A picture is worth 1,000 words. That may sound cliché, but for Srey Noun, a 17-year-old Cambodian girl born without hands or feet, the smile captured on camera when she was presented with custom made prosthetic hands revealed a life-changing moment. The hands, created using a 3D printer by Brother Rice High School engineering student Liam Coughlin, were delivered to Srey by Beverly/Morgan Park resident Paul Duggan at the end of March.
Srey is a student at a school supported by Love Without Boundaries (LWB), a charitable organization that provides humanitarian assistance to children in China, Cambodia, India and Uganda. Duggan, a Brother Rice alum, has been supporting LWB since its founding in 2003, and is a LWB emeritus chair. It was his idea to bring together Coughlin and the Brother Rice engineering curriculum with the young girl in Cambodia. (Read the complete background story in The Villager.)
Duggan traveled to the small town of Poi Pet. Cambodia to meet Srey and, with the help of LWB staff and volunteers, present the prosthetic hands. The Brother Rice/Love Without Boundaries project was a perfect fit! Within a few minutes, Srey was learning to use her new hands.
Srey wasn’t the only student to receive gifts from Brother Rice High School and local supporters of LWB. Duggan had so many gifts, he brought six suitcases to Cambodia! Each of the nearly 225 children received a stuffed animal and/or Brother Rice t-shirt; little girls were given handmade dresses. View all of the pictures from the trip in Paul Duggan’s photo album
