I had some great company all the way into the
jungle. Anil and Rose from India and Gideon and Jerry came with me on an
outreach to Thor Piang Rosey and the jungle. There pastor Chu and Pam and some
of the children came along. Our first outreach turned out to be quite a day. A
little boy, badly cut under the foot, almost a month old, and some old stitches
still in it (never taken out) came in and we had to clean it. After some tears
and some money for sweets we were done. Another little girl with a bad
infection next to her ear, almost 3 months old, has been to countless doctors
and no help. With a bit of talk I could cut it open and drain some bad stuff
out and cover it up. More tears and money for sweets and we were done. We
followed up on her 2 days later and she was doing fine. Praise God.
Our trip into the jungle was a bit rough but the
truck made it, so did we. The road is dry but that does not make it a smooth
road at all. Our snake-bite-anti’s finger is totally healed. Praise God. People
around are so happy for her. It was good to have pastor with us and he could
talk with the people and helped giving them glasses. It was so nice to see him
doing what he does best, evangelizing people. The Solar Bibles came in handy,
thanks Steve.
In Som Paom a lot of people came again to get meds
as well as glasses. Happy is not the right word to describe the smiles of the people.
One thing I learned on this trip is to be grateful what we have every day. The hospitality
of people just blew you away. The food they prepare for us in the jungle is the
best. Even in the remotest part of the world you can find sardines in a can,
man that makes for such good food.
Please pray for my friend Deon Botha. He is at the
doctor now and they will remove the stent in his Oesophagus, to improve his
eating.
Please pray for our visas. I gave the boys and mine
in already and waiting but Toinette needs to leave the country soon. In order
to go to Thailand or Laos she need to bus down to Phnom Penh and go to the
embassy. Such a hassle with our passports to travel around, while you are
already in Asia.
Here is a big need to pray for in Cambodia:
Cambodia has some of the world’s worst
mental health statistics. Experts say the large number of cases is partly a
result of Khmer Rouge rule in the 1970s.
The Cambodian government spends little
on mental health services. The World Health Organization says such services
are, in its words, “critically neglected.”
Experts do not believe that will change
anytime soon, because few Cambodian students are interested in psychiatry as a
career -- they have little or no interest in the treatment and prevention of
mental disorders.
Most Cambodians live in rural areas. But
few mental health services are provided there. So people must go to psychiatric
centers in cities, like the Khmer-Soviet Hospital in Phnom Penh. It is one of
the busiest clinics in the country.
Yem Sobotra is the director of the
clinic. He says that, 15 years ago, it cared for between 70 and 150 patients
every day. When our reporter visited recently, the daily average was 400. The
clinic has just 10 psychiatrists and 10 nurses or aides. So most patients are
treated for just a few minutes and leave with a bottle of pills.
Dr. Yem Sobotra knows medicine can help
patients, but is not the only answer. He says the clinic could help people more
if it had more money and other resources.
“So we (have) not much time to give good
service for them -- especially for psychotherapy. We just only (give) some
short counseling, short psychotherapy to the patient.”
In addition to the lack of trained
mental health specialists, Cambodia does not have the newer drugs used in
neighboring Vietnam and Thailand.
Cambodia needs more psychiatrists, but
few young people seem interested in the subject. Nationwide, just six students
are taking the three-year-long study program.
Experts say low pay and the challenges
of studying psychiatry keep many Cambodians from wanting to get training
TPO-Cambodia is a respected mental
health non-profit group.
Dr. Chhim Sotheara is its executive
director. He says Cambodia has many needs but few resources, especially in
rural areas. And he says the government is not doing enough. He also says the
psychiatry training program should be offered to other health care workers.
“We don’t have anyone who are enrolling
in the psychiatry training program, so that’s not going to happen. So I think
the transferring (of) skills from the specialist psychiatrist to GP, GP to
nurse, and to village health support group(s), traditional healers, the monks,
the nuns and all this would be good.”
Dr. Muny Sothara is deputy director of
the government’s newly-created Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
He says there has been an improvement in mental health care services in recent
years. But he admits more is needed.
“For the coming future we need to
improve the quality of the existing trained staff and mobilize new general
practitioner(s) and nurses in order to operate more mental health unit(s) in
other sector(s) down.”
Our reporter repeatedly asked Cambodian
officials how many doctors and nurses have been trained in mental health care.
But the question was never answered.
The Cambodian government spends about
$1,000,000 a year on mental health services. That is much less than is needed.
So it is not likely that the country’s mental health care delivery system will
improve any time soon.
I’m Christopher Jones-Cruise.
Correspondent Robert Carmichael reported
this story from Phnom Penh. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for VOA
Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
God chose you based on his mercy, not
your performance. You’ll never earn it. You’ll never deserve it. You couldn’t
work hard enough for it. You couldn’t be perfect enough. It’s only because of
God’s grace and mercy that the Creator of the universe says, “I want you in my
family.”
If that doesn’t encourage you, you’d
better check your pulse.
Love
Rossouw-clan
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