Saturday, September 30, 2006

Microsoft Turns Landmines into Flowers

Looks like the landmine movement will soon reach the desktop. Microsoft is changing the game MINESWEEPER to placate those who thought the game was insensitive to landmine plagued communities worldwide. With the Vista release you will be able to, at least virtually, turn landmines into flowers...

from shellrevealed.com:
There have always been a small but persistent group of users who disliked minesweeper as a concept because they felt it trivialized the problem of land mines. For those of us living in North America, land mines are an abstract entity that you really only see in a movie, but in many parts of the world people are killed or maimed by mines on a daily basis....

One of the realities of making something with the reach of Windows is that it is almost impossible not to offend someone somewhere with anything you do....

In the minesweeper case, since we were doing a re-write anyway, we thought it would a good time to address these concerns. We added a preference that allows users to change it from looking for mines in a minefield to looking for flowers in a flower field. Now, personally I am not a fan of using flowers here - I mean, you WANT to find flowers, right? - but this was an established alternative in the market and none of the other ideas we had (dog poo? penguins?) could pass the legal/geopolitcs/trademark/etc. hurdles


Even I think this is kind of silly, but since they started... why stop there? Why not put an option into the game to turn a real minefield into flowers with a link (for those users who find the thought of virtual mines on their computers repugnant) to donate to relief groups that remove REAL mines? Groups like Mines Advisory Group, HALO Trust and Adopt-a-Minefield can always use the money. Now THAT would make a difference.

Friday, September 29, 2006

A Slideshow from the Thailand - Myanmar Border

Click here for a slideshow of recent images from Clear Path funded clinics along the Thailand - Myanmar border.

Vietnam: Explosive Remnants of War Incident Report from January 2006 to September 2006

When Wars End, Landmines and Bombs Remain.Over the last year Clear Path International's Vietnam staff has been working to create a database for reporting on accidents involving explosive remnants of war that are reported to us and to which we have responded to give assistance. These reports are only the incidents to which we (CPI) have responded and are not representative of the country as a whole...

That being said, the linked PDF is a basic report on incidents from January 1, 2006 to September 2, 2006. This is the first time we have posted information from this database.

CPI responded to incidents involving 73 different victims ranging in severity from minor injury to death. Ages of victims over this period were as low as four years old. Most of the victims are male.

PDF: Clear Path International Vietnam Explosive Remnants of War Incident Report: January 1, 2006- September 2, 2006

In the photo below, Clear Path's Nhi (far right) responds to an incident resulting in death in Central Vietnam's Quang Tri Province.
Le Cham 6

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

UN SECURITY COUNCIL ADDRESSES BURMA: The Never-Ending Myanmar Nightmare

This is good news... perhaps finally something will be done to address the laundry list of horrific crimes against humanity being commited by the Myanmar government....

The Never-Ending Myanmar Nightmare

By Daniel Pepper in Yangon

For well over a decade, the military junta in Myanmar has been trying to bring the Karen ethnic minority under its thumb. This year, the offensive has intensified -- magnifying the ongoing refugee disaster in Southeast Asia. The UN, finally, has decided to pay more attention.

Read the article here.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

The Beds Fit Sideways | The Clear Path International Medical Supplies Donation Program

Volunteers load medical donations for shipmentThe heavy electrical bed frames from the donor in Issaquah had to go sideways on a wheeled furniture dolly to go through the door opening. It was a little extra trouble, but that was nothing new for this crew of volunteers, old hands at the movement of medical equipment and supplies for Clear Path or at least old hands at our whacky resourcefulness.

The space we�re using to store the 12 beds from Marianwood Nursing Home and many other items we�re storing for our next shipment is donated by Total Reclaim, Seattle-based recycling firm that lets us use a portion of their warehouse that used to be a large corner office.

Volunteers load medical donations for shipmentIt goes nicely with the old cargo van donated to us by a Bainbridge Island electrician and with the fact we never pay for shipping to get our items to the hospitals in the developing world. That usually gets taken care of by a great partner organization in Canada, Universal Aide Society and sometimes Rotary. We only really pay for large truck rentals and occasional day laborers to help out with a very large shipment or when I can�t find volunteers. The equipment and supplies themselves are all donated by hospitals, clinics and nursing homes in the region, even by individuals who can�t give their wheelchair, crutches or beds back to the insurance companies.


