Saturday, July 30, 2005

Compassion in our In Box

These notes were in our email box today in response to a recent death in Vietnam:


"Clear Path is answering a call that struggles to be heard above the clamor of a greedy and often indifferent world. I and many, many others appreciate the hard work you do. Thank you. My heart goes out to this victim, his family, and all the others that have gone before him. Thanks to you, perhaps there will be fewer to follow.

Beth
Manchester Center, VT"

"JeanneE and I, and the members of Southern Vermont Veterans for Peace Chapter 88 express our condolences.

Jozef"


Thank you so much Beth and Jozef for the boost this morning. Your notes will be passed on to the family.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

U.S. CPI Delegation in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

CPI Adisory Board Member Joan Widdifield is leading a group of CPI supporters through SE Asia and blogging their experiences!
We are in Phnom Penh. Like Vietnam signs of economic growth are everywhere.

Tomorrow we meet with Sarath, the Director of CVCD, Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development, and Arun, former Director. CVCD is an organization of amazing people who serve underserved populations in Cambodia, including women coming out of the sex trade, the poorest of the poor, and landmine/uxo victims. They conduct vocational training for landmine/uxo victims. It is fun to make the rounds to visit the graduates of the program and see the big smiles when they boast of supporting their families with their newly acquired skills (such as small motor repair, computer, English, sewing).

Another one of our missions is to transport 186 feet from Cambodia to Maesot, Thailand. Cambodia high quality rubber feet, and the prosthetic workshop in Maesot needs them because of the high number of uxo accidents each year. In Cambodia one out of ever 260 people is landmine/uxo affected. We've only been here a matter of hours and have already seen several amputees, including a boy who is missing both of his arms and is crippled and in a wheel chair. His brother is pushing him around Phnom Penh begging for food.

On Monday evening we're off to Bangkok where we'll fly to Maesot the next morning to visit the prosthetic workshop for Karen ethnic minority Burmese refugees. Dr. Cynthia runs the clinic. If you google her name with "Maesot" you can read about her. She is often called "Mother Theresa of Burma." Needless to say, she is an inspiring tireless woman (received a Nobel Peace Prize Nomination last year!) A few years ago we dedicated the prosthetic workshop there to my late husband, so it's always a special visit for me!


Man Killed By Vietnam War Era Bomb

A 41 year-old man was killed by a Vietnam War-era piece of ordnance on July 22nd, 2005 in the Vinh Linh district of Quang tri province, Vietnam.

Nguyen Cuu Lam dicovered the bomb while working in the fields and was trying dismantle it to sell the metal for scrap when it exploded and killed him instantly.

Many people in this poor, rural area resort to dismantling bombs they find in order to augment their meager incomes, often to deadly results.

Although the Vietnam War ended 30 years ago, by some estimates over 350,000 tons of bombs that did not detonate when dropped remain in the ground. This ordnance regularly claims lives and limbs in this still war-ravaged province. Since the conflict ended in 1975, nearly 40,000 Vietnamese have been killed by by these munitions.
Clear Path International serves landmine and bomb accident survivors, their families and their communities in former war zones in Southeast Asia. This assistance takes the form of both direct and indirect medical and social services to survivor families as well as equipment support to hospitals. Current Clear Path projects are in Vietnam, Cambodia and on the Thai-Burma border.
More information about Clear Path International can be found on the web at www.cpi.org.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Thank you, Stuart!

Fellow blogger, journalist and landmine survivor Stuart Hughes interviewed me today for an upcoming podcast (I really love podcasts... I have been listening to them like mad... podcasting is like Tivo for the more cerebral).

Stuart, a journalist at the BBC (or the Beeb, as his blog has taught me!) lost his lower right leg to a landmine while covering a story in Northern Iraq.

He has since become an activist for landmine causes and a spokesperson for our friends at the Mines Advisory Group.I first heard of Stuart when I read this article he wrote on Cambodian mine victims.


His blog (which is produced independently of his work at "the Beeb") can be found at http://stuarthughes.blogspot.com/ His podcast RSS feed is here.

Thank you, Stuart...!


Monday, July 25, 2005

An Update on Ha

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Ha is one of our beneficiaries who has needed multiple operations. The entry below is from Toan who just visited Ha at the Da Nang Orthopedic & Rehabilitation Center (DNORC). Read more about Ha's story here and see more pictures of her here.

