In an effort to help our supporters understand why our thirteen-person team could not immediately “render safe” the 750 bomb that we identified in a village, I’ve compiled a list of the steps that staff must follow when assisting a village that is threatened by such a destructive device. Ten years ago I was...
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Most provinces in Laos are underserved by humanitarian clearance organizations. Given the rate at which unexploded ordnance (UXO) is being rendered safe the bombs, rockets, motors, bullets and shells that blight 2,500 villages here will outlive every human now living on our planet. But…in the nine select provinces that currently receive funding…deminers are making...
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Three days in the field and each day a different challenge. I keep telling myself, “If this job was easy, what would they need us for?” The first day, we might as well have been working on a paved parking lot. The landowner, in the recent past, was either coerced or given the opportunity...
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Today is the coldest, windiest day yet. The guys are all bundled up in their warmest gear; some wearing ski masks. I’ve got to investigate why two or three of the fellows are working in just shirtsleeves. If they owned warmer clothing they’d be wearing it. If, as I suspect, they lack warmer garments...
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We Help War Victims, Inc. is calling for the US State Department Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement to advocate that future US funding be distributed in a manner that benefits all contaminated provinces. Here’s a map showing the pattern of bombing in Phongsali Province. Yet, this province has never been approved to receive...
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There have been over 20,000 civilian casualties to leftover ordnance in Laos, since the war ended forty years ago. But the most debilitating injury inflicted on the nation as a whole is the fear that affects individual and collective decision-making. Twenty thousand men, women and children have lost lives and limbs but millions fear...
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Interview with four female deminers: Kik, Davine, Omphon and Nuey Conducted in Phongsali Province, March, 2011 Yai Please introduce yourself. Davine: Good morning. My name is Davine. I come from Ban Houayho village. I am 19 years old. I have four brothers and sisters. I am the oldest. Yai: What Province? Davine: Champasack Province,...
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Several years back I watched child scrap collectors use rudimentary metal detectors to search for bomb fragments that they could sell to garner spending money. The kids’ behavior around unexploded ordnance was reckless and, like most youths around the world, they defined an accident as “something unfortunate that happens to other people”. After several...
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Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Saleumsay Kommasith told the media at a meeting of the UXO trust fund steering committee on Friday that 200 of the over 1,200 employees are being laid off. [Please note that the original article stated that 500 employees would be laid off. Later, UXO/Lao stated that the correct...
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Date: February 2015 Location: Dak Cheung District, Lao PDR. Topic: Fatal accident that occurred on 9/30/14 Victim: Sunsamay, age 12 Participants: James Harris We Help War Victims Ko Interpreter Chansamay Victim’s mother Keophouvong Victim’s father Neuphet UNEODCOOPER Team Leader Ko: Good morning. I would like you to introduce yourself. Father: Good morning. My name...
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