It is a sunny day; a little girl with a school uniform plays with other children outside her classroom. She smiles, laughs and enjoys her time with them. It could all be a normal scene, but it is not. Few years ago, no one ever expected that she could ever go to school at all.
This is SOK Cheng, a girl of 8 years old. She was born with Down’s syndrome, a disease that hinders her to speak and read like other children. Not knowing what to do, her parents, phone vendors in Siem Reap, a Northern Province of Cambodia, decided to send her to live with her grandmother in Phnom Penh. Every day, she had to stay with her to wash, feed, play and take care of her as she could not play with the other children. Often, it was hard for her due to misunderstandings.
Cheng’s life has changed completely when she got support from the project “Education for children with moderate-severe disabilities”, run by Rabbit school in the partnership with Aide et Action, in 2012. She was firstly provided with a rehabilitation service for a few months, and then sent to attend special education in the public school. Since then, she has made a lot of progress: she is able to eat, wash and brush the teeth by herself. In addition, she can name things, hold pencils and even associate objects with pictures. Moreover, she can play and communicate well with people around her.
Her family is very happy with her progress and hopes that she will be able to learn even more in the future.