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Football Fruit Trees and Hope for the Future

Tony Oliver writes from Cambodia
Despite the big gap in I heir ages, six-year-old Sok Rady and 18-year hl Kong Sat have two things in common: their polio and ■heir hopes for a brighter fu-
>re Both are undaunted by ■ he poverty that diminishes 1 be lives of most young Cambo-iians with their affliction.
Sok Rady and Kong Sat live n separate villages In Kandal province. an hour's drive from Phnom Penh. But there is no r . idence of the superficial prosperity that permeates the < .ipital. Poverty is apparent and health and education services are minimal. This deprivation s particularly hard on children who make up 45 per rent of the country's population •“
Sok Rady, an avid football Lin contracted polio when he was two years old. His right leg ‘-offered moderate damage: but not enough to prevent him — tn chasing his football with a’
<>p-and-skip running style. He 'ires quickly, though, and the muscle wasting and shortening >f Ills leg are becoming more pronounced as he grows.
A bright child who enjoys school. Sok already understands that "learning-can give me a chance to help my family in the future." But given the subsistence level at which his family exists, it Is unlikely that he will get more than a basic education. -
Sok's grandmother and mother, despite the burden of two other children.’ try to protect him. But occasional visits from his father, a taxi driver in Phnom Penh, usually bring rough treatment for the boy. His handicap evokes resentment rather than sympathy from his father.
This kind of treatment is not unusual, especially among the rural poor, who account for 90 per cent of the country's population of elghi million. Many Cambodians believe that a crippled child Is divine punishment for sins committed by a parent-partlcular-ly the fa-ther-during a previous life.
Other explanations for dis-abllilles Include bad genes or sexually transmitted diseases, especially in the father. Either way. the entire family is stigmatised. •
Polio also struck Kong Sat at a young age: Just after his first birthday. Despite a badly ( rippled left arm and right leg. he managed to complete fifth grade. But then his poverty-stricken family needed another pair , of hands of help generate their dally Income and he was forced to drop out.
The youngest of eight children. Kong looked after the family's few cows. But three
fractures of his weak arm. a result of falls while riding cows, left the arm crippled. Nonetheless, he has held on to certain ambitions.
"I want to be independent and make some money for myself. so my mother has given me a small piece of our land to grow fruit trees." Kong says. T have already planted 30 banana trees, and I have room for 20 more. Now I don't have to just look after cows."
Kong prefers his village to Phnom Penh. "In any case, my lack of education would prevent me from getting anywhere in the city," he says. "I would like to continue studying, but I have no money for transport and books."
He wishes his protective parents had treated him more like other children. But. he adds: "I love them for the kindness and care they have given me." His disability sometimes depresses him, especially when he sees how it makes him different from other young people.
"I know I will never be able lo get a normal job." Kong says. "But I would very much like to have some form of vocational training to help me in the fu-’ ture." With Cambodia still facing political instability, that help could be a long time coming.
Steady progress has been made in reducing the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases since 1986. when the United Nations Children's Fund (Unlcefl began assisting the government's expanded immunization programme.
Although outbreaks of polio still occur, it Is not the scourge it once was. An all-out effort to . eradicate It from Cambodia by 1995 has been set in motion. Earlier this year. 250,000 children received oral polio vaccines during two immunization days.
The .expanded immunisation programme is active to some degree in all 21 provinces, although vaccination rates are lowering remote areas. Yet the mid-decade goal
of 80 per cent vaccination ef children under one year against the six major diseases is expected to be achieved tn Cambodia's 12 most populous provinces.
Meanwhile, lack of health services "for polio victims is a major constraint to treating children like Sok Rady and Kong Sat. A programme "has been operating since 1993 but so far its scarce resources have been concentrate^ on helping the thousands of amputees who are a legacy of the hundreds of thousands of landmines burled during Cambodia's many years of war.
Nonetheless, there is some hope for polio victims. Several non-goveVnmental organisations explore slrategies to train Cambodians to make .prosthetic devices. Although this support Is unlikely to becomes widely available soon enough to help young men like Kong Sat, younger polio .victims like Sok Rady may be able to realise their dreams. — Gemini News
Tony Oliver was formerly an Information Officer for Unicef tn Cambodia.