Manitha's story (contd.)

If you've been a regular viewer of this blog, you may recall reading about Manitha, the two-year-old orphan girl whose Mother died of AIDS, leaving her in the care of one of the vocational training projects Laura and I are supporting.

There was something about Manitha and her indescribably sad story that captured our hearts. After spending some time with her during a work visit to talk about design and communications, we decided to come back and ask the social worker if we could see her again.

The result is that Manitha has become more a part of our lives. We have been back to spend 30mins-1hr with her on three further occasions and, in typical Cambodian fashion, her story has changed and we now know things about her that we thought we knew but really didn't:

• Manitha is not, as we were first told, paralysed on her right side. She has cerebral palsy, which severely restricts her movement on the right side.
• She is not, as we were first led to believe, the only child to survive her Mother's death. She has a fourteen-year-old sister who is also being looked after by NYEMO and who the project hope will be able to take care of Manitha in the future.
• The staff at NYEMO aren't sure whether Manitha has contracted the HIV virus that killed her Mother (her Father also died of AIDS). Although we were initially led to believe that she was HIV free, this is in fact what the staff are hoping, even if they can't be sure and won't test her until she develops any symptoms.

We were able to meet Manitha's sister the other week and spend some time with both her and Manitha. It's a frustrating knowing that there is little more you can do apart fom smile, say a few words and spend some time with these girls who have been left with a parentless and uncertain future.

But we refuse to be despondent, as over the past few weeks Manitha has been more responsive to staff and other kids and developed further movement in the right side. She also seems visibly happier than the first time we saw her lying in her pink cot.

Her future may not be as bleak as those of other Cambodian orphans, but you can't help but feel that Manitha's world will always be on marked by sorrow.