More than 20 years ago, Cambodia was in the midst of an AIDS crisis. In his 2004 book 'Hope for the Children of Kantha Bopha', Beat Richner reported that an average of three young patients a day were testing positive for HIV. ‘Prevention is needed.’ And he acted: With education and by opening a maternity clinic. Here it was possible to prevent the transmission of the virus from mother to child during childbirth.
In October 2001, the new clinic opened in Siem Reap, ‘perhaps the first maternity clinic built by a paediatrician,’ assumed Beat Richner at the time. All the women, without exception, were willing to be tested for HIV. And they all agreed in advance to a set course of treatment if they tested positive: Medication for the pregnant woman, caesarean section, weaning of the mother, one-off medication for the newborn.
If there is no corruption, if information is given in a clear, friendly, and professional way, the women will cooperate one hundred per cent,’ Beat Richner observed in his book. About 3 percent of pregnant women were HIV-positive.
One of the first babies to see the light of day at the new maternity clinic in 2001 was Lim Dina. His mother, Hy Somonthy, still remembers well how all her friends and acquaintances advised her to give birth there. ‘I felt much safer than at home – and I received help and support,’ says the 45-year-old. Lim Dina was her first child.
We meet the family 23 years later at their home in Siem Reap, where grandmother Neam Lamo, 77, also lives. The baby of the past has become a friendly young man. Lim Dina has been involved in charity work since his school days: He did various voluntary social services for the Red Cross. ‘Among other things, I taught schoolchildren how to cross the road safely.’ He himself had a life-changing experience as a boy when he fell out of a moving car when the door opened unexpectedly. ‘I spent three days in hospital with my mother - at Kantha Bopha Hospital, of course.’
Now living in Phnom Penh, Lim Dina is studying English and Information Technology (IT). He is also gaining his first work experience as an assistant at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. In his spare time, the 23-year-old enjoys playing table tennis, watching Hollywood movies, and playing computer games. His biggest dream is to travel to Japan and Europe and discover other countries. ‘But I would always come back to Cambodia – this is my home.’
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