As you may have seen last week in a prayer point on our Prayer Room page, for nearly six months IHSI/Sak Saum staff have been visiting a 9 year-old special needs girl in a nearby village. Though her name, Sokchea, means “healthy”, she has already survived so much: an attempted abortion, possible fetal alcohol syndrome, a botched medical procedure, flat head syndrome, and years of neglect and rejection. She has what appears to be cerebral palsy, and due to her family’s lack of education and fear she has lived her whole life being told she must lie still and not try to move. She never received therapy, adequate nutrition, or even kind words; in fact she would often hear her mother tell others just how much of a burden to the family she was.
Now, Sokchea has a new caregiver, and a new outlook on life thanks to daily visits by people who come to encourage her and help care for her. Simple things like bathing, sitting or drinking water pose difficulty for Sokchea. Despite the challenges, it has been so exciting to see her smiling with a sense of accomplishment after completing basic acts like moving her arms or legs to exercise. And even though she is currently non-verbal, she definitely is an opinionated and feisty little girl!
The years of neglect and rejection have taken their toll on Sokchea, but we believe that there is much more hope for her than her birth parents ever imagined. None of IHSI staff have any formal training in caring for special needs children, but as best we can have been trying to teach Sokchea simple stretches and exercises to improve her range of motion and strength. Despite our own limitations, we see a lot of positive growth in her ability to do basic motions that months ago she had little control over. Now she can even sit on someone’s lap and look around for a few minutes holding her own head up, which she had never done before.
