh - during the second week of his travels in Cambodia in July.
For more than three weeks, Blanchard and a group of American teachers traveled throughout the Southeast Asian nation as part of the "Travel and Teach: Cambodia" program at the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.
Established by Congress in 1960, the East-West Center is an educational and research organization that aims to strengthen relations between the U.S. and the peoples and countries of Asia and the Pacific.
Blanchard raised much of the $1,400 cost of the trip through donations from The American Legion, Knights of Columbus and Lions Club in Emmitsburg, where he lives.
The trip was not only a chance for Blanchard to immerse himself in Cambodian history and culture, but to also teach Cambodian students learning English in small villages for a week. During that week, Blanchard lived with a local family, helping them with daily chores and cooking. He later spent another week in a monastery, living with Buddhist monks and rising at 4 a.m. for meditation and prayer. For Blanchard, a once-aspiring Peace Corps volunteer, the experience was a taste of what it was like to live and work in a foreign country.
"I'm still trying to absorb some of it now," he said this week.
When the doors to Tuscarora High School open Aug. 25, Blanchard said he hopes to incorporate much of his newfound knowledge and travel experiences when he and his 10th-grade students discuss imperialism and nationalism in the course, "Modern World History."
Cambodia, a former French protectorate from 1863 to 1954, still has vestiges of its colonial past, evidenced by old buildings and the spoken French often heard on the streets, Blanchard said. But Cambodia's national identity – best exemplified by the temple of Angkor Wat, built in the 12th century– will also be part of the classroom discussion on nationalism, Blanchard said.
Kathleen Schlappal, principal at Tuscarora High School, noted that having teachers travel abroad and share their experiences with students helps open students' minds to different experiences.
"It allows them to share a broader world perspective and perhaps to emphasize that we are more alike than different," she said.
Schlappal said Blanchard's current perspective on Cambodia will be valuable, especially since the country is often associated with the Vietnam-era for many Americans.
Though some teachers might not be able to travel abroad because of family obligations or financial cost, Schlappal said she knows other Frederick County teachers who have studied in Mexico on Fulbright scholarships or have traveled to China with students.
Blanchard had an opportunity to work alongside Cambodian teachers in small, countryside villages in open-air classrooms, teaching English. He said he was impressed by the high school students' willingness and dedication in learning English.
"You could tell they're cracking the books and absorbing it," he noted. Blanchard added that many students focused on studying business or tourism view learning English as crucial to their success.
Overall, Cambodians' work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit, bolstered by optimism for the future, was apparent in many of his experiences with them.
"I don't think I could have gotten that out of a book," Blanchard said of his interactions with Cambodians. "You need to see it face-to-face to understand it."
Blanchard noticed that optimism for the future and the foreign investment pouring into Cambodia was tempered by the the country's violent past. On a field trip to Tuol Sleng, Blanchard glimpsed the horrors of genocide in the hundreds of victims' skulls, now shelved and displayed at the museum for visitors to see.
Touring the museum was "frightening," Blanchard noted, because the former prison was once a high school. "As an instructor, I found this to be horrifying," he said. "At the end of it none of us could talk. You didn't know what to say to each other."
An estimated 17,000 Cambodians were imprisoned there between 1975 and 1978 but only seven people survived, including Vann Nath, who Blanchard met during his visit. The Khmer Rouge spared Nath because of his talent and ordered him to paint portraits of Pol Pot.
From 1975 to 1979, more than 1 million Cambodians died under Communist regime, mostly from executions, starvation or forced labor.
Blanchard, a social studies teacher at Tuscarora High School, visited the former prison – now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh - during the second week of his travels in Cambodia in July.
For more than three weeks, Blanchard and a group of American teachers traveled throughout the Southeast Asian nation as part of the "Travel and Teach: Cambodia" program at the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.
Established by Congress in 1960, the East-West Center is an educational and research organization that aims to strengthen relations between the U.S. and the peoples and countries of Asia and the Pacific.
Blanchard raised much of the $1,400 cost of the trip through donations from The American Legion, Knights of Columbus and Lions Club in Emmitsburg, where he lives.
The trip was not only a chance for Blanchard to immerse himself in Cambodian history and culture, but to also teach Cambodian students learning English in small villages for a week. During that week, Blanchard lived with a local family, helping them with daily chores and cooking. He later spent another week in a monastery, living with Buddhist monks and rising at 4 a.m. for meditation and prayer. For Blanchard, a once-aspiring Peace Corps volunteer, the experience was a taste of what it was like to live and work in a foreign country.
"I'm still trying to absorb some of it now," he said this week.
When the doors to Tuscarora High School open Aug. 25, Blanchard said he hopes to incorporate much of his newfound knowledge and travel experiences when he and his 10th-grade students discuss imperialism and nationalism in the course, "Modern World History."
Cambodia, a former French protectorate from 1863 to 1954, still has vestiges of its colonial past, evidenced by old buildings and the spoken French often heard on the streets, Blanchard said. But Cambodia's national identity – best exemplified by the temple of Angkor Wat, built in the 12th century– will also be part of the classroom discussion on nationalism, Blanchard said.
Kathleen Schlappal, principal at Tuscarora High School, noted that having teachers travel abroad and share their experiences with students helps open students' minds to different experiences.
"It allows them to share a broader world perspective and perhaps to emphasize that we are more alike than different," she said.
Schlappal said Blanchard's current perspective on Cambodia will be valuable, especially since the country is often associated with the Vietnam-era for many Americans.
Though some teachers might not be able to travel abroad because of family obligations or financial cost, Schlappal said she knows other Frederick County teachers who have studied in Mexico on Fulbright scholarships or have traveled to China with students.
Blanchard had an opportunity to work alongside Cambodian teachers in small, countryside villages in open-air classrooms, teaching English. He said he was impressed by the high school students' willingness and dedication in learning English.
"You could tell they're cracking the books and absorbing it," he noted. Blanchard added that many students focused on studying business or tourism view learning English as crucial to their success.
Overall, Cambodians' work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit, bolstered by optimism for the future, was apparent in many of his experiences with them.
"I don't think I could have gotten that out of a book," Blanchard said of his interactions with Cambodians. "You need to see it face-to-face to understand it."
Blanchard noticed that optimism for the future and the foreign investment pouring into Cambodia was tempered by the the country's violent past. On a field trip to Tuol Sleng, Blanchard glimpsed the horrors of genocide in the hundreds of victims' skulls, now shelved and displayed at the museum for visitors to see.
Touring the museum was "frightening," Blanchard noted, because the former prison was once a high school. "As an instructor, I found this to be horrifying," he said. "At the end of it none of us could talk. You didn't know what to say to each other."
An estimated 17,000 Cambodians were imprisoned there between 1975 and 1978 but only seven people survived, including Vann Nath, who Blanchard met during his visit. The Khmer Rouge spared Nath because of his talent and ordered him to paint portraits of Pol Pot.
From 1975 to 1979, more than 1 million Cambodians died under Communist regime, mostly from executions, starvation or forced labor.
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