The Killing Fields

Social Studies Online

This simulation is based on a generic model that appears to have come from the Red Cross via NIE.

• Divide the class into "family" groups of 4 - 6 people
• Each student needs two large sheets of paper (A3 newsprint is ideal) and pens.
• The simulation takes about one period (45 minutes?).
• The simulation controller reads out the instructions, keeps time, adjudicates on any issues that arise and has total power!
• Time control is vital. If appropriate enforce the rule that any family group that fails to meet a deadline automatically loses half their possessions.
• No-one is allowed guns or weapons.

1. The Khmer Rouge are coming. You have 15 minutes to pack two suitcases per person in your family. Head up your suitcases Suitcase A and Suitcase B. You are allowed 20 items in each case. You have to count what you are wearing. Choose wisely. You are only allowed items found at home. Write down the name of each item and which suitcase it is going in. You have to be able to carry your cases. Remember you are part of a family. Take a last look at your polished wood house - you will never see it again.

   (Need to have background knowledge about Borany's life - house, furnishings, clothes, food, personal possessions such as jewellery and religious icons. Also need some knowledge of Cambodia's climate - important when selecting clothes. Opportunity for Web research.)

2. Your family packs everything into the family car. When the Khmer Rouge told you to leave the road was so crowded that you couldn't drive so you had to push the car. You stop for the night at a high school not far from Phnom Penh. During the night someone takes one of your suitcases. You have three minutes to decide which suitcase has been lost.

3. After several days on the road the car's tyres are punctured and the car becomes very difficult to push. Everyone has to leave their heaviest item behind. You also discover that the rough ride on flat tyres has broken all fragile items in your cases. You have three minutes to find your heaviest item and any fragile items and cross them off your list.

4. Eventually you reach the Mekong River and finally stop to make camp. The Khmer Rouge officials demand a valuable item from each person before they will allow you to set up camp between the trees. You have three minutes to hand the items over.

5. You have run out of food and as money is now useless in Kampuchea you have to barter. Swap two items from each person for rice and fish to eat. You have three minutes to decide on your items.

6. For a while life is OK but then a member of your family offends a Khmer Rouge official and you are ordered to leave the camp. You don't even have time to retrieve your passports, photos and other items that you have hidden so the Khmer Rouge won't find out that you are educated people. You have three minutes to cross off all documents and other items that might identify who you are.

7. You are taken by boat to a village. During the trip your family decides to take an inventory of what belongings you have left. You have five minutes to rewrite your belongings neatly on a new sheet of paper.

8. At the village members of your family die from malnutrition, disease, infected wounds and exhaustion (A Dream for Every Death) until there are only three of you left. You have two minutes to decide who lives and who dies.

9. At last the Vietnamese invade Kampuchea and you are able to leave the village. You travel west to the city of Battambang where you hear of a man who will guide you across the border to Thailand. You need a guide so you don't step on landmines or run into armed soldiers. Remember there is no money in Kampuchea so you have to pay him with everything of value that you still have. You have three minutes to identify what you have of value. If you (as a family) don't have anything you have to remain in Kampuchea.

10. You make it across the border and arrive safely at Khao-i-Dang refugee camp. After many months you find out that your names are on a list to go to New Zealand. At last you arrive at the Refugee Reception Centre at Mangere. You are about to start a new life with what you have left. You have five minutes to list what belongings you still have and to write down your feelings as you face living in a new country, learning a new language, becoming familiar with new customs and beliefs.