Landmine victims put Cambodia on map

Kim Sorn (foreground), a land mine victim, warms up during a volleyball practice session at a Khien Khlang rehabilitation centre in Phnom Penh in this June 6, 2007 file photo. Sporting success is an impossible dream for most people in Cambodia, where poverty and the scars of civil war are part of daily life. But one group of athletes from the cash-strapped country are on their way to becoming world beaters. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea/Files

A prosthetic arm is seen as land mine victims take part in a volleyball practice at Khien Khlang rehabilitation centre in Phnom Penh in this June 6, 2007 file photo. Sporting success is an impossible dream for most people in Cambodia, where poverty and the scars of civil war are part of daily life. But one group of athletes from the cash-strapped country are on their way to becoming world beaters. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea/Files

Tuesday Jun 26 2007
AAP

Sporting success is an impossible dream for most people in Cambodia, where poverty and the scars of civil war are part of daily life.

But one group of athletes from the cash-strapped country are on their way to becoming world beaters.

They are not celebrities or highly-paid professionals, but former fighters in a brutal conflict who lost limbs to landmines and unexploded bombs.

Cambodia's disabled men's volleyball team are the champions of the Asia-Pacific region and have risen to number five in the world rankings.

"These guys are seriously fit, they really know how to work hard, and they work with their prosthesis," said Australian Christopher Minko, who has been involved in disabled volleyball in Cambodia for more than a decade.

"In this country, disabled people have to stand up on their own. Hopefully, we can push this team to be number one in the world," he told Reuters.

Since Minko started a national volleyball league for amputees, his teams have won gold at the 2002 FESPIC Games - Asia's equivalent of the Paralympics - and climbed up the world rankings.

Slowly emerging from decades of civil war including the 1970s Khmer Rouge "killing fields" genocide, Cambodia is littered with an estimated 6 million landmines, leaving it with one of the world's highest disability rates.

The league's 160 players are among some 40,000 "chonpika", or amputees, in Cambodia where one in every 290 people have been permanently disabled by landmines.

Although they fought on opposing sides during three decades of civil war, San Mao and Som Chak are team mates who have put their grim past behind them.

"We are the victims of the war, but we are friends now," said San Mao, a former Khmer Rouge guerilla who has a prosthetic leg after stepping on a mine while transporting munitions.

"When we chat, we chat for fun. We skip all the bad things."

Som Chak, 43, lost his right leg fighting the Khmer Rouge along the Thai-Cambodia border. He turned to sport to become part of a community.

"My friends in the hospital told me 'look around you, many people lost legs too, so move on,'" he said.

"I didn't want people to laugh at me because I couldn't do anything. I don't want anyone to insult us."

Som Chak said he hoped their success could raise awareness about landmines to prevent more of his people from becoming victims.

"My message to mine-producing countries is stop this," said Som Chak.

"I don't want more people to lose their legs like us."

In November, Cambodia will stage the World Organisation for Volleyball Disabled's (WOVD) Phnom Penh World Cup, which will be the first time the country has hosted a global sports event.

The tournament will be presided over by the kingdom's long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge soldier who lost an eye in the final assault on Phnom Penh in 1975.

The Cambodian strongman is a keen golfer and volleyball player, and regards himself as a disabled athlete.

Volleyball for amputees is catching on in Cambodia, with 17 clubs taking part in the national league.

There is even a team comprised entirely of ex-Khmer Rouge rebels in Anlong Veng, the final resting place of "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, the architect of the 1970s "Year Zero" revolution, which claimed an estimated 1.7 million lives in four years.

Chim Phan, 39, said sport is his passion and he will not let his disability get in the way of his success.

"I love sport, it makes my body strong," said Chim Phan, who competes in a number of sports events, including marathons.

"If I don't play, it's like I'm sick."

