Charity worker overcoming injury

Sunshine Coast Daily
Queensland, Australia
Mark Bode | 20th March 2011


IT'S hard to keep a good woman down, as family and friends of Ruth Golder are once again witnessing.

Ruth Golder is working through the pain of her injuries to care for Cambodian orphans.

IT’S hard to keep a good woman down, as family and friends of Ruth Golder are once again witnessing.

The former Sunshine Coast resident has lived in Cambodia for the past 11 years, where she provides shelter to the country’s orphans and engages in other charity work.

But she took a nasty fall at her Phnom Penh home last month.

Despite splintering a bone in her neck and suffering multiple muscle and tendon tears, as well as bad bruising, it has been a struggle to get the 68-year-old to rest since the incident about a month ago.

Ms Golder’s daughter Tracey, currently on the Coast attending to business at their Love In Action office at Bli Bli, said her mother was one headstrong woman.

The day after she tripped on a bedsheet and badly twisted her body as she slammed into a hard wooden door, she took possession of a newborn baby.

Not trusting orphanage staff to adequately care for the infant, Ms Golder took on the responsibility herself.

“Anyone who knows my mum knows she won’t lie down and die,” she said.

“She’ll be physically okay (eventually). She’s doing the right thing by her body as much as she can.

“Her (Australian) doctor says she’s a tough old bird.”

Tracey said her mum was still in traction a lot of the time, was still in much pain and tired easy.

“She’s still looking after the bubbies (but) she’s wise, she’s not stupid.

“She knows she’s got a long haul in the country.”

Tracey said Ms Golder had hoped to get back to Australia soon, but her doctor forbade her from taking the 10-hour flight.

Instead, mother and daughter plan to meet up in Malaysia soon for a much-needed break.

“It’s the first holiday we’ve ever had together,” Tracey said.

“I’ll still run the office while in Malaysia, but we’ll have a week off. One way of getting us to have a break is to get us both out of the country.”

Through their non-government, not-for-profit organisation, the Golders run two orphanages and a nursery in the Cambodian capital.

Love In Action’s other charitable work includes educating the children in its care and providing clean drinking water for poorer, remote areas of the country.