personal profile
Through East Meets West’s Support Network for People with Disabilities (SN-PWD), Sim received corrective surgery at age 16. SN-PWD provides people with disabilities medical treatment, job training and educational opportunities. The program operates in the provinces of Quang Ngai and Thai Binh, where Sim was born. The first step is to screen every person with disabilities in the four districts in which the program operates. After an initial assessment, beneficiaries are referred for corrective treatment, prostheses, skills training, educational opportunities, job placement, or a combination. Clubfoot, a congenital defect, affects nearly one in every 1,000 babies. While corrective casts or surgery can provide a remedy, treatment is unavailable to many poor children. Afflicted children carry the disability with them into adulthood, where it limits their mobility, earning potential and life opportunities.
“My longstanding dream has been to walk well and work like ordinary people.
Now I can.”
- Support Network for People With Disabilities Patient
east meets west 2007 annual report
Ta Thi Sim was born with two clubbed feet. Her parents could not afford to pay for corrective treatment, so— like her father before her, who also had a clubfoot disability—Sim grew up barely able to walk.
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patrick alleyn
SN-PWD has also funded Sim’s job training in garment making. She now works at the Nam Thai Garment Company and helps supplement the family income. Her longstanding dream, to “walk well and work like other ordinary people,” has finally come true.