Chhoeun Samnang while in class at Prek Leap High School in Prek Ta Sek commune of the capital’s Chroy Changvar district in August. Hong Menea
Born missing both of her arms, Chhoeun Samnang used to despair and think her life was meaningless.
However, with the support and advice of her parents and family – and after finding the courage to push forward despite the challenges she faces – she is now receiving good marks as a grade nine student at Prek Leap High School, where she also has many friends.
She worked hard to overcome her difficulties by training to use both her legs and feet to grasp objects and she is able to skilfully manipulate most things she needs now and only occasionally requires assistance.
Samnang also has difficulties with walking and isn’t as stable as most people because her feet have an unusual curvature, but she manages to keep her spills and tumbles to a minimum these days by paying careful attention wherever she goes.
Samnang, 16, during a recent interview at her school, told The Post that she lives in Prek Ta Sek commune’s Prek Ta Kong village of Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changvar district and that she is the seventh of eight children – three boys and five girls – but the only girl in the family with a disability.
She said that when she was two years old her parents taught her how to use her feet to hold a spoon for feeding herself until she was able to do it without trouble. She can also use her left foot to hold a pen and write with it.
Growing up, she learned to help with housework like washing and folding clothes, cooking, washing dishes. Almost every kind of housework she can help with at least partly.
She said she used to be bullied by some of the kids in her grade at school. She didn’t get angry with them over it as she really is a disabled person so she felt she should learn to control her temper and feelings so as not to be affected by people’s words.
“I’m not angry. I’m not upset. Because I am, in fact, disabled, whether they point it out or not. I think I will be able to find a job after I finish grade 12 and be able to help my family with their burdens. I don’t want my parents lives to be too difficult. I want to work in an office using a computer or similar tasks as I can’t do many other things,” she said.
Ok Chhoeun, Samnang’s father, said with tears in his eyes that when she was just over a year old he thought of how difficult things could be for them in the future and he took her to an NGO in the Wat Phnom area who agreed to adopt her.
The organisation had her for about two weeks before he returned and asked them to give her back to him because he missed her and couldn’t bear the thought of giving her up permanently.
The NGO had named her Roth Srey Puth, but he changed her name to Chhoeun Samnang to follow his family’s name on her return.
“Because she was lucky, as I thought she couldn’t live with me, that it would be too difficult. But we are blood family and I felt pity for her. Despite the hardships, I told myself I would struggle to raise this child and do my very best,” he said.
He added that now that his daughter was 16-years-old, she could do many things with her feet –even typing on a computer as she has been learning how to use her feet since early childhood.
Russey Sanh pagoda in Prey Sar commune’s Prakar village of Dangkor district’s chief monk Ang Theary, who is familiar with the family and their story, told The Post that the father initially saw his daughter born without arms and decided to send her to an NGO but then brought her back home did so because the father felt that if he didn’t raise her it was likely that he would be missing some part of the four Brahmavihara of loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity.
“He took the child to the orphanage as if he was not a responsible father, but he proved that he has the four Brahmaviharas by bringing her home again, because those are the fathers who do not abandon their children,” he said.
Meanwhile, So Vichet, a career counsellor at Prek Leap High School, told The Post that Samnang was a student at Prek Leap Primary School and had passed the seventh grade exam and that she then studied at the Prek Leap New Generation School up until now.
The counsellor described her as a friendly child who is hard working and patient in everything she does – including her studies – with academic results that are at least as good as most of her able-bodied classmates and better than a fair portion of them.
“Although she has made a few [behavioural] mistakes over the years, she is not a child who makes it difficult for us to control her, nor is she a burden for teachers or classmates. She has no arms, but she uses her feet to write and do other things very well,” she said.
She added that Samnang could use her feet for typing on the computer keyboard quite skilfully and that she could also answer phones and perform receptionist tasks or do other office duties one day when she was ready to begin work.
