So we set off for the orphanage of Sovannaphum – Jacqueline, Anne, Sotikun, and our dear Dominique – yes … a little masculine energy was required in this small group of osteopaths. Once the girls had been raised into the “cattle truck” as we called it, or “children’s bus” in Asia, we drove for a few kilometres away from Battambang …
MISSION IMPRESSIONS NOVEMBER 2017 Under the aircraft wing we could see the muddy diversions of a river, and a flooded plain. I was dazzled by the water everywhere! An immense lake at the centre of the country, which either emptied into the Mekong, or was filled during the monsoon by an inversion streaming in from a stretch flowing back from …
The desire to leave to discover other things, other horizons, other ways of living, but not as a tourist. To travel while exploiting a passion that inspires me – doing good to others. Feeling that I’m useful with what I can offer. And this is what I have been able to achieve with DOCOSTEOCAM. A close-knit group always ready to …
Hands that heal, accompany, surround, embrace and give. Cambodia, day after day, treatment after treatment, encounter after encounter, the desire to experience a moment together. An, Sophea or Sun – the first name of that young lady with pink tracksuit bottoms. She stood close to my treatment table and watched me. She waited for me to gesture she could …
To speak of my second assignment, I have decided not to speak of the treatment, the children, the suffering encountered: others are much better with words than me for this purpose. I would like to talk about US, those of us who take part in these missions, and who come back from these travels as changed persons, who find it …
A heavy weight that creates vulnerability, an injury, a leak point. The body that suffers from the torments of the spirit, and by listening to this body, we find the path to health, there for the taking. Giving selfless love, souls come together, and the energy of the group connects up with health. There can be no intention behind how …
Travelling as you work, giving time, being at the heart of the country. Opening, sharing and joining our humanities. The dream of practising osteopathy on a mission in a foreign country. Enthusiastic about the project and by those who lead it, I arrived in Cambodia without really knowing what to expect, apart from an extraordinary osteopathic battle, and encounters. Meeting with a …
Delivering hope. By participating in this humanitarian mission, I also wanted to contribute to creating a better life: that of the children who are victims of the destiny of a country: Cambodia. Offering one’s time. Being a benevolent, putting one’s life on hold, to do, just for a few days, a good deed for those who are most deprived, the …
I participated in the session of March 2017. In March, it was no luxury to have a warrior by your side. A warrior? Yes, a warrior, because no matter how pacific all the members of this mission were, every day we had a battle to fight. A fight that was often tough, not against misery, surrender or injustice, but a …
What a mission… What a country… What a trip! A country beaten down… But are we so sure? I embarked upon this project, thinking I might help, a little, some of the deprived children of Cambodia. But one of the strengths of its population lies in the reaction it gives. A reaction of humility, generosity, courage and… hope. The lesson is …
An island of contrasts. Separated from Phnom Pen by an arm of Lake Tonle Sap, the island is both near to and far from the capital; the ferryboat carried us from a bustling, polluted city to a calm island where time seems to have stopped… At the local maternity, the birthing room is right at the heart of a spiral of …
One of the treatment sessions that marked me the most during this stay was in Battambang, at the “Enfant d’Asie” (Children of Asia) centre, on virtually the last day. I must confess that by this time we had already given a lot of difficult treatment and I was starting to tire a little. This young lad had been placed on …
