Things started back in April 2006, when we deployed one of the first procedures of a project circle: Home assessments. These, generally speaking, are visits to each and every Landmine/UXO affected households to obtain information about the accidents, assess their current living conditions and so on, and if the family's circumstance met our criteria, an appropriate assistance would be negotiated.
In an earlier meeting with our local partner, the Cam Lo Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (SoLISA) we agreed that for 2006�s implementation, we would shoot for the first 4 out of a total 9 communes in the district. These are all heavily impacted communes for their geographic locations. If Quang Tri province was known as the fiercest battle field in Vietnam then Cam Lo was just the hottest place: Charlie 3, Leather neck square, Camp Carol, Mai Loc� The communes we started for 2006 implementation have all those names.
Clear Path's Executive Director, Martha Hathaway Granted the assistance
It was four of us splitted into three teams; each team has a local commune official as a guide. The mean of transportation were motor bikes (the only thing that could get us through narrow village paths and save us a lot of time from walking). Each team was assigned a list of more than one hundred names; meaning that each team had to visit more than 100 homes and brought back sufficient information about those families�
Anyway, it was an extremely hot day and I carried a commune official on the back of my dirt bike. We were both so tired and thus, very few words were exchanged between us as we were riding. He just spoke to my ear "left" or "right" whenever we came to a cross road and I just follow those direction guidance to get us to a potential beneficiary's home.
I didn�t meet Huyen at her parents�. It was Huyen�s father who slowly told me the happenings of the accident. At first I took it for granted that Huyen was somewhere around the house, may be didn�t want to speak to stranger. Thus, I asked the father whether I could take a photo of the survivor. Then it was revealed that Huyen was living at the district�s association. The commune guide then joined our conversation: �What is the plan for her wedding?� He turned to me explaining that the girl was going to marry a blind man who is also a UXO accident survivor... We ended up spending more time than usual at this house.
A week after the home assessments were accomplished, we drove up to the Cam Lo Blind Association for a surprise visit. There were 14 members at the association and half of them became blind because of UXO related accidents. This information was provided by Mr. Thuoc, the association�s president. We had a chance to talk to them all, included the couple: Huyen and Thien.
THE COUPLE�S FUTURE PLANS:
* Live together with Thien�s parents: share the tiny living space with the parents and two younger brothers.
* Continue making brooms, and incense sticks for a living: the job is seasonal, thus, provide unstable income.
CLEAR PATH�S ASSISTANCE:
A grant of VND 10,000,000 (approx. $ 620.00) for the construction of a compassion home: First half of the amount was directly granted to the couple on their wedding day to initiate the work. The family�s contribution is the land and other costs. This is the most appropriate assistance among many other needs for the couple that CPI can provide. A follow up assistance that we would love to do is a cow for the couple to raise to help generate and stabilize their incomes.
Clear Path Staff Attended the Wedding Party
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