meet Sreyrath - a shop owner 23 years old

"I want the world to bridge the gap between the blind and the sighted.

Ly Sreyrath, aged 23, has been affected by glaucoma in both eyes since 2004. She lives in Bakheng village, Bakheng commune, Muk Kompoul district, Kandal province and has felt shy, lonely, depressed and rejected by her friends after her parents sent her to a hospital in Phnom Penh for a check up and she received damaging results from the treatment.

On November 2004, Sreyrath was referred by CDMD to the Eye Unit of Chey Chumneas Referral Hospital in Takhmao town, Kandal province. She was told by doctors that it was too late to help her and was given surgery to reduce the pressure on both eyes.

CDMD spent time with her in rehabilitation and provided counseling, as well as encouraging her to have more interaction with other people. They provided her with a walking cane so that she was able to move around better and also provided her with a cow bank since she wanted to earn money to support a family. CDMD coordinated with the Association of Blind Cambodia (ABC), where she was provided with training on how to do massage and CDMD provided transportation from her house to ABC in 2005. After studying at ABC for one year, she decided to start working as a “seeing hand” massage practitioner since she would be able to earn $1 per hour. Sreyrath feels that this was extremely valuable as it gave her the courage to face her challenges with a smile and to feel stronger about her so that she had the determination to rejoin society.

On 14, May, 2008, Sreyrath got married to her colleague, Mr. Liv, who is also visually impaired. CDMD attended her wedding and she now has a two-year old child. Everyone admires her for her potential since she was able to overcome the hurdles of her physical barriers and took an active part in all activities.

Nowadays, she has invested in renting a shop for own business, called “Seeing Hand Message”. She has has disseminated this knowledge among her visually impaired friends at college. Sreyrath and her family are very appreciative of the CDMD project that changed her life now that she has become brighter and more independent in the community and in the society. She is not disabled, just differently abled.