When the robber whirled and threw acid in his face, Boun Mao thought his life had ended.

From that day in 1993 he would be blind forever. 

He had only been working as motodop to earn the money to get him through his agriculture degree. He had already finished his second year and the world was at his feet. Now, to him, everything seemed over. 

"I told the German doctor in the hospital where they took me, 'please kill me. I don't want to live'," he says.

Blindness in Cambodia is caused by a number of factors, including war injuries, landmines, disease, physical birth defects, accidents, the side effects of poverty such as poor nutrition and back of adequate medical care. 

The blind are one of Cambodia's most marginalised groups. 

"In Cambodia, the blind are believed hopeless. People think all they can do is stay at home and do nothing. I felt I had lost everything and I could not go on. but the doctor said 'As a doctor, I must help you. You have knowledge. The Cambodian people need you'."

He treated Boun Mao and contacted Maryknoll, an NGO helping the blind in Cambodia. 

Shortly after Boun Mao was attacked until 1996, Maryknoll, a branch of Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, assisted by the Christian Blind Mission (CBM), were trying a groundbreaking experiment. 

They want ed to train a handful of blind and visually-impaired Cambodian volunteers in a skill they could then use to support themselves as a group. 

Maryknoll Project Director, Father John Barth, had already travelled to neighbouring countries trying to find a suitable skill to teach blind Khmers. 

"Many blind people overseas were learning massage, so I organised funding and facilities for a training course here, but we just could not find a qualified teacher, "he recalls. 

The, a "Godsend" came to him. A blind Khmer man called Sous Sothi.

Sous Sothi had lived overseas for most of his life but was visiting his homeland and his elderly mother. 

By chance, he heard about Maryknoll and dropped by to visit its Phnom Penh offices in Wat Sarawan. 

Sous Sothi, it happened, had studied Shiatsu massage in Japan as a teenager when a genetic disease first took his sight. He was now earning his living as a masseur in Montreal, Canada.

"We made him an offer on the spot. He went home, discussed it with his wife and family and came back for a six month stint of teaching, "Father John remembers. "It was perfect." 

Sous Sothi Became a role model for the Seeing Hands students-living proof that blindness, success and happiness were not mutually exclusive. 

At the end of training, Seeing Hands-massage by blind Cambodians-was launched as business with Maryknoll support.

Training continued in English and Braille, and the programme encouraged the masseurs to develop confidence and independence.

Seeing Hands is one of Cambodia's most successful examples of an NGO-initiated project becoming self-sustaining. The team of blind masseurs, empowered with literacy, language and work skills, operate as a co-operative and have been totally self-supporting for almost two years now.

They have two teams. Seeing Hands One is in the National Centre for Disabled Persons (NCDP) compound on Norodom Boulevard, near Wat Phnom.

Seeing Hands Two is located inside the Garden Centre at 23, Street 57. At the same time as Maryknoll found Boun Mao, they visited Tath Nigah's community near Olympic Stadium.

Nigah, then 17, had been blind since birth.

"I did not think I could do anything with my life. I was like... a frog in a well. My world was very small and dark, "she says now.

She had never gone to school. She had encountered the same prejudice all her life as Boun Mao had suddenly been faced with now in his twenties.

"My parents love me, but they thought they would take care of me all my life, "she says. They had never dared believe a blind girl could take an active part in society.

"I knew this was my chance. I studied hard, "Nigah says.

She now acts as a spokesperson for Seeing Hands One ("nothing else-we are all equal, "she stresses) and helped train other blind Cambodians to staff Seeing Hands Two.

"Business is good," she says. "Better than ever. we are always busy. At the end of the month, we add up how many hours everyone has worked, take out for bills, and divide the money (by hours worked per masseuse). That way is the fairest for everyone.

"And yes, my parents are proud. I do not think they believed it at first, but when Seeing Hands held its grand opening they were very, very happy for me."

The "three and a half" masseurs at One (Boun Mao works part-time) and the four at Two apply their own blend of Anma and Shiatsu techniques to everyone form business people to backpackers for just $US3 an hour for foreigner, less for Khmers.

