Knar School

My two short weeks in Cambodia ended too soon.  There is so much to be done and not enough hours in the day.  I didn't manage to do any teaching this time as I was immersed in medical matters.  The children get the most horrendous skin problems as well as all the usual childhood ailments.  I have dealt with literally hundreds of infected skin cuts;  ear infections, scabies, eczema, gut problems, many toes that have been stubbed  with nails damaged and falling off, babies whose legs have been caught in bicycle wheels, boils, a girl whose ear was pierced with a bit of wood and was infected, a girls who'd been whipped by her father etc,etc. Every day I would see and treat about 50 children.  The adults from the village started coming too but I had to harden my heart and say no, I could not help them.  It is difficult but we are in the business of helping children.  Indeed, we make it a rule that children have to be enrolled in school before we will help with any medical problems.  We make an exception for the pre-school children, of course.  Once we start treating adults the flow would never stop; they would be coming from miles around.  I did make one exception for an old woman who came with, what I think, was advanced breast cancer, the tissue was badly necrosed.  Apparently her breast had been in a bad way for two years and she was treating it with leaves.  I said that she needed to go to the hospital in Siem Reap - 28kms away.  I might as well have said she needed to find her way to the moon.  A teacher found someone in the village who would take her on his moto for $10.  It seemed like a rather pathetic gesture but at least I got her to the hospital.  The most sad thing is that she looks after her two grandaughters, not very well I might add, they are in a terrible state and live in a shed at the back of the main house with the animals.  One of them is eleven year old Sreynang, whom I will tell you about later.  She has her own dreadful story.

 A landmine went off in the village while I was there.  Luckily, some children saw it sicking out of the ground and knew what it was and so it was exploded safely.During the wet season the earth shifts and previously safe places have mines. Usually, some unfortunate detonates it and loses limbs in the process.  In what sort of a world do small children recognise landmines? Welcome to rural Cambodia.  You do not stray off the paths in the countryside but, even so, about 30 civilians, mainly children, are maimed each month because they stepped on a landmine.  Ten years ago it was about 300 per month. China, Russia and the USA all supplied landmines to the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese occupiers and the Lon Nol Regime.    The mines are being cleared in Cambodia at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world but it is estimated that even at the current rate it will take about 100 years to make this country mine free. Poor little Cambodia; it has one of the highest rates of physical disability in the world. It is not only landmines though.  Cambodia is littered with unexploded bombs from the half a million tons of bombs dropped on NEUTRAL Cambodia by the USA in the late 60's and early 70's.Henry  Kissinger has a lot to answer for here.

I taught Pove, our no 1 ace tuktuk driver and great friend, a new word.  He said to me after a marathon clinic day 'Oh Miss Barbara, too many serious problem on our heads'  I said to him that in English we say that it is 'overwhelming.'  It is very easy to be overwhelmed here but the trick is not to let that happen.  Then you would be no use to anyone.  You just press on, do what you can and then cry when noone can see you.  I sometimes sat in the school yard watching the children play and laugh and felt overcome with worry for them. Life is stacked against these kids in every way.  They live in grinding poverty, are often malnourished, have no access to decent medical care, no clean water at home,no soap, no electricity, often little affection and are treated like slaves most of the time.  Seeing them at school playing so joyfully just emphasises what a wonderful place school is for them. The work of the Foundation in the supported schools is of great importance to the kids here.  We provide clean water at school and encourage them to take it home to drink.  They are fed daily, we support the teachers encourage them to stay at school and study.  We help with their medical problems. We take them into Siem Reap, although it is only 28 kms away many of them have never been.  They need to see that there is another life apart from the rice field. We love them and play with them.  We provide them with the English lessons that are so vital if they are to complete their education.   We do not allow violence in our schools.  In Cambodia children are regularly beaten by their teachers; not in our schools though.  We now support over 2000 children but it is never enough.  There are many, many schools in the shockingly deprived poor rural areas that need help. So many children do not go to school and so the poverty cycle continues.  Tens of thousands of children do not go to school because they cannot afford the $25 dollars a year it costs for their uniform and supplies.

Not allowing yourself to be overwhelmed in the face of all this can be difficult.  You just have to keep going and do what you can. Step by step.