Before we moved to this warehouse, we had space at Kevin Sutherland�s location. He owns a business in commercial flooring and let us use a corner of his warehouse. Both locations have been near Boeing Field in Seattle. You can only imagine what we would have to pay for space in such a prime location close to the Port of Seattle.
Craig Lorch, who owns Total Reclaim, is a good guy. He read an article about our search for donated warehouse in the Seattle P-I and called us. At the warehouse, he also accommodates a nonprofit project collecting bicycles for Ghana. Every time I see those bikes, I think about �Emmanuel�s Gift,� a film documentary about a young disabled man who overcomes obstacles to becoming a bicycle racer, ends up winning all these sporting events and become an advocate for persons with disabilities in Ghana.
You have to consider that babies born with disabilities are routinely poisoned or left to die alone in western Africa; those who survive face a lifetime of begging on the streets and rejection as outcasts. That is a lot like the landmine survivors we support in Southeast Asia. Not that they are poisoned or left to die. The Asian countries where we work are far too family-oriented for that. But those around the family often ostracize the disabled.
Emmanuel did not want this to happen to him. Born with a malformed right leg, he shined shoes for $2 a day and refused to accept his country's superstitious shunning of the disabled. On a bicycle supplied by the California-based Challenged Athletes Foundation, Emmanuel rode almost 380 miles across Ghana and discovered his calling in life: to improve the lives of the two million disabled Ghanaians.
I watched the movie with Karen, my wife, and Niko, my eight-year-old son who is quite athletic. He loved it and still talks about it. Among all the sensory-overloading kids movies out there, this was a real gem of a film, deeply moving and inspiring.
Volunteer loads medical donations for shipmentBack at the warehouse, we were adding the beds to many other items we�re getting ready for a shipment to a hospital in San Miguel, El Salvador. The shipping is sponsored by Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island and Brent Olson, a member of the club�s World Service Committee, was on hand to, well, lend a hand. We sent this hospital a container of equipment already. But they still need more.
The community of San Miguel was one of those hit by hurricane Mitch some years ago and received a large grant from donors in Spain to build a hospital. But there wasn�t enough money to equip or supply it. In the second container we�re sending, we�ll include beds, all the machinery for a full x-ray room, casting supplies, surgical items and many other goods.
We�re collecting other items at the warehouse for the Alert Hospital in Ethiopia, which is supported by the Clinton Foundation to build a new pediatric wing. The hospital treats HIV+ patients and provide medical care for thousands of patients. For them we pediatric gurneys, an infant radiant warmer, electronic fetal heart rate monitors, breast pumps and sleeper chairs for parents and babies together. We will also be on the lookout for surgical supplies to include. Other upcoming shipping destinations include Laos, Cambodia and the Congo.
There is an ongoing stream of goods flowing through our program. Since 2001, we�ve sent 62 containers with $4 million worth of medical equipment and supplies to hospitals in 23 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Before we moved to Craig�s warehouse, we completed a series of five container shipments from a large donations we got from Group Health. That will be the subject for my next blog.

And Then There's The Coup...

Checkpoint near the Thailand Myanmar borderAnd so, just like that, Thailand decides to change its visa requirements. The legal visa runs (a �visa run� is a process where you cross the border and then come back in order to gain another one-month stamp in your passport) are being limited to a maximum of two. So, on a tourist visa you can only stay in Thailand for a maximum of 90 days. Then you have to leave the country for at least 90 days. And well, let�s start from October 1st. New month, new rules. No exceptions. Most volunteers stay here on tourist visa, so many of us are affected by this new rules. In fact, it will have a big impact on the Mae Tao Clinic, which is dependant on volunteers. Due to this new system, a lot of people will only be able to stay for a relatively short time, which makes it very hard (not to say impossible) to maintain a continuous flow of foreign input. It affects me as well; I have to finish my activities and leave the clinic several weeks earlier than I had planned. For me it�s just an unexpected change of plans, which you have to deal with. But for all the people here it is yet another obstacle on their way to further development. Although I know that it�s not my own choice to cut them from my little piece of help, I feel very bad to tell them. The powerless disappointment in their eyes is hitting me. And suddenly I realize how much more I got attached to this work, these people, this area more than I thought.

And then, there�s the coup. Another unexpected change, more dust being stirred up, more insecurities, more uncertain and unpredictable factors. The day after the coup, there�s a strange atmosphere at the clinic. They shut down the border, so it is quiet. Unsettling quiet. I have to do my visa run in a few days but again I can not worry about it too much.