Tath Nigah has no doubts.

"I believe blind people are naturally very good at massage. We can feel very well. That makes us good," she laughs.

But there are not enough funds, and not enough demand, to train more than a few dozen masseurs in the future, and there are approximately 72,000 blind and visually-impaired Cambodians.

The lucky ones had harnessed their abilities through Seeing Hands and now understood the enormous potential for blind and visually-impaired people which had previously been ignored. they did not want to simply enjoy their success.

What began as a chance for a few had not finished growing yet.

Boun Mao, with the support of the group, began to explore ways to help others.

In 1999, the director of the NCDP, Yi Veasna, arranged with the president of the Christain Foundation for the Blind in Thailand for Boun Mao to undergo a training  course through the South East Asian Network on Access Technology for Blind and Visually-impaired Persons (SEANAT).

At the end of a five month course, Boun Mao was an accomplished braille computer operator and amazed at the new possibilities for the blind he discovered.

There was no network for blind people in Cambodia. He decided to change that . 

"I came back to set up the Association for Blind Cambodians-ABC. We started in March this year. On October 25 we will hold a National Assembly of the Blind at Sofitel Cambodiana. So far I am expecting about 100 people," he says.

ABC currently has two sighted staff plus Boun Mao and works out of a small office in the Cooperation committee for Cambodia (CCC) building on Street 178.

Boun Mao is impatient for change. He regularly travels into the provinces, speaking to people and making them aware of ABC and its aims. He had also been overseas, as has Nigah, to speak to sister organisations and drum up support for fellow blind Cambodians.

"The man from the Malaysian association said to me, 'Boun Mao, do not despair. You have only been trying for a few months. We have been trying for 75 years. Things come slowly'. But I want things to come fast , " he says.

"I go into the province and speak to people and I want things to change today. Sometimes, the families of blind people in Cambodia throw them out because they are very poor and they do not think they are any use."

He envisages ABC raising founds for a braille library, copter training and research. But the project he feels most strongly about is the community rehabilitation programme, which he hopes to have up and running in 2002.

"This will teach blind people in the villages how to feed fish, chickens, pigs... how to grow the vegetables, and the mushroom. then they can stay with their families and earn money. People will see they can do things," he says, and his voice shakes.

Then there are attitudes to change, prejudices to overcome.

"The blind can work in factories. Blind people can do packing jobs. It is very easy for them. There are things they can do, but people will not employ them to do it. and school. Why not? We must change that."

Boun Mao himself is currently battling to be allowed to return to university but is faced with a system which tells him blind people are not allowed, despite his braille and extensive computer skills.

"I go overseas and speak to other blind people and they have Masters and graduate diplomas. We have nothing. In Cambodia, the blind do not go to high school. Not allowed. there is no reason for this. I will go back to university. I will make them understand that I can."

Financial support can be hard to find inside Cambodia.

Boun Mao Laments the fact that many Buddhists believe a disability in this life is punishment for a misdemeanour in a pas life, and that giving money to disabled causes makes it more likely they will be reincarnated bearing the disability they supported. As well, there is seen to be more merit in giving to schools and pagodas.

"It will be hard charging these attitudes, too, and we must rely on al to of overseas help at first," he sighs.

But the support is there. The Association for the Blind (Norway) for instance, has already pledged support. The Japanese are enthusiastic. And Boun Mao has a lot more overseas trips planned  to lobby others. Through ABC, Cambodia is the 158th member of the World blind Union.

Seeing Hands will continue to be part of the new awareness of Cambodia's blind and visually-impaired. No one will forget the place it has had as a catalyst for a new era. Boun Mao is confident of that.

Next year, funds permitting, training of masseurs for Seeing Hands Three will commence, and Seeing Hands is hoping to tempt their original teacher, Sous Sothi, back for another trip.

Boun Mao is determined. There is a lot to be done in the next few years. There are 72,000 people out there who have to make up for a lot of lost time.

Contact Seeing Hands on 018 816 891

For enquires about programs or submitting donations, contact ABC on 023 213 882.