Hard Knock Life
This young man was our guide at the Landmine Museum in Seim Reap. As an infant, he was seriously injured by one of the countless landmines that remain quite common in rural Cambodia. His father carried him several miles to a hospital where the doctors either could not or would not help him. The father then amputated his son's leg with a wood saw. Now 18, he told us that landmines also killed his brother and his sister. I was amazed at how gracefully he moved on his crutch and how nimbly he leaned on it so that his hands were free to gesture and work.
The "museum" offers a glimpse of the different varieties of landmine (he holds one in the photo), and raises funds to help train and pay the salaries of those who are brave enough to help find and remove the mines. The museum also doubles as a school for children orphaned or disabled by land mine detonations.
While on a cruise to visit a floating village, we encountered this talented mother, simultaneously nursing her baby, steering the boat and selling bananas to tourists. I could not believe she was able to keep so many balls in the air without either child ending up in the water. Later she put the baby in the blue hammock (photo right) and rocked her to sleep while the little boy bowed and smiled to tourists who gave him a can of coke and some candy. We snapped the photo from the deck of a floating market where tourists could buy refreshments and trinkets as they watched the sunset. The market also housed a fish farm and a crocodile ranch.
1 Comments:
You failed to mention that the mother then poured half the can of coke into a baby bottle and attempt to give it to her baby. It was very sad that people are so desperate.
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