CAMBODIA Handicapped Youths Get Hope And 'Smiles' At Church-Run Center

Posted: 23rd July 2007

disabled young people at Arrupe Center

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia (UCAN) -- For 43 disabled young people, the Battambang parish church is home, not just a place for Catholics to worship on Sundays.
Sok Sarin, a 15-year-old orphan, is one of those youngsters. She is grateful to the Church for giving her room-and-board and educational opportunities for several years. "At home, I didn't have enough food to eat," she told UCA News.
Sarin and the others, aged 12-23, stay at Arrupe Center, which Jesuit Monsignor Enrique Figaredo, Battambang's apostolic prefect, set up in 2001 in the church compound in Battambang, 250 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh.

The residents, including many poliomyelitis and landmine victims, are receiving not just the support they need to attend public schools, but also physiotherapy as well as prosthetic and other kinds of medical assistance.
Sarin said she went to live there after her parents died, when she was 10. Ever since Monsignor Figaredo brought her to the center, she said, she has had enough food, a place to sleep and all that she needs for her studies.
The Spanish Jesuit pointed out to UCA News, "Arrupe Center began with five or six handicapped children, and now there are 43." He said it is a result of his work with handicapped people, many of them landmine victims. Many children are from poor families and could not otherwise get an education, he added.
Besides accepting people from Battambang province, the center has also taken in people from Bantheay Meanchey, Kampong Speu, Kompong Thom and Siem Reap provinces. They say they are grateful for all the opportunities they receive.
Ghak Vary, 21, who was crippled by poliomyelitis at three months of age and must use a wheelchair, told UCA News, "My parents are very poor, so I would not have a chance to go to school if I did not come here."
She said that having no chance for schooling until she was 13 made her feel "disappointed with myself, because I could nothing to help my parents," but living at the center has given her hope for the future.
Thaey Meav, 17, a blind orphan, was tapping his fingers on a table and singing aloud when UCA News approached him in the garden. "I am luckier than my sister," he explained, because he has a chance to study but his sighted sister must work to support their aunt.
He came to the center in 2004 and now studies traditional music in a school for the blind in Battambang town. He said he aspires to become a pop musician.
Keout Kunny, who was sitting with Meave in the garden, told UCA News, "I heard that if I come here, I would have schooling." The 14-year-old, afflicted with a clubfoot, has been in the center for six years. "Studying is very important," she said. "I will have a good job and help my family in future."
According to Monsignor Figaredo, donations come mostly from Spain, Caritas organizations and his own friends to cover the US$50,000 annual budget for the residents' food, schooling and other necessities. While they acquire general knowledge and learn English and computer skills, he said, "My goal is to give the disabled children a good future and a beautiful smile."
The young residents get great support from Ros Sokha, 24, the center's Buddhist caretaker who began working there two years ago. She told UCA News that three months into the job, her young charges started to call her "mother" because of the camaraderie that developed between them and herself.
The handicapped young people help clean the center and are often cheerful, singing and dancing, she said. "I really love them as my own children."

Article Source: Catholic Social Communications, Cambodia