PARIS - The organization that helps Cambodia's disabled received a boost from a Gulf-based
agency for its pioneering development efforts on December 18.
The Cambodia Trust Rehabilitation Project won in the "rehabilitation and social
integration of people with special needs" category for its efforts with landmine
and polio victims.
The award was presented at the annual Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development
Organizations (AGFUND) awards ceremony.
A trophy and a check for $100,000 were handed over to the organization at UNESCO's
Paris headquarters by AGFUND's president, Prince Tallal Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.
The prince told assembled officials and journalists that the awards were created
to bring to public attention the plight of the poor and to encourage projects that
protect human integrity.
"We believe it's important to draw attention to suffering in Cambodia,"
he said.
The Trust's international director Carson Harte said the prize money would be used
to assist people with disabilities. Specialist programs to create jobs such as craft-making,
he said, were not as important as getting them involved in day-to-day community employment
such as fish farming.
"For disabled people, poverty is the thing to worry about most," he said,
adding that polio was a significant problem affecting 50,000 people. "It is
our mission to enable persons with disabilities to take part in their community."
The Trust was founded in 1989 to help address the Kingdom's high disability problem.
An estimated 40,000 people have been killed or maimed by landmines, one of the highest
rates in the world. The Trust manufactures or repairs 5,000 prosthetic devices each
year to help disabled people.
