Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 05, 2008, Winnipeg, Manitoba C m y k Page 2 b2 Winnipeg free press october 5, 2008 perspective Winnipeg repress. Com at first i was Happy to note that there were not As Many Street children evident this time As opposed to the vast number of them i saw in 2004. Soon however i learn that the absence of Street children is due to a local initiative to run them out of town exactly because of the rapid Rise in tourism. It is possible that local bureaucrats fear Street kids will somehow threaten their Ever growing Windfall of tourist currency. No one in this country is untouched by the horrors of the past. Mention of the Khmer Rouge creates instant discomfort and a change of subject. Many cambodians endure poor eyesight and still dont Wear glasses because the pol pot regime saw them As a sign of education. Wearing them could be fatal. Fear still affects behaviour and signs of that Are everywhere. The next Day i accompany Shoemaker on rounds to outpatient houses benefited by the his Home care project. He and cambodian nurse dim sop Hearin Load up the acc truck and we head to the first House where a couple of his positive children Are tending to their baby sibling in a blistering hot Bamboo Shack. They get a sack with a weeks Worth of nutritious food and snacks. The acc says under nutrition represents the single most important risk Factor for the health of cambodian children. Shoemaker questions them on the state of their health and the condition of the baby then takes vital signs and records blood pressure heart rate and weight. The his Home care project consists of health assessments education and counselling. With it comes the Calm natural interaction of Shoemaker smiling and joking to lighten the atmosphere. He hands the children his Stethoscope and shows them How to listen to their heartbeat. We head Back into the truck and drive another Kilometre to visit with a Young stable his positive girl whose parents died from the virus and who now lives with her grandmother. Shoemaker patiently explains this time to a grandmother How to take the medicines and questions the family on any changes in their health. The Little girl reacts happily As pictures Are taken with a Beautiful poignant smile. This image contrasts sharply with the sobering fact that every child we visit today is his positive. The Hospital has done a lot in the last several years but there is still so much More to do Shoemaker said. The biggest health Challenge for cambodians poor children is simply better Access to the appropriate health care facilities. With 80 percent of cambodians population living in Rural areas it is often difficult or impossible for them to find Good effective inexpensive health care. What acc is trying to do Over the next several years is work together with the cambodian ministry of health to build up the skills and knowledge of doctors and nurses working in these Rural areas so that these children will not have to travel so far they will get health care faster and this will save lives. I ask Shoemaker How he feels the training of the staff is going. He says How proud he is of them and How their skills and knowledge have progressed so thoroughly that they have gained the Complete Trust of the Community. Moreover he adds 98 per cent of the staff in his Hospital Are cambodian and each year there is less and less need for foreigners. I am working myself out of a Job he adds with a Grin. Produced with support from the Canadian International development Agency girl left Sells trinkets at angkor wat. Below children play in front of memorial to victims of the Khmer Rouge regime. Above left and below scenes from four House Calls to his positive children. Left recording weight above checking heart rate below visiting a girl whose care must be explained to her grandmother. In Bottom photo a Childs smile belies her grim Outlook. Above the Ever cheerful Shoemaker lets a couple of his patients Experiment with his Stethoscope. Far left a boy has caught a Butterfly and brought it to siem reaps Butterfly Garden restaurant where hell sell it for Money to go to school. Left a girl is learning traditional Khmer dance. No one in this country is untouched by the horrors of the past a father and child in a waiting room with patients self portraits. Cambodia continued from b 1 above and below two Calls on Homes where All the children Are his positive. The boy in the photo below looks after his baby brother. A 02_ oct 05 08_ Smyk. Ind b2 10/ 4/ 08 9 42 09 pm ;