Fixing Ears in Cambodia

Source: http://blog.seattlepi.com

During my recent travels in SE Asia, I was fortunate to spend an evening with Director Glyn Vaughan of All Ears Cambodia in Phnom Penh. What an amazing place and individual - both left a lasting impact on me and I continue to dwell over the experience.

Cambodia is an extremely poor country still recovering from years of war and strife from the Khmer Rouge regime. It does not allocate any government resources to its disabled people. As a result, thousands of hearing impaired children and adults are left without the education, hearing aids, or services they need to thrive and many end up destitute and/or reliant their entire lives on family for support.

An All Ears marketing piece indicates that "an estimated 2 million Cambodians suffer from disabling deafness...and over half of these cases could have been prevented." In fact, chronic ear infections are so common that, in many villages, it is considered normal. And, of the ones in need of hearing aids, less than 1% have them.

Dr. Vaughan, a British audiologist, has made it his life's mission to reverse some of these trends. He left his UK practice to move to Phomh Penh in 2003 to establish and run All Ears Cambodia full-time. He is the only degreed audiologist in the entire country, and his clinic is the only one of its kind in Cambodia. He self-trained two women and an assistant on the practice of audiology and now the four of them work relentlessly to provide support treatment, hearing aids, and rehabilitation to those in need in Phnom Penh and in many rural villages stretching across four provinces. The clinic also partners with 30 other NGOs that work with AIDS and landmine victims (hearing loss is a common side effect of AIDS). The organization supports the sole government audiology clinic at the state hospital through contributons of personel and through traning programs. They do a lot of education and awareness around hearing loss - how to protect your ears, what to do when you have an ear infection (don't pour kerosene in your ear, for starters…). Glyn and his team also wrote the country's first audiology manual in the Khmer language. The amount of work and the tremendous impact that this small group of committed people is making is incredible to comprehend.

Dr. Vaughan's passion is inspiring and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing him share his experiences. If you are looking for a worthy cause to support, this would be a great one. For more information, please visit; www.allearscambodia.org

Young Israelis to help out in Cambodia

A Cambodian boy herds his cow in Pailin, north-west of the capital Phnom Penh. Photo: AP [file]

Nov 9, 2008
By ANDREW TOBIN
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)

After finishing their military service, legions of young Israelis deploy themselves throughout the world. Having subsumed their interests to those of the State of Israel for several years, they often take on missions of indulgence. As a result, Israeli travelers have become notorious in many parts of the world for post-military partying.

The "Backpacking and Donating" project is designed to improve the international perception of Israel and its youth. At the beginning of December, a contingent of Israeli volunteers will be sent to the Cambodian village of Chi Phat in the Cardamom Mountain rainforest for three months. Over the course of a year, four groups, each consisting of 10 volunteers between the ages of 21 and 40, will participate in the program. They will engage in volunteering activity for 10 hours per day, five days a week.

"This important project will introduce young Israelis to the humanitarian problems that exist in Cambodia and will emphasize to the locals the giving aspect on the part of Israelis," said Yael Rubinstein, the Israeli ambassador to Thailand and the region. "This sort of activity will assist me in presenting Israel as a country that is attentive to humanitarian problems."

Although their responsibilities will vary according to the immediate needs of the community, the volunteers will be collectively committed to improving the quality of the lives of the approximately 3,000 residents of the village. They will work intimately with the local population, focusing on English, mathematics, computer, health, and occupational training.

Despite minimal advertising, there were numerous applicants to the project, according to Gil Hen, the project coordinator.

"We chose complete personalities that we believed could handle the rigors of the program, and represent Israel well," he said.

The first group is already involved in a three-week training course in which they are learning about Cambodian culture and practicing relevant skills, Hen said.

Eshhar Tsafrir, the manager of the first three groups, will be going to the village in the middle of November to prepare for the arrival of the rest of the volunteers.

"I plan to meet with the leaders of the village to create a timetable for the program," she said. "I will also coordinate with the representatives of the Wildlife Alliance who are reforesting the area and helping people develop permanent agriculture."

For Niv Reshess, one of the members of the group, the project represents an opportunity to fulfill a lifelong desire.

"My nationality has prevented me from participating in overseas volunteering programs in the past," he said. "So I feel really lucky to be part of one that will allow me to help improve the lives of people in need on behalf of Israel."

Chi Phat was selected for the project based on its acute need for intervention. At this point, students attend classes for only two hours a day, and no one speaks English. Five percent of children do not reach their first birthday, ten percent of women die during childbirth, and the oldest person in the community is 57 years old.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Latet, an Israeli humanitarian organization, are financing the project. They have commissioned Lametayel, an Israeli outdoor gear and travel company, to manage it, based on its involvement with a similar effort in Nepal.

Yuval Limon, the CEO of Lametayel, is confident that the project will successful, due, in part, to the desire of the villagers for help.

"From our vast experience in this field, in order for a project to be effective, the most significant factor is the willingness of the local population to receive assistance," he said.

Despite its relatively small scale, the organizers of Backpacking and Donating hope that it will lead to a larger movement towards Israeli humanitarianism worldwide.

"We want to inspire more Israeli people to effect positive change, and display the real character of this country to the world," he said.

For details on the project, please visit: www.dogood.org.il/tarmi