In August, Ambassador Martin Vávra paid a visit to Dr. Michal Giboda, prominent Czechoslovak expert in parasitology. Dr. Giboda is currently living in a village outside Prague. He is a true Czechoslovak for he was born and studied in Slovakia, most of his professional life, however, was tied to Czechia. Almost 84 years old, Dr. Giboda is still fresh, active and shows a healthy dose of optimism and humour, even if the results of his work may have been more appreciated abroad than at home. In Southeast Asia, in Central and South America, in the West.

What was the reason for such a meeting? Czechoslovakia supported Cambodia since the time of the latter independence and provided humanitarian and development aid with the exception of the 1970s. After the fall of the Pol Pot regime, Czechoslovakia built and administered hospital in the town of Takeo. In 1983, Michal Giboda from the Institute of Parasitology of the Czechoslovak Academy of Science in the town of České Budějovice was sent to Takeo for one year with other doctors and biologists in order to treat local population, and educate and pass valuable experience on to local staff. Named head of the laboratory, he examined tropical parasites, especially malaria. Working and living conditions were difficult because Cambodia of the early 1980s was unimaginably impoverished with its infrastucture destroyed and a prevailing precarious security situation so that even the medical team needed to have several bodyguards. Nevertheless, the team did succeed in its mission.

Not only did this success earned to Dr. Giboda a nickname “Doctor Takeo“ among the locals, but also brought him an invitation by the Cambodian government to return in 1985 to evaluate the situation in the centres against malaria and to judge the effectiveness of various medicaments against this disease.

Dr. Giboda incorporated his experiences and experience from his first stay into his gripping and in many ways timeless memoires titled To cure and Survive with a subtitle In Cambodian Hospital after Pol Pot. He proved himself a bright observer and engaging storyteller having made good use of his earlier flirtation with journalism. Given that after the division of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic took over the baton and continued to provide humanitarian and development aid, the book should be a required reading both for diplomats and NGO workers heading for Cambodia. 

Anti-Covid measures made it impossible for the Ambassador to meet Dr. Giboda before his departure for Cambodia at the beginning of 2021. On the other side, now the visit was more beneficial for both sides for a real exchange of views on ordinary life in Cambodia and on the continuing humanitarian and development aid. Moreover, it was particulary nice that it was possible to pass greetings to Dr. Giboda from some witnesses from Takeo after 40 years. People like Dr. Giboda deserve a huge debt of gratitude for the good name they have brought to their country abroad by working under difficult conditions.

Author: Mgr. Martin Vávra