From a distance the road to the Ksey
village unfurls before us, soft and pastoral as if in a dream. Riding on it,
however, is a nightmare. It is, like the majority of the roads in Cambodia,
unpaved, and the rocks and ruts conspire to rattle bones and provide
concussions. As Von mans the wheel I have a hand pressed to the roof of our van
to keep my head from knocking against the metal. We rattle more than we roll
and any hope of conversation is reduced to hiccups. The van kicks up a storm of
dust in our wake.
"Cambodian roller coaster," Von
shouts, smiling. Von is always smiling.
He is studying medicine in Bangkok but has
returned to his homeland to bring medical aid to the outlying areas. Decades of
conflict and civil war have crumbled Cambodia's infrastructure, compounding the
distance and danger for those in the rural sprawl who may need to see a doctor.
For some, diseases or accidents that in the cities would require the most basic
of medical aid can drastically turn into life-altering or life-ending realities.
Today we are visiting one such child.
Samnang is a five-year-old boy with a mop
of inky black hair and skin the color of weak coffee. When he was three he
suffered a compound fracture in his leg. The local healer told Samnang's
parents his bones were rotten. That nothing could be done. The break was never
properly treated or set, and as a result his leg is deformed. It is nearly
impossible for him to walk. Samnang knows why we are here and he is happy to
see us. Von and I are volunteers for an outreach program that will give Samnang
the required surgeries and physical therapy to fix his leg. We are here to take
him and his family back to the children's hospital in Phnom Pehn. Samnang's
father greets us from the entrance of their home, the walls and roof made from
woven palm leaves. He is a bigger, older version of his son. His handshake
quickly evolves into a hug, and in that moment, in the arms of a grateful
father, the road to get here doesn't seem so bad.
