It was in the early 1970s that Cambodia was most seriously contaminated by unexploded remnants of war, as a result of the conflict between the United States and Vietnam and problems with the regime of the Khmer Rouge. Today Handicap International manages two physical rehabilitation centres in Takeo and Siem Reap (production and repair of equipment, physiotherapy and after-care for patients) that assist around 5,000 patients every year.
Buy is one of the patients. It was in 1995 that Buy's life was turned upside down. "That day", he explains, "I was walking with two friends when I found an unknown object. We had never seen a bomb like it." He draws the object in the sand. It is a B40, an explosive fired by a rocket launcher. The group were intrigued. Buy's two friends started hitting it with a stick. They did not expect anything to happen. But distractions were rare and the days long.
Buy was standing near the pair. Suddenly, there was an explosion, a powerful explosion that killed the two youngsters instantly. Buy was thrown backwards, wounded. He lost consciousness. He would awake later with the gradual realisation that his life had just changed radically. He had lost a leg, an arm and two fingers on the other hand.
Recalling these painful moments, Buy's expression changes. "For one and a half years, I stayed shut away at home. I was sad and inactive all the time; I did not want to go out."
Regaining an appetite for life ...
In the end, Buy went to the rehabilitation centre run by Handicap International in Takeo, one of the two centres run by Handicap International in the country. Initially created as centres to make protheses for landmine accident victims, the rehabilitation centres offer a variety of orthopaedic and physiotherapy services for victims of landmine, road or work-related accidents and for children with congenital deformities.
Buy was treated at the centre during the time needed to make his protheses and for him to adapt to them. For this, he had to strengthen certain muscles, gain better balance and learn to walk with the prothesis.
Buy was also given a prothesis for his arm and the physiotherapists explained the possibilities to make his daily life easier. He can now hold grass while he cuts it to make fodder.
Of course, Buy would have liked to have been a farmer and worked with his family. But with the help of the staff at the rehabilitation centre, he has accepted the fact that his disability will prevent him from doing heavy work. He is making considerable progress. His protheses will, all the same, enable Buy to leave the house and resume his former activities while finding, through his work, his place within the family.
