Wendell Phillips

CAM-SA-NCDP01

Cambodia's National Center for Disabled Persons' Informational and Referral Service and Training and Information Service Business Development program provides professional support for landmine survivors in an effort to secure employment. This organization prepares clients for job placement through career counseling and job seeker trainings, and refers clients to potential employers who have open positions. 

CAM-SA-WRF

The World Rehabilitation Fund is implementing the project "Enhancement of Skills Training, Job Placement, and Job Development for Landmine Survivors and Others with Disabilities through Increased Employer Involvement" which identifies and addresses gaps in services for landmine survivors.   They organize and implement a program to bring together different sectors to provide rehabilitation and vocational training to landmine survivors.

CAM-SA-WVC01 through CAM-SA-WVC02

World Vision Cambodia’s Vocational Rehabilitation for Disabled project provides landmine survivors with the skills needed in the local labor market, in order to prepare them to support themselves and their families.   By providing technical skills training in fields such as engine, radio and TV repair, as well as other employment services, the program is helping to provide livelihoods for survivors.

CAM-SA-CAMT

The Cambodia Trust was founded in 1989 in the UK, with the aim of providing prosthetic limbs for landmine survivors in Cambodia. The Trust runs three clinics where trained, local staff provide physical rehabilitation services to help landmine survivors and other disadvantaged disabled people to regain their mobility and self-sufficiency. The Trust's community-based rehabilitation program helps disabled children to start school; assists disabled adults to gain new skills for employment or self-employment; and promotes equal rights.  In 1994 the Cambodia Trust established the Cambodian School of Prosthetics & Orthotics, an internationally accredited training centre for prosthetists and othotists in Phnom Penh. Students from developing countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan study alongside Cambodian students. Over 100 students have graduated, including 71 Cambodians who are now staffing rehabilitation centres across the country, fitting over 19,000 limbs per year.

Decades of wars and conflicts in Cambodia has left the land littered with millions of mines and UXO.   This legacy of war has left a large percentage of land contaminated by landmines, and UXO and has destroyed most of the country’s irrigation systems.  In a country where over 80% of the population are farmers, this has forced millions of poor people to risk their own lives in order to grow food to support their families.

In 2002, there were 834 mine and UXO casualties.   Ninety-eight percent of these casualties were civilians.   276 were children.  Since 1979, it is estimated that 56,793 people have been injured or killed as a result of landmines or UXO. Many survivors cannot afford health or they live too far from regional centers and are unable to access the services.  A number of international organizations are trying to address this situation but more help is needed.

Survivor Assistance Partners

Adopt-A-Minefield has helped landmine survivors by providing support to the following projects:

CAM-SA-OEB

Operations Enfants de Battambang (O.E.B.), a national organization based in Battambang province, provides landmine survivors with a comprehensive range of services designed to rehabilitate them and aid in their socio-economic reintegration.  These range from access to mobility devices and related follow up to advocacy support to ensure that landmine survivors continue to have access to the services that they need.

CAM-SA-VV1 through to CAM-SA-VV18

The Vietnam Veterans Foundation of America in Cambodia supports landmine survivors and other disabled people throughout Cambodia. Support services range from the production and distribution of mobility devices to assistance to help disabled children attend school. Each of their centers provides a variety of services to landmine survivors based on the needs of their clients.  These include, but are not limited to, the provision of wheelchairs, prostheses, and ramps for schools in rural areas.

CAM-SA-SUP01

The Cambodian National Volleyball League is a national Cambodian organization that organizes a sustainable disability sports program for Cambodia which showcases disabled people as serious athletes and provides role models for all disabled people throughout Cambodia