International Development Works

Ling and Phearom 2019

For those of you who have been following the OIC Cambodia story, you will be familiar with these two faces.

Roum Phearom is one of the first people I met in Cambodia in 2012, and one of the key reasons why I still believe, despite everything, that international development can work. She is an example of everything that can be done when we put power in the hands of Cambodian people.

Ling is now 17 years old, but when I met him, he was 10. Unable to speak clearly, had never attended school, and without a bright future ahead of him. Due to basic speech therapy, delivered via Phearom, Ling went to school for the first time at the age of 12. Months later we found out that he was coming second in his class.

Ling and Phearom's story taught me the power of speech therapy. And what happens when we, as well meaning foreigners, allow ourselves to give up control and create a space for Cambodians to lead their own destiny.

In November 2019, Phearom sent me this image and my heart was lifted. It's living proof that Ling is doing well, communicating better, and gaining confidence. It demonstrates that speech therapy can change lives.

Having worked on this for 6 years, I still struggle with the fact that there is not one single Cambodian speech therapist in country. Drop a pin on the floor, draw a 1km radius around it, and chances are there are more speech therapists in that circle than in an entire country of 16 million people.

I'm so proud of the OIC and Happy Kids Clinic teams in Cambodia, and the team of hard working volunteers in Australia, driving Day Without Speech schools and workplaces. We've achieved so much for children like Ling, but there's still so much more work to be done.

For our Christmas appeal this year, we are asking you again to help us to turn around the lives of more children like Ling. OIC only has another 11 or so years until it hits its exit point - creating 100 speech therapists in Cambodia by the year 2030, and having them integrated into the public sector.

Help us to keep this vision alive, and taking incremental steps to make ourselves redundant.

Please donate today.