A patient at the Mae Sot ClinicWhat really concerns me, is not my own personal hassle, but much more the people at the clinic; the staff, the patients and their families. I can take a plane out of here if I have to. But they can�t. I am legal here. They�re not. I can go back to my home country, where a safe base awaits me. They can only hope that the Thai army will not follow the path that their colleagues nextdoors are on. And once again I don�t know what to say, when one of the medics make me look at it that way. And again that unforgettable look in those eyes, staring at the horizon. I just sit next to them for a moment, trying to look at the same point, but I know I could never see the same as they do.

A medic has stopped by and asks my help with a patient. Back to work, no time to waste!


Sunday, September 24, 2006

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Friday, September 22, 2006

Three Men Dead: Wartime ordnance continues to kill in Vietnam

UXO Located on SiteMany people are injured or killed in Vietnam and other post conflict zones while scavenging scrap metal from bombs that failed to explode when initially dropped. Sadly, stories like the one below are all too common.

This story is from the September 22 edition of Than Nien.



American wartime ordnance continues to kill in Vietnam

Three men were killed in Vietnam�s southern Dong Nai province Thursday while sawing an unexploded US artillery shell left from the Vietnam War 30 years ago.

Two of the middle-aged victims, Nguyen Van Hanh and Nguyen Van Nam, who were killed by the 105mm shell, earned their livelihoods by searching for and selling American wartime ordnance, according to a source.

Another 15 mortar shells were found at Nam�s house awaiting the hacksaw.

In 1996 Hanh�s brother was killed in a similar accident.

Many Vietnamese earn their living by hunting for American wartime munitions from which they extract the explosive.

The US military used more than 15 million tons of bombs, mines, artillery shells, and other kinds of munitions during the Vietnam War.

It is estimated that up to 10 per cent of these failed to explode.

Since the war ended in 1975, more than 38,000 people have been killed and over 100,000 injured as a result of this unexploded ordnance, according to the Ministry of Public Security.


'After the War�the Killing Continues' Photo Exhibit on Bainbridge Island, WA

036baveldistrict
Photojournalist Erin Fredrichs accompanied a small group from Clear Path International on a three-week tour of its landmine survivor assistance programs in Southeast Asia last year. The compelling and deeply moving photographs Fredrichs took are now on display at Grace Episcopal Church on Bainbridge Island, Washington (near Seattle) through mid October. The pictures are a selection from Fredrich�s Master�s thesis project, �After the War�the Killing Continues,� towards her degree at Ohio University.

Myanmar - Thailand Border Mae Sot Clinic - Landmine Survivor is fitted for prostehtic at CPI funded clinic


The photographs are a reminder of the lasting legacy of war in the form of unexploded landmines, bombs and anti-personnel devices that maim and kill long after the guns fall silent. But it also draws attention to the efforts of Clear Path International to assist injured accident victims and support their communities.

The images were taken at or around the areas where Clear Path has an active survivor assistance program in central Vietnam, eastern and western Cambodia, and along the troubled Thai-Burma border. They range from the dramatic abundance of leftover explosives and the resulting, devastating limb and eyesight loss to the introduction of new prosthetics technology in remote areas and an elementary school built on a former military base.

Fredrichs, 27, is now a news photographer at the Albuquerque Tribune in New Mexico. Before completing her Master�s in Photojournalism at Ohio University, she received a Bachelor�s degree in the same subject from Western Washington University in Bellingham. She hopes to return to SE Asia soon to do a second photo essay on the landmine problem.

The show, materials and Fredrichs trip to the region in 2005 were sponsored by the East West Foundation, Sound Reprographics, Colortone Inc., Roby King Galleries and Clear Path International.


Monday, September 18, 2006

Thomas Nash: It's time to outlaw these ruthless killers

Originally published here.
I was in Lebanon in July 2005 on a trip to document the residual problem from cluster bombs used in 1978 and 1982. Unexploded cluster munitions were still claiming lives more than two decades after that conflict. I recently returned from another trip to Lebanon where I saw that a whole new wave of devastation from cluster bombs is beginning.

The use of cluster munitions in Lebanon was an outrage. It was known before they were used that they would kill and injure civilians in populated areas because of their inaccurate dispersal pattern. It was known that cluster munitions would leave hundreds of their submunitions unexploded to terrorise civilians returning to rebuild their lives.

With a ceasefire in sight, Israel launched millions of cluster bomblets throughout towns and villages in the last 72 hours of the war. The mounting toll of civilian deaths and injuries and the deadly unexploded ordnance contamination that will blight Lebanon for years to come were all predictable, foreseeable and preventable.

