Operation Cycle Cambodia

An SA policewoman is about to embark on an overseas mission to help a special group of children in great need. But her efforts could take her into the same dangers that left some of that group disabled.

Cervical cancer nearly killed Sgt Tania Radis when a tumour burst without warning six years ago. Instantly thrust into a battle for her survival, she had not before then even known she harboured the ruthless disease.

With support, the then 35-year-old fought back and won, but emerged ever unable to have children. Today, she thinks of the time she spent at war with the cancer as the worst of her life.

And deep in her mind remains the frightening thought that the disease could at any time recur.

“It’s an unknown,” she says. “It’s like holding a gun to your head, and you just don’t know when the trigger’s going to go off. Once you’ve had it (cancer), it’s never really out of your mind.”

But Radis came to think of her near-death experience as “one of the best things” ever to happen to her. Although she had always felt, and acted on, a strong sense of charity, she found herself motivated more than ever to serve the less fortunate.

As she convalesced in her time off work, Radis drove a senior citizens’ community bus, visited nursing homes and ventured into fundraising. Later, she worked with Ronald McDonald House and visited cancer-stricken children, to whom she “felt the need” to speak.

“Once I was ill,” she says, “I certainly found it very frightening that I may not be able to do a lot of these things. So I try to fit in as much as I possibly can. Nothing really deters me, particularly when it comes to assisting.”

And, when the petite, bespectacled Radis sets off on her next charitable venture, she will show that not even the threat of landmines can deter her. She plans to undertake a 1,000km bike ride through Cambodia to raise $A20,000 for a Phnom Penh school for disabled orphans.

Radis needed no encouragement to accept the challenge when Australian-registered charity, Friends of interPART (International Partners in Action, Research and Training), suggested it to her in May.

The organization has 80 members worldwide, and sets out chiefly to support vulnerable children in “developing countries”. In 1998, it established the Rabbit School, so named because, in Cambodian culture, the rabbit symbolizes courage and sharing.

“I don’t live the harsh conditions they have experienced all their lives”

Disabled orphans attend the Rabbit School, attached to Phnom Penh’s only government orphanage.

Before Friends of interPART set up the school – attached to Phnom Penh’s only government orphanage – the children received no education.

The three-week ride, known as CyCleCambodia, starts on December 10. It will take Radis and friend, Ray Walker, around Tônlé Sap (or the Great Lake) by dirt highways out of Phnom Penh. In temperatures of up to 30 degrees, and in 80 per cent humidity, the pair intends to cover 50km each day.

Radis, who has neither visited Cambodia nor ever ridden 1,000km, will travel light but carry all her belongings – bike parts and a change of clothes – in her panniers. Offers of food and shelter she hopes to score from local community members, as no organized supplies exist.

And, with no cycle shops in the Cambodian countryside, she will herself have to service the new mountain bike she bought just for the ride. As preparation, however, Radis each day rides 20km to and from Fort Largs, where she works in training and officer development. She also cycles around 100km on weekends.

“Right now,” she says, “that’s what I’m maintaining. In September and October, I plan to ride around 300km a week, with the bike fully laden.

“It (the venture) is daunting, and it’s not something everyone would do. But I know that it’s contributing to some disabled kids, and their education. That just keeps me going.

“I think: ‘Well, getting on a pushbike and riding 1,000km in a bit of heat might be a bit tough, but I come home to my comforts and my life. I don’t live the harsh conditions they have experienced all their lives’.”

Nonetheless, Radis cannot avoid the landmine threat. It remains after decades of conflict, which began with the Vietnam War and followed with the Khmer Rouge era (1970s), and civil war in the 1980s.

So Cambodia today stands as one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. And many of the Rabbit School orphans’ disabilities are the result of landmine accidents.

Says Radis: “When I was approached about the trip, I was concerned that we would be riding mountain bikes in rural Cambodia. But the main highway is probably safe from landmines.

“You’d have to be pretty much (the victim of) a stroke of bad luck if you’re riding on the main highways and go over something not so pleasant.”

Radis is determined to raise the $20,000 through sponsorship and donations. Friends of interPART has already earmarked the money for the purchase of a vehicle. In it, school staff can take the children for medical treatment, or on outings.

But Radis also intends to use her ride to spread word of the school throughout rural communities. “The reason for going is not just to ride,” she insists. “We’re going to explain that this service is available and how it works, and that, if kids need to come along, they can.”

By now, a less committed woman might have stepped away from the task. Radis has not, even though she will have to pay for her airfare to Cambodia, accommodation and food. By the time her mission is over, she will have forked out around $3,000 of her own money.

And, for time to devote to her effort, she will have to use her annual and long-service leave from SAPOL.

“I aligned it to many things I do now in my job.”

So is she selfless to the point at which some might label her a kook? Radis says not. “I have an active social conscience,” she explains, “and things like this stimulate me.

“It will make me feel that I have made a bit of a difference, by providing just a glimmer of hope for some kids who have suffered.

“I aligned it to many things I do now in my job. I’m the equity contact officer at work, and this is about equity. I’m also a trainer, and this is about education. I love bike-riding, and it all seemed to fit into place.”

Radis chose to act for the Rabbit School because she knew the money she raised would go “directly into their hands”. And that she could meet the children on her trip also appealed to her.

For anyone inclined to criticize her for helping the needy overseas, rather than in her own country, she has an answer. “Some communities in the world suffer more than ours here,” she says. “It’s just a matter of identifying that some needs are greater.

“We are very lucky to live in Australia, and not really experience the hatred and conditions that many countries and communities do, all over the world.”

Donations can be paid into a Cycle Cambodia - Friends of interPART account at the Police Credit Union or directly to Friends of interPART, PO Box 1775, Macclesfield, SA, 5153 Ph: 8388 9061, Fax: 8388 9518.