Vientiane - Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic On the day I arrived in Laos my friend Om was nearly killed in a road accident. About the same time that I was collecting my baggage at the airport, Om and three of his friends were driving from Khammouan Province to Vientiane in a low-slung flatbed truck, returning...
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Project Phongsali Daily Log: Week One Day 1 I arrive in Vientiane at midday on a flight from Taipei via Bangkok. My assistant and interpreter, Bounnphasit Xayavong, “Yai” to his friends, picks me up at the airport. It’s the peak of the tourist season and I have no hotel reservation but I am confident...
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Last spring as the rainy season began in northern Laos, we left Phongsali Province but promised villagers that we would return during the dry season to help them clear their land of bombs and other old ordnance left from the Vietnam War. Click on the image below to read a PDF version of the...
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The Indochina War ended over thirty years ago, but that distant conflict still impacts the lives of millions of people in both Asia and America. At the conclusion of hostilities, hundreds of thousands of people found themselves displaced from their homes. Many left Laos for uncertain life in refugee camps in neighboring countries and...
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In impoverished villages children and teens often turn to scrap collecting as a way to contribute to family finances. On good days children can earn wages equal to adult laborers. On bad days, they get killed when they mishandle bombs and other dangerous objects. WHWV produced this video in order to expose the realities...
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The parents of a nine year old boy discuss the tragic events that occurred on the day he tagged along behind two of his classmates who were collecting bomb fragments to sell as scrap. As events unfolded, the parents had to make a desperate dash to a primitive hospital hoping to find medical help...
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PRI Podcast When you have no money and no opportunity to make any, you’ll do just about anything to survive. That can include risking your life for a few dollars a day. This is what many kids and adults do in the southeast Asian country of Laos. They trek into the forest to look...
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Interview with Jim Harris Kathleen Dunn at Wisconsin Public Radio interviews Jim Harris and Jim responds to callers’ questions and comments. Topics include a discussion of the impact of unexploded ordnance (UXO) on the people of Laos and current efforts to clear landmines and bombs from populated areas. Harris discusses the human impact on children...
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Vientiane Lao Peoples Democratic Republic Time and again, when I encounter accident victims in need of surgery or a prosthesis, I turn to my friends at COPE (Cooperative Orthotics and Prosthetics Enterprise) a non-governmental organization providing supportive services to patients at the National Rehabilitation Center in Vientiane. Recently I returned to Boualapha District in...
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Vientiane Lao Peoples Democratic Republic My friend Ta Duangchom has seen far more hard times than good. When I met him several years ago he was walking aimlessly through his village, filthy, shoeless, wearing a ripped shirt and what I later learned was his only pair of pants. It was his daily habit to...
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