Most of the submunitions used in Lebanon look like torch batteries with ribbons and others look like tennis balls. They are a deadly attraction for children who make up about 30 per cent of the casualties.

What can be done about the cluster bomb infested fields of south Lebanon? While we cannot reverse the consequences of Israel's use of cluster munitions, we can work to prevent use of the weapon in future conflicts. Pressure to this end from civil society groups has been growing through the international Cluster Munition Coalition that now has more than 170 member groups, such as Human Rights Watch in the US, Handicap International in France and Europe and Landmine Action in the UK. Despite opposition within governments to a new law, campaigners against cluster bombs have begun to show results.




This year, even before the tragedies in Lebanon, Belgium banned the weapon and Norway declared a moratorium on its use. Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland are all calling for an international instrument, such as a convention on cluster munitions. Other user states, such as the UK, refuse even to discuss cluster munitions in international forums.
States parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons will meet for their five-year Review Conference in Geneva in November. If governments do not launch immediate negotiations for an international instrument on cluster munitions, then they will be failing the people of Lebanon and failing the citizens of their own countries, in whose name governments use and stockpile this unjust weapon.
While massive challenges remain for Lebanon, history may provide us with useful lessons. In 1974, 13 countries proposed a ban on cluster munitions at a diplomatic conference in Switzerland. In the 30 years since that proposal failed, cluster munitions have been used in Iraq, Chechnya, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia, Kosovo and Afghanistan. The tragic situation in south Lebanon is just the latest example of what happens when cluster munitions are used.
The massacre at My Lai spurred the public conscience to put an end not only to the Vietnam War, but also to the use of napalm, the incendiary weapon. The toll from landmines in Cambodia, Angola and Afghanistan prompted some countries to embark on a new process that banned landmines.
The civilian toll from cluster munitions in Lebanon may turn out to be a similar turning point.
Thomas Nash is the co-ordinator at Cluster Munition Coalition, stopclustermunitions.org

Friday, September 15, 2006

Israeli Cluster Bombs Litter South Lebanon Endangering Children

Tonight I am linking to a piece on the impact of cluster bombs in Lebanon. While the debate over Israeli - Arab politics is not what this blog is about, the humanitarian disaster in Lebanon is very real. Our friends at Mines Advisory Group are cleaning up the deadly mess... but here is a piece that goes into detail about cluster bombs on the ground now endangering innocent lives in Lebanon.

The young man pictured inside his house is named Hussein. He is five years old and he was on �time out� when this photo was taken at 4:30 pm on Thursday August 30, 2006. Hussein had just been reprimanded by his father. The reason for the chastisement was that Hussein had been outside playing in a field behind his house picking up �toys�. The bucket shown below is his proud collection of U.S. M-42 cluster bomblets. Some boys think the M-42�s are �lighters� or �batteries�. Some girls told this observer that they look like �perfume bottles�


cluster bombs in bucket.jpg


Read the rest of this article here.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Raising Landmine Awareness with Ketchup?

I guess anything to get people'e attention is a good thing, but this seems to push the envelope a bit.

From the blog adfreak:

Ketchup packets don�t seem like the most controversial ad medium. But in New Zealand, there�s some grousing over this PSA campaign to raise awareness of landmines. To open the packet, you have to rip the boy�s foot off�and then, of course, the red liquid oozes out. �Well it is graphic, it is shocking, but so too is the reality�15,000-20,000 [people] having that sort of thing happening to them as a result of landmines,� says one backer. The group behind the ads, the New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines (CALM), is fundraising to clear Lebanon of landmines. New Zealanders can donate $3 to the cause by texting the word �CALM� to 336.


Love Among the Landmines: an epiphany

Last night, as I often do, I was searching for something to add to the blog. I ran across a landmine related post on a website called Nowpublic.com where people can post their own news stories or links to existing ones with commentary.

I quickly became a member and posted a story I had found on Myanmar landmine victims with a photo from Erin Fredrich's trip to the Mae sot clinic.

The result was that the editor of the site, Mark Schneider, found my post and emailed me... we then spoke on the phone about the power of social networks in social activism and... well... he is much more articulate than I, so please read his post on our conversation... here is an excerpt:

Last night, James discovered NowPublic. By 3:30am, Vermont time, he posted his first story.

By 4:30am PDT, I discovered James.

I got to meet Thien, Colvin and Chi, through their pictures at Flickr.

My world had changed, in an important, fundamental way.

