Sustainable Cambodian disabilty sports infrastructure supported through socially responsible corporate sponsorship

Dear Tyler Ahn

We though it would be best to have the CNVLD athletes speak for themselves and tell their stories
Yem Moeurn – The Iron Lady

Yem Moeurn, 40, is one of the toughest and most inspirational athletes competing in the ANZR-CNVLD Wheelie Grand Prix and is considered by her fellow female competitors as their protective aunt. Quiet and determined, Yem Moeurn’s life story is one of continually overcoming the odds with a level of exceptional dignity which puts most others to shame.

One of the first athletes to join the wheelchair racing programme in 2004, Moeurn is a pivotal figure in the ANZR-CNVLD Kompong Chhnang Racing Team and spoke with the CNVLD about her life and her sport.

“I am from Beong Veng Village, Krang Leav Commune, Bolea Pa Ear District, Kompong Chhanng Province. When I was 5 I had a high temperature and my family took me to a Kro Khmer (the doctor who uses natural medicine) for 4 or 5 months but I did not get better and my family was hopeless about my illness so they decided to bring me back to my house. I have been a disabled person with polio in both legs since 1972. The hardest thing about being a disabled person is traveling to places and many people have looked down on me very much.”

Moeurn’s early polio means she has been completely unable to use both legs for most of her life but this has not stopped her from maintaining a busy daily schedule including agricultural work where she often sits waist deep in the flooded rice paddies to plant and harvest seedlings. During the Khmer Rouge period, Moeurn’s disability may well have contributed to her survival and she was put in charge of looking after the young children in her village.

“I have 7 sisters and brothers and I live alone in a cottage near my sister’s house. I get up at 5 .00am then I do housework for 2 hours and after that I go to the rice field at 7.00am (if it is the rice season) I come back at 11.00am then I start cooking until 12.30pm when I have lunch. I have a rest for half an hour and I go back to the field again till 6.00pm or 7.00pm when I go home. I cook dinner for half an hour and I have dinner at 7.30pm. On wheelchair training days I go to the training at 6.00am. Besides my sport I like feeding animals and watching TV”

Because many of the Kompong Chhang racing Team live considerable distances from the training area and work as farmers everyday, the team trains at weekends with one session in the early morning and one in the early evening on both days.

“I go to the training at 6.00am (from my house to the training place is 17km) by motor dob. I arrive there at nearly 7.00am. We train for two hours between 7.00am to 9.00am. First we start stretching, and warm up then we train for long distance (21km). In the afternoon we train from 2.00pm to 4.00pm but in short distances. We train in Mong Barang village, Paei commune, Kampong Chhnang district, Kampong Chhnang province.”

As with the majority of CNVLD Athletes the motivations for engaging in sporting activities are a combination of factors

“I joined the wheelchair racing programme because I love sport and I also want to get healthy and I especially want to get into the society. Sport has changed my life because I get healthier, have a lot of friends and I can come into the society and I get some money from the training to help my life situation.”

Participating in sports has also served to build confidence and break down prejudice “I like training in long distance (21km) and I like to compete outside the province. When we train, the people in Kampong Chhnang are very proud to see the disabled person like me can play sport the same as able people. Sport makes disabled people can show their abilities and they become strong as well.”

Moeurn has competed in every CNVLD wheelchair race ever organized and thrives on the long distance races with her best position being 3rd in the Female 21km category. The camaraderie that has developed between the athletes during competitions is an integral benefit to sporting activities and the level of respect among them is clear.

Preap Nheb

Preap Nheb – Standing Up with the Scorpions.

Preap Nheb, 43, is one of the 26 new athletes to have joined CNVLD National Volleyball League teams during the 2007 pre-season transfer window. The high number of new athletes joining teams has shown the determination of the team coaches to constantly improve their teams in their quest to become National League Champions and has also demonstrated the importance of the CNVLD and sport within the Cambodian disability community.

Preap Nheb has joined the Kompong Speu Cambodia Air Catering Services Scorpions, one of the best up-and-coming teams in the National League. Established in 2003, the Scorpions train in Kong Pisey District, south west of Phnom Penh and are one of three Kompong Speu-based teams in the 2007 National A-League.

