Project Reach: Cambodia

Phnom Penh, Cambodia -- A guide at the Angkor Wat complex, perhaps the eighth wonder of the world, quietly told me, “Be careful to stay on the path because there are still many unexploded land mines and bombs scattered around the Cambodia countryside -- even here in tourist sites.”

Actually, there are millions of land mines, unexploded bombs, and other war time ordnance that were either dropped by air or laid in fields, jungle roads, mountains, and rice paddies in every part of this small country. This occurred during the Vietnam War and later conflicts between the Khmer Rouge and anti-Khmer Rouge factions during the 1970s.

Met Sophary, teaching staff member

When the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia in January 1979 to overthrow the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, many peaceful rural farmers, children and unsuspecting people were already stepping on mines and losing their lives, feet, legs and arms. Survivors had to rely on improvised walking sticks or crude artificial limbs carved from wood or discarded metal parts to get around on their own.

Until 1990 there was not a single qualified Cambodian prosthetist-orthotist, (a person qualified to prescribe and fit artificial limbs and braces), who could help victims of these war related injuries.

Not only that, but there were also a growing number of people with polio, cerebral palsy, club foot, diabetes, and those injured in traffic accidents who needed physical rehabilitation, physiotherapy, artificial limbs, braces, and wheelchairs.

Country Director Michael Scott shows prosthetics available to patients

Fortunately, in 1990 the Cambodia Trust, a charity based in the UK, stepped into this vacuum and opened the first physical rehabilitation center in Phnom Penh. Subsequently, the Trust established the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics (CSPO) in 1994 to train students from Cambodia and other low income countries. CSPO provides training for about 36 students a year in its 3-year cycle, with 10-12 graduating each year.

In many developing countries there is a severe shortage of local staff with the skills and experience needed to provide the rehabilitation services needed by persons with disabilities. 96-97% of persons with disabilities in developing countries have no access to the rehabilitation services they need to enable them to participate in society. Additionally, adults with disabilities are 3 times more likely than non-disabled to be unemployed and live in real poverty.

Self portrait of young boy who lost arm from exploding land mine

Therefore, CSPO provides more than the sorely needed rehabilitation and artificial limbs; it is giving people the ability and a lifeline to return to work in society and earn a living in addition to ameliorating their disability. In other words, disability yields to creative ability.

CSPO celebrated two major milestones this past year -- its 20th anniversary, and its first double graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh. The September graduation saw ten students graduate from CSPO’s internationally accredited training course and nine more graduated with bachelor of science degrees from a joint program run by La Trobe University of Australia and CSPO.

The British and Australian ambassadors to Cambodia, whose governments provide aid to CSPO’s programs, joined staff and students to celebrate their graduation.

Patient being prepared for artifical limb fitting at CSPO

CSPO students spend three years learning their prosthetic and orthotic skills in the workshop, conducting a hands-on examination of patients, while studying for tests and exams in the evenings. Living together in the organization’s dormitory, La Trobe students had an intense two years at their computer screens as they have studied largely via the internet to pass their difficult courses.

It is believed that the graduates of CSPO will have a long-lasting, positive influence in their own countries by ensuring that sustainable local skills and know how in the prosthetics and orthotics field are implemented more widely in the developing world. This is especially having a positive impact on the lives of men, women, and children with disabilities who require prosthetic and orthotic services.

CSPO student shaping a prosthesis

CSPO has graduated 143 men and women students since its founding in 1994. These graduates are now working in rehabilitation centers in Cambodia and other countries including Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, East Timor, Indonesia, North Korea, Iraq, Papua New Guinea, and Nepal.

The Nippon Foundation is a leading financial supporter of CSPO’s educational and rehabilitation programs.