Kanika

Got my consciousness elevated in a big way this morning, thanks to a 3 and 1/2 hour visit with my Cambodian friend, Kanika. She was a guest at our house in Eugene ten years ago while on a disability rights conference, and we've kept in touch via email. She is 40 years old, disabled since the age of nine months when she was stricken with polio. She's quite petite, uses leg braces and crutches to get around, although she also drives a hand-controlled Toyota 4 by 4 to and from work. I am privileged to know her. What a woman!

She's a fighter, had to be to get where she's gotten to, which is a professorship at the Royal University of Phnom Penh in the field of Social Work. She was an underground at that university back in the day, and I remember the story she told about how some of her classes were on the third floor, no elevator, and she respectfully asked if the classes could be moved to the first floor. 'No the class is on the third floor, it's up to you to get there' She used to drag herself up the dirty stairs in order to arrive late to class, day after day. Ten years later, she's a professor at the school, all her classes are on the first floor, and they've also built 4 cement ramps so she has independence on the campus. Hard won victory. She's real proud of the ramps, as well she should be.

She's had to fight her whole life, the only sister to three brothers, they got all the educational advantages, and since Kanika was disabled in addition to being a girl, her dad wanted to protect her from other kids making fun of her, protect her from the hard times that would undoubtedly be ahead, wanted to keep her home and safe. She wasn't having it. I asked, 'How did you convince them to let you go to school?' She said, 'I used to cry and cry and cry' . 

She also lived through the Khmer Rouge outrages of the mid 70's when they cleared Phnom Penh of all its inhabitants to recreate the country into an agrarian Communist utopia (allegedly) Her dad was a teacher, and those people were among the first to be executed, so they had to create a new identity, stay far from their original town so people wouldn't know them... the family split up, Kanika and two of her brothers living with the grandmother, starving and afraid as a little girl. She mentioned that her polio is likely worse than it needed to have been due to the lack of medical treatment and food. They would eat whatever they could find, worms, greens from the forest, always hungry. The thing she remembers most is the terrible fear at nighttime. 

The U of Washington in Seattle has a relationship with Phnom Penh U and Kanika was recruited to be part of the MSW program in 2007. Her parents were dead set against it, 'Who will look after you? You'll be gone for two years? You'll be alone'. She made it happen somehow, got her MSW, improved her English, even got an MBA when she returned to Cambodia and was hired by the University here to be on the social work faculty. She loves her job, great teamwork with her colleagues, does some consulting on the side, usually in the disabled rights field. She is a superstar!

We met for breakfast, then we took a ride and she showed me her University, which is on break this week. And on the way back we stopped at Watthan Artisans Cambodia, a place where disabled people get trained in different arts and skills. Kanika worked there for a year as a 20 year old, learning weaving, sewing and other textile arts. Now she helps the organization as a consultant, and when we showed up there, many folks were delighted to see her. I met her former teacher, met the director of the facility, they couldn't have been nicer. I observed the textile room where 8 or 9 folks were making purses out of recycled materials, working on silk weavings etc. The vibe was so excellent, I just about broke down crying. To see folks have that sense of purpose and community and art, to experience once again the power of the disabled community coming together in a positive way, just fantastic!