We visited Ho Thi Ha on July 21st in DNORC with a CPI delegation from U.S. She just got her fifth surgery on July 7^th by Doctor Thanh. It is 2 months and a half already since April 30^th when she came back to DNORC for her legs readjustment. On the day we visited her, Ha had an X-ray to check if everything is ok with her two legs. She still seated and moved with a wheelchair right now. However, she looked so great this time with a bright smile often in her face. According to Dr. Thanh, she had to seat on the wheelchair to wait for her legs recovered and stable after the surgery. It would take her some time on the wheelchair until she can walk, said Dr. Thanh; at least, one more month from now on. Of course, Ha could walk straight after the fourth surgery. Nevertheless, the fifth one would help her to walk straighter without pain. That is what Ha also wanted. She expressed her homesick with me when she has been staying in DNORC for quite a long time. She seemed very optimistic and hopeful with her legs straighter in the coming time. �Without CPI support, I would have to walk on my knees for the rest of my life�, Ha said. "It was so miserable in the past walking on my knee", Ha recalled and she then smiled happily, "I would never expect that I could walk straightly on my two legs. From now on, I could walk easily to work on the field and to take care of my younger sisters and brothers. I am so excited and grateful to CPI and to you all for your meaningful support".

By looking at her face, I realized that the happiness is simple but would only come to those who could respect it. Ha had suffered a lot from the landmine accident. She had also struggled a lot to live and walk on her own. And now she is deserved to have the happiness of walking straightly on her two legs.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Congratulations Toan and Son!

So often the news on this blog is tragic and seldom do we have cause for celebration... but this is an exception!

Our team leader in Vietnam, Tran Thi Thanh Toan is getting married next week to CPI outreach worker Hoang Phuoc Son in Quang Tri Province Vietnam.

Please join me in wishing them a long, happy future together!

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Son, left, and Toan in the mountains of Northern Vietnam


Saturday, July 23, 2005

News from CPI U.S. Delegation - Hue, Vietnam

After we interviewed Ms. Ha about her journey of five painful surgeries for white phosphorous uxo injuries we all clapped for her. Many of the people who are responsible for her care, Dr. Than, Mr. Cuc, Miss Huyen, Duc, and Toan were there supporting her; others such as Hugh, Imbert, Martha, and James were mentioned and there in spirit. We were all gathered around her and she filled with emotion and started tearing up. Then small yellow leaves started raining from the tree overhead, showering her. It was a beautiful picture. A few others started crying, and we all hugged and celebrated Ha's tenacity and courage. I feel honored to know her and wish I had half of her spirit and strength.

Chi gave me all of the photos from five years of CPI's work with uxo victims. Last night I was looking through them and was stunned by the numbers of tragedies. It really hits you hard when you see beneficiary photos one after another, some injured some killed. I was also struck by what an honor it is to be given all these private photos of people in their darkest moments of grief. I will work hard to honor these families and bear witness to their horrific experiences.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Joan Widdifield and Friends Reach Vietnam

CPI Advisory Board member Joan Widdifield is traveling in Vietnam with a group of CPI supporters and filming her experiences. After being delayed in Taiwan, they arrived this week.

We landed in Taiwan prepared to wait for our connecting flight and were told that all flights were cancelled due to the typhoon. We had our passports taken away and were placed in a hotel with the instructions that we were not to leave. High winds and rain made for a loud 24 hours and interesting rumors about the specter staying up to four days. We were told that we'd get a flight to Saigon the next morning, but that we had to be in the bus by 3am. We were all standing in line waiting to board the plane when people started noticing that the flight was headed to Hong Kong.



Natalie and I had met Patti in San Francisco and then Clark in the Taipei hotel. When we learned we'd be going to Hong Kong we decided to just enjoy our time together and spend a chunk of the day exploring some of Hong Kong. We had to spend the night in Saigon, but got to visit our friends Geoff and Thuy at JUICE, their fabulous restaurant. Geoff has now opened a burrito restaurant, and we've heard from a man we met in Taipei that its better than burritos in the States.
Since we hit the ground in Hue we've started a full schedule of meetings with the staff, and with Dave and then Cliff at MAG, Mine Advisory Group. Cliff was very generous with his time and drove us around to see the uxo clearing sites. We learned a lot from him about the issues about clearance.
We spent today in Danang at the Danang Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Center meeting with the director, Mr. Cuc, an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Than, and Ms. Huyen, Mr. Cuc's interpreter. They showed us around and introduced us to many amputees who had uxo accidents. Most were farmers.
Then we interviewed Ha, an endearing beneficiary who has suffered more than any human I've ever heard of, but who continues to thrive. She had a bomb accident when she was eleven and her feet were fused to her shins, and her calves were fused to her thighs for a decade until Clear Path identified her and sent her for surgeries. She crawled for half of her life, but now after 5 surgeries will be able to walk.
Then we met with the sweet 13 year-old boy who lost both of his feet and most of one of his arms in March. His father is also an amputee, from a landmine accident during the war. And, his grandfather was also a uxo survivor who eventually died from the wounds.
Mr. Cuc and Dr. Than said that they treat about 100 new uxo patients each year, and 1,000 landmine/uxo patients each year total. These unexploded bombs terrorize people and are slow weapons of mass destruction.
We are taking lots of photos and will post some soon, hopefully. Our delegation Natalie, Clark, Skye, Patti, and myself and of course the multi-talented CPI staff of Toan, Chi, Nhi, Phoung, and Duc are enjoying our time together and supporting each other. Until next time, tom biet.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Thank you Ben, Sally, & Company!

