Banteay Prieb, a Jesuit vocational training centre in Cambodia, is launching an education program for people with intellectual disabilities next month. The program, which begins with 11 students, builds on the centre’s 23 years of experience serving people with physical disabilities as a result of war, land mines, polio and accidents.
The decision to expand Banteay Prieb’s services to include a new community reflects the changing need in Cambodian society. The number of people with physical disabilities is decreasing in the country and there are few organizations working for people with intellectual disabilities.
The vision of this program is one of inclusion: “Our mission is to develop the life skills of people with intellectual disabilities so they can live independently and be self-reliant,” said Fr Greg Priyadi SJ of Jesuit Service Cambodia, which runs Banteay Prieb. “Our goal is to create an environment which is conducive to active participation of people with intellectual disabilities in community life.”
The new program will be run by Phalla Kim, a full-time Khmer employee of Banteay Prieb with a graduate degree in special education from Korea. Preparations started last year, with Banteay Prieb teachers and staff attending workshops to better understand people with intellectual disabilities and visiting other non-governmental organisations to learn from their experience.
This year, Banteay Prieb plans to have regular workshops, and the first was held on February 13 for house teachers, who are staff in charge of the houses in which the students live. This workshop focused on behaviour management, and the house teachers learned about the various behaviour habits of people with intellectual disabilities, and how to react and help students in specific situations.
“This is a big challenge for all of us and we need to prepare and learn many things,” said Fr Priyadi. “But we believe that we can do well by drawing lessons from our long experience of working with people with disabilities. Please, keep our new mission in your prayers.”