Day 32 We did our first demolition today. I’ve rarely felt greater professional satisfaction than I did today when I heard and felt our controlled explosion of TNT go off, destroying the ordnance sitting under it. It’s been a frustrating year with fundraising disappointments and many times I feared that this project might have...
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Day 31 The team arrived last night about 8:00 PM! They were both a sight for sore eyes and a sight to see. The last 60 miles or so they were on a dirt road that I covered last week with the truck windows rolled up tight to keep out the dust. Unfortunately, these...
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Day 30 Today we had to make a market run to Muang May for fresh vegetables. Pickings are really slim in Sop Houn. About the only surplus items people here have to sell are live chickens, rice, chili peppers, onions and garlic. I’m surprised that we can’t even find bananas in the village. The...
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Day 29 When we start demolitions in a couple of days, the sound of ordnance being destroyed in controlled explosions will boom up and down the valley of the Nua River, the noise an excellent calling card for us. The disturbance will alert villagers working up in the hills — people living in temporary...
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Day 28 The doctor is back from his rounds in the more remote villages and, by rights, we should move out of our room at the hospital. He reassures us that anyone local who needs care will prefer to reside at home; he doubts that there will be an immediate need for the room....
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Days 26 and 27 The local elementary school sits at the base of a steep hill that is covered with dense vegetation. You’d need an outfielder’s arm, but if you can throw a baseball from shallow center field and hit home plate, then you’ve got the strength to could throw a rock from the...
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Day 25 Some quick takes: Saw a hen leading a flock of ducklings about. I suppose someone tricked her into brooding some duck eggs. I wondered, how would they ever learn to swim? Then, a huge Vietnamese potbellied pig bolted out of the bushes, snatched a duckling, chomped just once, and swallowed the youngster...
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Day 24 We continue to have villagers stop us to tell their UXO stories and to take us to see ordnance. We’ve seen eight or ten items already and have leads on a dozen more. Most are cluster munitions. Each piece we learn about requires an inspection and every trip to look at ordnance...
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Day 23 Every village in Laos has a village chief, or “naiban”. The position is not strictly reserved for an esteemed village elder but to be effective, the naiban, male or female, must be respected by people of the village. (Which is not to say that all naibans are virtuous; a very few are...
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Day 22 Bunking here at the hospital, we get a close look at the level of emergency medical care. It’s good for us to know what’s available, since we might need the care ourselves. Yesterday a girl came to the clinic fresh from a motorcycle accident. I suspect she took a spill on the...
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