Teaching Massage Near Angkor Wat

Every opportunity that opens up for alumni begins with a connection to a person and affection for a certain kind of work. For Ellen Roth, L.M.T. ('06) the personal link was to a cousin volunteering for
Doctors Without Borders and her vision was to bring therapeutic touch to needy children. As a result, she spent two weeks volunteering at the Angkor
Hospital for Children (AHC) in Siem Reap, Cambodia, teaching therapeutic massage to nurses and homecare aides.

Although she was a brand new graduate of the massage therapy program when she left for Cambodia, Ellen went there confidently. She brought a power point presentation she had prepared, handouts, and a curriculum for her short course. “Siem Reap is now a bustling city since Cambodia has become safer for tourists,” Ellen explained, “and the hospital is a very busy place. It provides free pediatric care to all of the children in the city and surrounding countryside. My goal was to teach the nurses and the homecare aides how to provide a basic massage for the children. We would practice on each other, massaging arms, legs and backs, and then they would work on the children.”

“The children were reluctant at first to be touched by me. I’m a stranger who doesn’t speak their language, and most of the touch in the hospital is not too pleasant. But the nurses helped me to overcome their initial fear, and soon the children became big fans of massage.” Ellen has kept in touch with the hospital and the nurses tell her they’re still using massage to help the children relax and sleep better. “They’ve invited me to come back, which I plan to do at the end of this year,” said Ellen. “This time I hope to put together a class on working with specific issues many of the children have, such as respiratory illnesses and digestive problems.”

Ellen had a long career in education, working as an administrator at Hunter and Baruch colleges in Manhattan. When she began to yearn for a change that would be more satisfying and with more freedom to structure her own time, she considered turning to massage therapy. When asked if it was difficult, after forty years of professional life, to return to school, she replied with characteristic enthusiasm, “I love learning. I loved going to the Swedish Institute. Though it was challenging, I wished the program had been longer.”

“I’m finding my work now to be very exciting and rewarding,” she said. “I’m providing massage therapy sessions in a few chiropractor’s offices. In August I’m going to attend a special seminar on massage for children with special healthcare needs. Then I’ll be taking what I learn to Cambodia to share it with that amazing group of women.”

Ellen Roth can be reached at rothne@aol.com.

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