In the still dawn the sound of runners' feet first starts as a soft shuffling sound, turning to a dull pounding as they approach.
The 8 figures unsettle the track’s dusty surface and it settles in swirling clouds around them as they pull up to stop.
They stretch and arch, releasing the tension built up by their early-morning sprint sessions, but as they do their legs remain stiff and unyielding. (Image 14]
It’s because most of them have at least one false limb. They are amputees.
In Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, where these racers train, missing limbs are commonplace.
It is estimated there are around 35,000 amputees in Cambodia now. Most are victims of the 10 million landmines, which were planted during the civil war between the government and Khmer Rouge, which ended in 1979 with the last of the fighters finally emerging from the jungle only five years ago.
But the end of the war didn’t mean the end of the carnage. More than two decades later, around 200 Cambodians still lose their limbs each month. There are thousands of old landmines buried around the country, and getting rid of them is a slow, dangerous and expensive project.
Added to this are thousands crippled and deformed by diseases like polio and cerebral palsy. Vaccinations were almost unheard of, and defoliants and chemicals used during the war have left their chilling legacy in the children and grandchildren of Cambodia.
The future may look bleak, but aid agencies working in Cambodia are giving amputees new limbs ‑ and new lives.
The Cambodia Trust is one of them. A UK registered charity set up in 1989 with a branch here in NZ, the trust’s aim is to train locals to make and fit false limbs and help rehabilitate amputees. Its work costs around $3 million a year, most funded by charitable donations.
So far, more than 10,000 amputees have been helped by the trust since its first emergency clinic opened in Phnom Penh 12 years ago. The artificial arms and legs it provides to Cambodians are free, as are future fittings and rehabilitation work.
Farm workers come in to the clinics to have their worn legs replaced in much the same way as a Kiwi farmer would replace their tractor.
The Cambodia Trust now has clinics in Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and Kompong Chnang. Between them the clinics have fitted around 12,000 false limbs since 1989.
The Trust also set up and runs the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics in Phnom Penh, which aims to train 60 Cambodians to take over from overseas-trained doctors by 2020, effectively working themselves out of a job.
So far 28 Cambodian students have graduated and are working for the trust, or similar aid agencies. Many of them are amputees themselves.
Lim Ay (Image 13) was helping carry a friend out of the forest after they had hurt their foot, when she accidentally stood on a land mine. Her entire leg, right up to the hipbone, was blown off.
She was one of the first to receive the trust’s help, and has been working for the Cambodia Trust as an outreach worker for the past seven years.
She visits small villages outside the capital, checking up on people too old or infirm to travel to Phnom Penh, but who still need the Trust’s help.
Hay lost his leg while fighting the Khmer Rouge as a government soldier in 1989. Yet another Khmer Rouge mine victim. Through a translator, he says the Cambodia Trust has given him a new life.
“They have helped us get jobs. They always support us and encourage us to cope with our disability, not to let it take over and not to be hopeless.”
“We work and live like other people,” he said.
Glen Howey traveled to Cambodia in January and February 2001 and spent five weeks working with the trust. His project was self-generated and part sponsored by the Asia 2000 Foundation.
For further information on the Cambodia Trust please contact Ian Kidman on 021 485 251.