In December 2019, Fred Kauffman suddenly passed away from a heart attack. We wanted to do something to commemorate Fred and, as I went through his writings, I thought that Testimony to the Power of Life held a powerful message for Easter 2020 – which is the 30th Anniversary of Christianity being legalized in Cambodia.

I think the message is, in this time of pandemic, even more relevant than when I first read it in December.

“What could possibly be worse?” we often ask ourselves after listening to our Kampuchean friends relive their experiences under Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. Their stories are often similar, but their sense of personal loss and grief always makes a fresh impact on us.

“I was fortunate to have survived,” says a young man in government, “but I lost two brothers who returned from Paris after the revolution to help rebuild the country; they were immediately killed for being corrupted by the West.”

A maid in our hotel studies our parents’ pictures for a long time and then slowly tells us how her old parents starved to death under Pol Pot, since they were considered lazy and undeserving of food.

We hear of some people’s horrible nightmares that still disturb their sleep almost every night.All speak of two constant companions – fear and hunger. Said one, “The hunger we could somehow tolerate, but the daily fear for our life was unbearable.” And we sense that there is much more behind the distant look in their eyes that they can never express with words.

And we wonder if anything could be worse than the powerlessness, forced labor, indiscriminate murder of family members; the hunger and grinding fear with no end in sight. It seems as though evil had been unleashed to run its wild ruinous course.

It calls to mind another time in history when evil did run its full course. We remember how the forces of evil began building momentum from the time our Lord was born, besetting him at every turn until they finally converged and unleashed upon him their ultimate weapon——death.

The world has not been the same since, for we can all recognize evil for what it is and how utterly deprived it can be, that it would try to kill the very author of life. Christ’s resurrection exposed evil for what it is and broke its power in an undeniable demonstration of the power of life over death.

This is a fact of history that inspires us, sets us free from fear, and gives us a reason for hope in spite of the dismal state of the world.We glimpse a reflection of this resurrection underway in Kampuchea today.

In spite of the worst that evil managed to do in Kampuchea, and in spite of continuing insecurity and a very unpredictable future, Kampuchea is full of life! There are colorful wedding parties, children playing carefree in the streets, hundreds of small businesses, bands playing rock music, an eagerness for learning, and a willingness to shoulder responsibility.

We marvel. From the deathly despair of the three years and nine months under Pol Pot, the Kampuchean people are emerging as a dynamic, though scarred, society. A resurrection of Kampuchea has been underway and what a vivid testimony it is to the awesome power of life!

It humbles us and drives us to prayer——to prayers of confession, for we recognize the same forces of evil at work within ourselves; and to prayers of joyful thanks for this magnificent powerful gift of life which God has granted to us all. And we add a prayer of gratefulness for the opportunity to be with Kampuchean brothers and sisters and to participate in this great surge of life.

Fred and Minh Kauffman, MCC Kampuchea (Cambodia), January 8 1982