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remove wax from the ears. Not only did we encounter people
who had used inventive objects to remove the wax (e.g., tree
root or wooden sticks) but since they had no earwax, people had
insects in their ears, ear infections and itchy ears (dermatitis).
‘Itchy ears’ were prevalent and ‘catchy’. People did not want
to miss out on a service so even if they did not have dermatitis,
if they sat next to someone who needed Chyrisse’s ‘itchy ear
cream’, they wanted it as well. Actually, ‘itchy ear’ management
required an “itchy cream” area for its administration.
“Although the days were long, followed by late dinners, late
debriefing and even later to bed, we fondly remember many of
the patients we saw, like: the lady who mimicked the audiometric
tones, the gentleman who received a listening system and had
cataract surgery, and a father who heard on the radio that we
were in town and travelled by taxi for four hours so we could help
his daughter. The list goes on and on.
“By the end of the mission, we had assessed 670 people, fitted
over 600 listening systems and completed numerous swallowing
assessments and therapy sessions. Our job was over for now!
“As quickly as our clinic was set up, it was dismantled. By late
Saturday afternoon, there were no queues or new registrations.
The atmosphere had gone, the bustling, chaotic crowd of people
(including local school children and food vendors) was gone. The
hospital was quiet. By mid-Sunday, we said goodbye to Pursat.
“On our final evening, the Cambodia Vision team attended a
wonderful dinner with the Cambodian Minister of Industry, Mines
and Energy, Ambassador Corcoran (the Australian Ambassador
to Cambodia) and Ambassador Heidt (the American Ambassador
to Cambodia) in attendance. What a grand conclusion to a
successful mission!
Goodbye Cambodia, we will be back!”
“We debriefed every night after
dinner. It was hard to sleep
thinking about the chaotic day,
but who knew what the next
day or week would bring?”