{"id":2517,"date":"2015-01-03T06:00:51","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T23:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/?p=2517"},"modified":"2019-01-29T18:31:29","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T11:31:29","slug":"cambodian-landmine-survivors-troupe-phare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pharecircus.org\/cambodian-landmine-survivors-troupe-phare\/","title":{"rendered":"Cambodian Landmine Survivors troupe and Phare"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Emily Martin<\/em><\/p>\n

Cambodian Landmine Survivors troupe and Phare<\/h2>\n

For the last few months the team from Phare have been working with a group of performing artists, all living with disabilities, to develop their skills and polish their performances.<\/p>\n

The Cambodian Landmine Survivors group has been going for 8 years and is made up of nearly 20 people who not only are survivors of landmine blasts but also people affected by polio, have become disabled due to heath issues and illness, injured in traffic accidents or who were born with other conditions such as Cerebral Palsy.<\/p>\n

The group comes together three times a month to perform a theatre, singing and dancing show at Amansara in Siem Reap<\/a>. They tell a story of discrimination and the challenges faced by people living with disabilities in Cambodia, with the end message of reintegration into the community and acceptance.<\/p>\n

Muy Seu Bel<\/strong> (Bel<\/strong>), is one of the managers of the group. A landmine survivor himself, he has a lived experience of the huge challenges facing disabled people in Cambodia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Cambodia there are a lot of landmine victims. They are very poor, they don\u2019t have jobs. In Cambodia they have the idea in their heads that someone who loses a leg, loses an arm \u2013 loses everything. They think we can\u2019t do anything. They don\u2019t think we are important. You want a job? No one will give you one\u2026 that\u2019s why we have made this performance troupe, to show how landmine survivors, or disabled people can do it. To show others that we are all normal people and to give us a chance to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shows are a way for these artists to get a small income, but also to have the opportunity to work with others who see them as a person rather than a disability, and to feel empowered by that.<\/p>\n

Vat Soklai is the lead actor\/singer in the show, \u201cperforming in this show gives me a career to develop. It gives me confidence, friendship, hope and makes me realise as an amputee I can still do things. I have a job, skills and knowledge – that belongs to me\u201d<\/p>\n

Eang Mou Lin is just 15 years old and lost her arm after a routine vaccination created a cyst which got incredibly infected. She\u2019s currently studying at school and being part of the troupe has been the first time in her life she\u2019s felt fully accepted and encouraged. \u201cI\u2019m so happy to be part of the troupe. When I come here we work as a team, we help each other, give each other ideas. There is no discrimination and everyone keeps saying that the disabled person can do things the same as normal people. They have explained to me that even though I don\u2019t have an arm I can do the same as anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phare has been running workshops for the group, led by Vannara, one of the first generation students at Phare Ponleu Selpak. She has been working with the group, giving them some direction and improving their performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve helped them to be more present on stage, taught them what it means to be an artist on stage. I have also helped them to be clearer and the stories easier to understand. Working with the characters and their facial expressions and body language\u2026 I have showed them a lot, things they thought they couldn\u2019t do!\u201d<\/p>\n

Vat Soklai says \u201cthere were lots of benefits of this training, and working with Vannara. It helped develop the characters, the focus of performing and what it takes to make a great performance. The team has now understood that when they perform they are a real art troupe\u2026 we\u2019re not just doing it for fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

A bit about the story\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning there is a community, like a village. They have all come together and are having a party. They drink, they dance, they are happy. Then there is one person (Played by myself) who wanders away from the group. That person gets into an accident because he steps on a landmine. It explodes and one leg is blown off.<\/p>\n

Some of the community members hear the blast and came to help \u2013 there are two of them. The rest don\u2019t help, they don\u2019t like people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

The three of them, the injured one and the two helpers go around the villagers and ask for help, for water, for food but they don\u2019t give.<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t reintegrate the person back into the community- they kick him out. Even the people who first helped the man don\u2019t continue to do so\u2026 they kick the outcast out.<\/p>\n

I feel they hate me, they don\u2019t like me they don\u2019t need me, they don\u2019t want me around and so I sing about that\u2026<\/p>\n

In the same community there are two others who are disabled, they\u2019re also kicked out because of their differences.<\/p>\n

After there is a scene about animals. I play drums that represent the forest, where I now spend most of my days. There is a giant and a monkey. They see each other and they have some conflict, they fight. Then at the end there is a big noise to tell them that fighting is not the way to solve a conflict\u2026 then they stop fighting.<\/p>\n

There is another scene that is a love scene\u2026 and then at the end there is a reintegration scene as well when the people with disabilities are welcomed back into the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stories being told are very similar to the all of the performers own experiences.<\/p>\n

You can see the troupe performing at Amansara <\/a>throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\t\t