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This ol’ girl had both her legs blown off some 25 yrs ago (she can’t remember, which is common – PTSD). She was in the forest (which doesn’t exist anymore) collecting the fronds that they use to thatch the sides and, sometimes, rooves of their huts. Boom.

She lives alone, tho her son, who is also an amp (landmine) comes by when he’s not working the fields. She chews betel nut or pan and was constantly bending low in posture of prayer, but it was only to spit the flagrantly purple betel juice between the bamboo slats whereupon the chickens lapped it up. Nothing is wasted here. Except lives and limbs.

Handicap International built her a nice loo with a ramp … there’s a grab-on bar inside there for her too. Nice work.

That’s Ramon and Sovan, his assistant. She was in love with both of them; they check on her at least once a month to make sure she’s still kickin’ and give her rice and other small things from time to time to help her along. She tends her own little vegetable garden, if you can believe that. She says she only gets uptight when the rains come, cuz she’d rather not get washed away. These people are Strong.

One of my most powerful (and pleasant) experiences on this trip was to chance into the acquaintances of a couple of young Spaniards who are volunteers for what is called (if a bit lugubriously) ‘The Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang’. Henceforth I’ll just refer to it as ‘The Mission’ (as opposed to ‘My Mission’!).

They are on the Right Bank (as, I suppose, you might expect) of the Sangkter River just North of the town of Battambang. As elsewhere in the world, these Catholics have found the nicest piece of real estate in the region; and it’s not small. But here the tongue-and-cheek stops because, and, mind you, I’m a soap-box atheist, the GOOD they do is formidable. And not once in my multiple visits here, was I hit with a bible, see a crucifix or, for that matter even hear the words ‘saviour’ or ‘sin’. They are just simply and effectively all about the very hands-on business of helping downtrodden brothers and sisters. It’s so CLEAR, and these guys get it. (more…)