The accident that changed everything
Sreyka, 14, lives in Prey Veng province in southern Cambodia. She was only eight years old when she was hit by a car as she was leaving her home:
"I was on my way to school as usual when a car suddenly appeared out of my field of vision. It hit me violently and dragged me into the middle of the road," she recalls.
Her leg injury was severe, but due to a lack of adequate resources locally, Sreyka did not receive the necessary treatment. She was transferred to a hospital in Phnom Penh where, in order to save her life, her left leg was amputated.
The psychological shock and its consequences
Sreyka suffered for a long time from the trauma of her accident and the shock she experienced.
“After the accident, I felt anxious and distressed every time I went back to school. I kept thinking about what had happened to me and couldn't concentrate in class. I hung on until third grade but eventually dropped out of school. I would have liked to become a doctor, but I know it will be difficult... Otherwise, I would like to open my own hair salon."
Moving forward with HI
Seven months after her accident, in December 2019, Sreyka discovered HI's community-based rehabilitation centre and received her first prosthesis there. Since then, she has returned every year so that the organisation's prosthetists and orthotists and physiotherapists can check that everything is in order or provide her with a new prosthesis when she needs one.
"I love coming to the rehabilitation centre in Kampong Cham, I always get a warm welcome and I feel at home there. As I grow older, I receive new prostheses, which make everything easier: walking, doing household chores, looking after our ducks and chickens... I am grateful because without HI's help, my life would have been much more complicated."
Sreyka's family does not have much money – her father is the only one who earns a small salary to support his family. HI also covers the travel expenses for the young girl and her mother when they go to Kampong Cham for their regular check-up.
Sreyka is a somewhat reserved teenager, but she blossoms as soon as she feels confident. With the HI teams she knows well, she chats and laughs while doing the physiotherapy exercises that help adjust her new prosthesis: walking, going up and down stairs, pedalling...
"When I have free time, I love to ride my bike," she explains with a smile. "I visit my grandmother or my aunt, or I take my brothers and sisters to school by carrying them on my luggage rack."
The Kampong Cham community-based rehabilitation centre, founded by HI in 1992, aims to facilitate access to rehabilitation services – prostheses and orthoses, physiotherapy and social services – for as many people as possible. Every year, more than 2,000 people are supported by HI teams: 230 people received prostheses in 2025.
