Mahaxai Village, Khammouan Province, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic The village of Mahaxai in Khoumuan Province sits in south-central Laos, about forty miles west of the border with Vietnam. During the Indochina War this village the site of violent clashes between infantry of the Royal Lao army and Vietnamese troops fighting on behalf of the indigenous Pathet...
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In Laos, visiting medical teams help victims of a disfiguring disease. Walter Kopek, a resident of Stoneham and Bangkok and semi- retired from the business world, travels frequently to Laos in his work for a charity, Mines Victims and Clearance Trust. He visited Laos recently concerning efforts to clear unexploded ordnance. By Walter Kopek...
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Tha Lang Village - Nakai District, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic We never, ever, in any way, under any circumstance, pay villagers to report ordnance to us. Not one kip in payment. Not a t-shirt, schoolbook, food, candy, bottle of beer, or any other modest reward. Today the guys walked a fine line to win the cooperation...
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Odoumsouk Village - Nakai District, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic I’m well positioned here to get the first word on the quality of the upcoming Lao rice harvest. I can get the real skinny on current fishing conditions on the Nam Theun River. Before just about anyone else in America I’ll know the date that the mango...
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Odoumsouk Village - Nakai District, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic I’ve made it a habit to stop and talk with amputees. I find that about half the time the cause of the amputation was an accident with a bombie, landmine, or other old ordnance. I learn from the tales that bomb victims have to tell and often...
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WHWV provides help directly to individuals or communities impoverished by war; the organization partners with other nongovernmental organizations to provide services as needed. We have no shortage of challenges or ideas; we are limited only by the amount of resources we have to share.
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More than 100 countries have agreed to stop using them. Guess which one hasn’t. By BRIAN COOK In late 2001, Soraj Ghulam Habib, a 10-year-old boy living in Herat Province in western Afghanistan, was walking home from a picnic with his cousin and some friends when he noticed a yellow canister. Because its color...
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A retired Wisconsin principal now digs for explosives. Jim Harris crouches on one mud-stained knee, gingerly probing the dirt around a fist-sized bomb. A boy found it while digging for insects in the southern Laotian village of Phonephanpek. Harris is calm, but concerned. The hour is late, the sun painting everything ochre. “I hate...
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Vientiane, Laos Peoples Democratic Republic Hospitals in Laos lack many of the resources that you would expect to see in an American or European hospital. Most notably, patients have to make do without the support of nurses and aides. When people check into a Lao hospital they must bring with them a family member who...
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