Being Handicapped In Cambodia: A Need For Intervention
Since the atrocity of the Khmer Rouge Genocide, which decimated the
population of Cambodia and destroyed its education, healthcare and economic
systems, her people have struggled to overcome obstacles on the road to
recovery. For children living in the villages, streets and city dumps, the
issues of poverty and lack of access to proper healthcare and therapy, as
well as the breakdown of the family unit, make survival is a daily
challenge. For a child suffering from physical handicaps, those obstacles
can be nearly insurmountable.
Whether orphaned, abandoned due to their condition, or living with
poverty-stricken families that simply lack the resources to properly care
for them, the outlook for these children is bleak. It is not an uncommon
sight to see such children begging on the city streets, their bent and
broken bodies used as a source of income for others. For those who have no
mobility on their own, even when they are taken in by well meaning
orphanages and shelters, their lives are limited to simply existing. With
all of the problems facing Cambodia and her children, the resources, time
and energy it takes to help handicap children reach their full potential
simply do not exist.
Specialties we take for granted, such as speech and physical therapy, simply
do not exist for these children. Sign Language for the deaf or speech
impaired in their language (Khmer) has only developed in the last few years
and is not yet universal for everyone. Often minor medical issues left
treated at birth become life threatening. |
