Small amounts speak volumes in Cambodian speech pathology aid program

Meas Mai is a seven-year-old Cambodian child with cerebral palsy.

Meas Mai is a seven-year-old Cambodian child with cerebral palsy, a disorder of the nervous system which debilitates movement and muscle strength.

He cant walk, nor can he speak or eat normally. Mai is one of an estimated 600,000 Cambodians with a speech and swallowing disorder which puts him at risk of dying from pneumonia. It also means he cant go to school or get a job.

Thanks to an enterprising Australian though, Mais life is on the up. A pilot program in speech pathology run by 32-year-old Sydneysider Weh Yeoh is helping him learn how to swallow.

Sydneysider Weh Yeoh who has set up apilot program in speech pathology in Cambodia.

Where once he could only communicate through his enormous smile, he has now started to communicate like his peers, says Yeoh.

Advertisement

Yeoh has worked in Asia for the best part of a decade, for much of the time as a volunteer, mostrecently helping hundreds of kids in the poorest parts of Cambodia. Before this, he ran an adult shelter for people with disabilities in Vietnam, interned with refugees in India, and studied Mandarin in Beijing, China.

What he has been able to achieve in the past couple of years in speech pathology with just $45,000 scraped together from crowd sourcing, a contribution from the Red Cross and the help of some generous Australians has been astounding. It is a story which revives faith in foreign aid but it is heartbreaking too.

Weh Yeoh works as a volunteer with CABDICO, a local Cambodian non-profit organisation

Original post:
Small amounts speak volumes in Cambodian speech pathology aid program