All of us at Clear Path would like to thank Ben Taylor, Sally Taylor, David Saw, Amity Fletcher, Rumer Joyce, Carrie Tree, Rick Redington, Larry Ciancia, and Dean Bragonier for putting on a spectacular show for us on July 18!

We had a capacity crowd of 220 people (all brought in with an advertising budget of 60 dollars) and raised over 5000 dollars for our work in SE Asia.

Artist websites:
www.bentaylorband.com
www.sallytaylor.com
www.carrietree.com
www.davidsaw.com
www.rickredington.com

Thank you all for a great time!!




From Left to right: Amity Fletcher, Carrie Tree, Ben Taylor, David Saw on guitar, Sally Taylor. Not pictured: Rumer Joyce, Rick Redington


Thursday, July 14, 2005

U.S. CPI delegation preparing to take off to Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Thai-Burma border

This will be my fourth trip to Southeast Asia with CPI as the
Psychological Advisor. It is my first without going with co-founder Imbert. I will miss his company a lot! We will be going to Vietnam for 12 days and then to Cambodia and the Thai-Burma border for about three days each.

In a few days we take off for Vietnam! My 13 year-old daughter, Natalie will be going for her second year in a row. We will be joined by Clark Slagle, Psychology doctoral student and Tai Kwon Do instructor from Utah, and Skye Fitzgerald, who has studied the landmine issue for a long time, and is finishing his film about the landmine issue in Cambodia, BOMBHUNTERS (www.bombhunters.com), and Patti Duncan a Ph.D. in Asian Women Studies from Oregon.

We have actually never met our fellow travellers, but share the common interest of landmine action. Our goal is to learn as much as we can from the staff, beneficiaries and other professionals we meet and come home and spread the word about these slow weapons of mass destruction.

Every time we go to meet with a beneficiary I always turn to my colleagues and say, "People need to know about this." So, this is my goal: to spread the word about this long-term, chronic effect of war. Peter Davis, director of the great film about the Vietnam-American War, HEARTS & MINDS, says that in the media we rarely see what happens on the other side of the guns. Our Vietnam staff is witnessing the far-reaching effects of the Vietnam-American war every day.

What seems meaningful to the beneficiaries is that we travel from afar and bear witness to their tragedy, which show them that what happened to them matters.
I will never forget when we visited a very young man in the hospital who had both of his hands blown off and his face and chest burned the day before in an uxo accident. He and his young wife were both in shock. We couldn't do anything to change what happened. But the CPI staff, Hugh and Miss Phoung, gave the couple some money to use for food (in Vietnamese hospitals you have to provide your own food) and other necessities. The wife looked incredulous that someone showed up to help. In times of horror and loss these kinds of gestures are very meaningful.
We hope to support the VN office staff in their work and bear witness to the tragic legacy of war that still terrorizes innocent villagers in Vietnam on a regular basis.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Boy, 14, Found Dead from US-Vietnam War Era Explosive


Quang Tri Province, Vietnam- A young boy was found dead by his mother last week after he failed to return home from farming peanuts early in the morning on July 8, 2005.

Duong Ba Tien, 14, apparently was digging in the dirt when an unknown Vietnam War era device exploded and killed him on the spot. His mother found him a few hours later.

"Here explosions happen all the time." his father reported to Clear Path Intenational a US based landmine and bomb accident survivor assistance program operating in central Vietnam "We hear explosions everyday."

View a video of his interview here in Windows Media Format.



Although the Vietnam War ended 30 years ago, by some estimates over 350,000 tons of bombs that did not detonate when dropped remain in the ground. This ordnance regularly claims lives and limbs in this still war-ravaged province. Since the conflict ended in 1975, nearly 40,000 Vietnamese have been killed by by these munitions.
Clear Path International serves landmine and bomb accident survivors, their families and their communities in former war zones in Southeast Asia. This assistance takes the form of both direct and indirect medical and social services to survivor families as well as equipment support to hospitals. Current Clear Path projects are in Vietnam, Cambodia and on the Thai-Burma border.
More information about Clear Path International can be found on the web at www.cpi.org.