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Ang Khom – a remarkable recovery
02 February 2009
Upon meeting Ang Khom in 2007, I was heartbroken. Ang Khom is a refugee who fled Burma and, like thousands of others, is now forced to live in one of the many refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border. The brutal military junta had forced his entire village off their land.
Ang Khom receives care at the Shan Health Clinic, Thai-Burma border.
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Forced relocation is one of the junta's strategies to keep people powerless and desperate, ensuring they are more worried about daily survival than overthrowing their illegitimate and brutal regime. But that was not the reason behind my heartbreak.
Ang Khom was paralyzed, lying flat in a hospital bed at the Shan Health Clinic at the Beng Pha refugee camp with a broken back. A tragedy not only for himself but for so many around him. Ang Khom is a skilled carpenter, one of only a handful of skilled trades people in the refugee camp, making his skills vital - having regularly used them to help fellow refugees. He had even assisted the clinic itself by constructing important equipment for women in labour. His injury was the result of a fall from a house roof he was repairing for another family.
But what a difference a year can make. With the assistance of the clinic Ang Khom has made a remarkable recovery. Staff at the clinic first saw to his immediate needs and made him stable and strong so he could be operated on. Then through the Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA funded referral program, he was able to be referred to a hospital in Chiang Rai for his back surgery. The referral program is necessary for many patients, as the Shan Health Clinic is limited in the equipment and drugs it can carry and administer - a general anesthetic and major surgery is beyond its capabilities. After his surgery Ang Khom was transferred back to the Shan clinic where he was immobile for six months. Clinic staff provided outstanding support to him during this time. Slowly Ang Khom began to improve.
Now, more then a year later, Ang Khom has feeling down to his knees. He can sit up unassisted, move his arms and hands and is doing some physiotherapy on his legs to try to regain full function. Ang Khom can now operate a wheelchair and move freely around the clinic. I found the transformation in this man amazing and I am thankful to the clinic staff who have done so much for Ang Khom under such difficult conditions. Let us hope that Ang Khom's situation continues to improve.
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