The Children with Disabilities (CWD) Project was launched in 2013 and welcomes around 40 kids and adults (hereafter, children) to the School Continuity Programme. This Project aims to help children with physical and mental diversity to have autonomy and to boost integration in society.
There are PSE children with diversity needs that attend other School Continuity Programmes. “Integration with other children in other projects is one of the objectives, being this a clear success. Therefore, it would be a step back to take them out”, explains Paula Sánchez.
For many years in Cambodia, people with disabilities were thought to be, mainly by the Theravada Buddhist religion, people who had taken upon bad actions in their past life. During the Khmer Rouge Regime, the society was told to abandon and disregard this collective. Times have changed and there is no longer such a tough mentality. However, there is still work to do.
“Kids who enjoy and give out love just like the other children”
louise
“One of the objectives of this Project is to integrate diversity into Cambodian society proving that they are equal and can have fun as everyone else”, claims Paula Sánchez, one of the European coordinators. This is why children mix together and adapt their behaviours to each other. There are complications coming out from this mix, but also some very positive features. Even though working with CWD might seem like a big challenge, Louise, a European instructor believes that “it might look like a complicated group, but they are loving kids who enjoy and give out love just like the other children”.
Instructors serve as the feet and the hands of those who can not move them.
The big challenge in this Project is the constant necessity to adapt. The volunteers need to adjust to the capacities of each kid in everything that they do. If the activity planned requires running, the children who can run will run, but the ones who cannot will either be carried by others or will participate in a different way in the activity. The activities are planned in a way that each kid develops their abilities to the maximum possible. Instructors actively participate in the activities in this Programme, as they serve as the feet and the hands of those who cannot move them.
The children love to help each other out.
The best outcome is the bond that is created between the children. Paula Giner, the other European coordinator, says that she is amazed with how much the children love to help each other out. She points out that she has seen scenes where a little boy is crying and older kids with mental diversity hug him and make him feel better. Another touching scene is seeing a boy with a walking frame who picks up another kid that is getting tired and carries him. This is something you see constantly during the day. Children like to push the wheelchairs and help out with the kmeng -little kids- when they are doing something wrong.
There are some times during the day where the children need to be separated, such as lunch or some specific activities. This is needed for the health and safety of the children. Children with physical diversity eat at the New Land Centre, where the Project is based. They are fed by the volunteers and have an adapted diet. The ones who can eat normally walk to PSE Central -only four metres away from the door- and have lunch where the rest of the children do. Some need help, but others are independent and eat and drink by themselves or can even clean their plate.
“Everything that they can do by themselves, they will do it”
ana
As Irati, a European volunteer, says, everything takes longer with the CWD. However, “everything that they can do by themselves, they will do it, even if it takes double the time”, adds Ana, a European volunteer. This is why, if they take up cooking workshops, the children are encouraged to mix the ingredients and cook them by themselves, taking up more time than usual, but teaching them about following instructions and being patient. All in all, volunteers agree that these children are collaborative and good listeners.
For this Project, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are special days. CWD take trips to places like the cinema, the zoo, the mountain, or the swimming pool. When the team leaves for an outing, a whole tetris needs to be done to fit the wheelchairs in the adapted vans. “Definitely something worth watching”, adds Paula Sánchez. The 14 Khmer and 9 European instructors have to make sure that all the kids are properly seated and protected from whatever might be a danger from them during the trip. Sometimes they join the pensionnaires –interned children- during these activities with the objective of promoting inclusion and integration.
During an outing, the children really enjoyed a relaxing and fun horse ride and even received an equine therapy session. Another outing they love is the swimming pool, as Paula Sanchez well explains, “children with physical diversity can feel the freedom of mobility whist swimming, unlike when they are in wheelchairs”.
Added to the volunteers, a group of mommies– women who work with these children throughout the year- also join the Programme as they know the children. This way, with the help of these women, if there is ever a setback with some kid´s health, it will not be a surprise to all. A professional physiotherapist and speech therapist also join the kids in every activity they do.
“One of our tasks is to show them the world”
paula giner
All these outings are taken up by the CWD because in their daily routine their parents do not take them out much and not many things are adapted for them. “During the year they spend most of their time in a room and it is good for them to go outside”, remarks Irati. “They deserve to see the reality of their own country, one of our tasks is to show them the world and, along the way, their possibilities for the future”, affirms Paula Giner.
Given the attention the children require; they receive visits from the physiotherapy team twice a week. During the school year they make more frequent visits, but in the School Continuity Programme, these sessions are reduced so that the children have more time to play. It is specially the twelve kids with physical diversity that participate in these sessions, as they need to work on aspects that affect their mobility. However, in the activities that the volunteers plan, they include elements of fine motor skills, attention and reaching, in order to stimulate the mobility of the children. There is also a speech therapist that works once a week with the children who need it.
“The more time you spend with these children, the more you will see how beautiful they are”
nika
In conclusion, a day in the CWD Project is like no other, there is noise of big laughs out of nowhere and constant reaching out to receive hugs. The most dangerous thing that can happen to someone around these kids is that, with no warning, a little boy might kiss them on the cheek. There is definitely something special going on in this Project and, like Khmer coordinator Nika says, “the more time you spend with these children, the more you will see how beautiful they are”.