The pincer sharp leadership of Coach Pin Sarath belies his young age and already in 2007, the Scorpions have stung the opposition with their fast and deadly style of play. After strong performances throughout the 2006 season, the Scorpions were unlucky to miss out on a Semi-Finals place eventually finishing 7th.

Nheb was born in Chrou Neang village, Pol Ang Krong Commune, Barset District in Kompong Speu Province in 1964, when Cambodia still enjoyed its pre-war tranquility. Only 11 years old when the Khmer Rouge seized power, Nheb survived their four years of genocidal rule.

In 1986, aged just 22, Nheb was one of the many young men who joined the Cambodian Government forces to continue the fight against the Khmer Rouge because “I wanted to help my country”. The KR at this time remained barricaded in their remote jungle base in Pailin, North-West Cambodia which the Cambodian Government forces spent more than a decade trying to liberate.

After four years hard fighting in the jungle, Nheb was returning to his team to bring them rice when he was shot by a KR sniper, destroying the nerves in his right leg. The shock left him unconscious and “when I woke up, I was in the hospital”.

Unable to continue fighting, Nheb found that “most people didn’t like me after I became disabled, so I was very disappointed”. As with most of the Cambodian Athletes with a Disability, sport has become a means for them to regain their pride and self-confidence and volleyball is important for Nheb “because it’s made me a lot of friends and I’ve become healthy as well”

After Coach Pin Sarath asked him to join the team in 2007, Nheb has already proved his calibre on the court as an excellent receiver and attacker and is eager to compete for the all-valuable places in the Cambodian National Team for the upcoming 2007 WOVD Cambodia Standing Volleyball World Cup. “The World Cup is very important because the Cambodian Athletes can show their ability in the most wonderful competition”

After getting married to Ms. Un Nim in 1995 and having two children, Nheb’s ambition is now “to be sure that Cambodia will take #1 at the World Cup and that the Scorpions will gain success in the 2007 league”

Preap Nheb –Standing Up with the Scorpions

Touch Nary – The Fastest Lady on 3 Wheels

Touch Nary, 24, is one of the most inspirational Cambodian Athletes with a Disability and also the reigning ANZR-CNVLD Wheelie Grand Prix Female Champion.

“I am from Krieng Village, Kong Pisey Commune, Teuk Luk District, Kompong Speu Province and have one daughter.”

As Cambodia rapidly develops and infrastructure improves, greater numbers of vehicles and accidents on the roads have seen road traffic casualties overtake landmine and UXO casualties for the first time in the last two years

With this trend on the rise, the number of Cambodians becoming disabled grows exponentially and Nary is one of the increasing number of young Cambodians disabled through traffic accidents.

In 2003, when she was just 20 years old, Nary was riding a small motorbike in Kompong Speu province: “I became disabled through an accident with a car. Now I’m a lower right leg amputee and a full left leg amputee”

Most Cambodians with a disability experience great prejudice within their communities and Nary felt it hardest. An attractive young woman and married with an infant daughter, her husband left her after the accident. Nary’s family now provide crucial care and assistance to help raise her daughter.

Receiving rehabilitation treatment at the Kien Khleang National Rehabilitation Centre and the ICRC Kompong Speu Rehabilitation Centre, Nary was one of the very first athletes to join the CNVLD Wheelchair Racing Programme in 2006. Still recovering from the trauma of her accident, Nary was painfully shy when she joined the Kompong Speu Racing Team and a smile would rarely pass her face.

Identified early on by Kompong Speu Coach, Mr Ek Leng, as an exceptionally determined athlete, Touch Nary has slowly carved out increasingly impressive results thanks to a tough training regime. Training 80km per over four sessions per week in Kompong Speu, Nary and the team often ride despite heavy monsoon rains. Coming third and second in the inaugural CNVLD races, she has taken only one year to become the reigning Female Champion.

In 2006, Touch Nary came second in the 11th Annual Angkor Wat International Half Marathon, after qualifying in the CNVLD International Disability Day Race on 2nd December.