Turning losses into net gains

Photos: Cambodian volleyball players with the Veterans International Kien Khleang practice in Phnom Penh. (Paula Bronstein, Getty Images)

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

A transcript of a radio broadcast
Marketplace (Public Radio, USA)

Nearly 30 years after the "killing fields," Cambodia still struggles for economic recovery. But there is one unusual business that's turning a national burden into a proud export. Megan Williams reports.

BOB MOON: It has been nearly 30 years since the horrible "killing fields" of the Khmer Rouge regime. And after all this time, Cambodia still struggles...for economic recovery. Despite recent growth, poverty is widespread there. And corruption is the worst in Asia.

There is one . . . unusual business, though, that's beating the odds. It's turning a national burden into Cambodia's proudest export. Megan Williams has this report from Phnom Penh.

MEGAN WILLIAMS: It's a warm Monday morning on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. A small crowd has gathered to watch two of Cambodia's top teams face off in an exhibition game of the nation's national sport, volleyball.

The players leap and dive, tapping the ball over the net or spiking it with their fist. Just minutes into the game and it's easy to forget that all of the men playing are missing an arm or a leg.

These teams are part of the first-ever and only pro-sports league in Cambodia. With tens of thousands of Cambodians missing limbs due to landmines laid during the country's civil war, the league was launched as a way to help rehabilitate amputees and to raise the profile of the landmine issue.

But with more than 15 fully-sponsored teams up and running, the league is also an amazing example of a "clean" business in a country mired in corruption. It's transparent, successful and provides steady employment to dozens of people.

Chris Minko, an Aussie who's been living in Phnom Penh for more than a decade, is the league's secretary general. He says the fact that the players are disabled makes no difference to how the league is run.

CHRIS MINKO: One of the core rules of our organization is we don't want charity. We provide a high-quality product. That product is elite-level, international standard, spectator-friendly sport.

Just like any other pro-sports league, it offers naming rights, TV coverage, mascot identity and prize money. It's also a product that's winning. In just seven years, the national team has risen to the top spot in Asia and fourth in the world disabled games.

The league has been scoring points off the court as well. Last year, it won the United Nations award for best practice as an outstanding example of sports administration.

Minko says the key has been cutting out perks that a lot organizations build into their operation.
MINKO: The reason why we can do a $100,000 program is A. we do everything in house, from translation to design. And every ex-pat is on a voluntary salary. We don't have four-wheel drives, we ride on the back of motor bikes.

Most of the budget goes towards players' salary, which at $20 a month is about half the average take-home pay here. Prize money for the winning team amounts to a full year's salary.

Minko says he and his Cambodian colleagues have learned by trial and error. After problems with favoritism, team organizers are now banned from picking relatives and friends, and the national team is selected by an outsider. Most of the players come from remote jungle areas, and at first, didn't understand how to act when faced with fancy hotels and big crowds.

MINKO: In the early days, the hotel rooms would be missing items and . . . you know, there would be attempts to raise money off spectators and things like this. Now it's very tight, and very . . . as I said, you know, it's the dignity and the honor.

Chow Hok is the 59-year-old coach of the Kampong Spurs team that's playing today. He lost his leg 30 years ago, when he was working in a rice field and stepped on a mine. Volleyball, he says, has changed his life.

CHOW HOK: Playing and coaching volleyball is important to my health. It improves my mobility and strength. But it also brings in a regular income that goes towards supporting my family. It makes a big difference.

Chow Hok is a small example of how the league is both empowering amputees and teaching them about fair play.

Three years ago, Chow Hok was caught betting with spectators. He was kicked off the team. When he promised to reform, he was allowed back as a player. Eventually, he regained his position as coach, and went on to win coach of the year.

Chow Hok says he's glad of the second chance, and can't imagine his life without the volleyball league.

HOK: I love volleyball. The best part for me is the chance to travel, to meet other players. I used to be isolated, and now it's opened my world.

The league is now getting ready to host the international championships this fall. And to show the world that despite its broken history, Cambodia is back in the game.

In Phnom Penh, I'm Megan Williams for Marketplace.