Old and broken devices are always replaced by new ones in order to guarantee the safety and efficiency of the devices used for HI's beneficiaries. | © C. Jury / HI
When you first meet Un Sonita, the little girl is shy and clings to her father. But she is soon grinning mischievously, proudly showing off how she can walk barefoot and striking a pose! It is impossible to imagine that she was born with a club foot. Thanks to the early screening process developed by HI, her disability was identified early on. The little girl was put in a cast when she was just one month old, then fitted with a brace. She still receives regular follow-up from our teams. Un Sonita turned three this year and her leg and foot have almost recovered.
Khim Chanreaksa's motor delay was detected when he was 6 months old; he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Now 9, HI has been supporting him for 7 years, providing him with orthoses that allow him to sit, stand and move around independently. Khim Chanreaksa is the only child with a disability in his primary school. He can always count on the support of his classmates and his teacher. Khim Chanreaksa also meets regularly with the HI teams at the rehabilitation centre to change his orthoses when they get too small or are in need of repair.
As a young teenager, Heang Tienglin fell from a mango tree. The accident left him paraplegic. HI’s teams provided him with a wheelchair. After his studies, they encouraged him to train as a mechanic in Phnom Penh as part of a vocational training programme. Today, he has his own electronics repair business! For a year now, he has been repairing televisions, radios, drills and so on in a small workshop close to his home... and he loves it!
When she was four, Min Sokly caught poliomyelitis, an infectious viral disease that mainly affects children. She rapidly lost the use of her legs. Until the age of 20, she moved around on the floor, using her hands. She was unable to go to school and so cannot read. Coming from a very poor family, she worked for years in the rice fields. This extremely physical work is not at all suitable for a person with her disability. It was through a chance meeting with a taxi driver that she learned of the possibility of getting a wheelchair. Thanks to HI, she was also able to benefit from a livelihoods support programme and open her little shop.