The marvel of networks


At NowPublic, we talk a lot about the power of social networks. We marvel at the success of YouTube, the weird goings-ons at MySpace, and the recent turmoil at Facebook. It's all exciting, entertaining, and important. We're proud to be part of how the web is changing the world.

But this early morning introduction to Clear Path produced an early morning epiphany for me - and as we all know, in the dark of the night these insights come with extraordinary force.


Read the rest of Mark's post here.



Anti-weapons Group Says Myanmar Most Active Government in World in Using Land Mines

Myanmar - Thailand Border Mae Sot Clinic - Landmine Survivor is fitted for prostehtic at CPI funded clinicThis is no surprise to us here at Clear Path as demand for prosthetics at the refugee clinics is what inspired us to fund the Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot.


Anti-weapons Group Says Myanmar Most Active Government in World in Using Land Mines

2006-09-13

BANGKOK, Thailand- Myanmar's military regime makes more extensive use of land mines than any other government in the world, a group that lobbies against the weapons said Wednesday.

In a global survey published annually, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines said that only three governments in the world use land mines: Nepal, Russia and Myanmar.

Guerrilla groups both allied to and opposed to Myanmar's government also use the explosives, the group said in its annual Landmine Monitor Report.

At least 231 people were killed or injured by land mines in Myanmar in 2005, it said.


Read the rest of the story here.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Nepal: Landmines kill nearly 1,300

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - At least 1,290 people have been killed by landmines planted by government troops and Maoist rebels during Nepal's decade-old conflict, a leading anti-mine group said on Monday.

The victims, including nearly 200 women and children, are among more than 13,000 people killed since Maoist guerrillas bent on toppling the Himalayan nation's monarchy launched a revolt in 1996.

"It is very serious and most of the victims are innocent civilians," Purna Shobha Chitrakar, coordinator of Ban Landmine Campaign Nepal, part of a international anti-landmine campaign, told Reuters.


Read the rest of the story here.




Vietnam: Four Year Old Girl and Father Killed, Others Injured by War Era Ordnance

Another heartbreaking report from our staff in central Vietnam

1. (Ho Vien Khan, born in 1948 and Ho Thi Thia, born in 2002) An accident happened to a man and his daughter on August 5th 2006 in Hong Trung commune, A Luoi district of Thua Thien Hue province while he was digging holes for planting trees in the garden. Unknown ordnance suddenly exploded and killed him immediately. Ho Thi Thia, his daughter was there at random to see what her father was doing was killed too.
Accident reported and responded by CPI on September 6th 2006.

2. (Ho Duc Khue, born in 1988, Mai Van Tuan, born??? and Le Duc Trung, born ???) An accident happened to a man in Phu Loc district of Thua Thien Hue province at 14h on September 2nd 2006 while he was searching for scrap metal in Huong Thuy, another district of Thua Thien Hue province. Upon finding a small piece of iron, he called other two friends come to see. Unfortunately, it exploded and injured three of them.Khue lost his left hand below elbow and received a lot of fragments while Trung and Tuan were both slightly injured. They were then taken to the local health center for first aid and Khue was there after transferred to Hue central Hospital for intensive treatment.
Responded by CPI Medical Liaison in Hue on September 5th 2006.


Monday, September 11, 2006

Mae Sot Refugee Clinic: It's a bit of a strange day today

Just another Monday in September. I'm on my way to the clinic, a short bicycle ride. Unlike the last couple of rainy days, is it getting hot early today. On my way, I'm being overtaken by several �sawngtaws�: some sort of pick-up-trucks, packed with people and piled up with anything you could imagine. Bamboo baskets, chickens, spinage, fish oil, televisions, pink toilet paper, rice bags, pallets Coca Cola, eggs, noodles, flip-flops, dried meat, pans, clothes, wooden chairs. Now and than a car falls over and you'll be amazed about what is being spread out over the road. They drive back and forth between the Mae Sot market and the Thai-Burmese border, passing several checkpoints on their way. If the authorities find it necessary, they'll let them completely unpack and repack the cars. The thick smell of petrol mixes with the smoke of barbeques along the road. Fish, chickens and frogs are served in a banana leaf or in between two sticks, from early morning until late in the evening. Just before the last stand I hold my breath and close my eyes (a risky thing in Thai traffic) , because the sharp smell of spicy chillies makes you cough en cry. Then I pass the fruit stalls; a bunch of bananas for 10 Baht, juicy watermelons and pomelo's. After the last stall comes my favorite part of the ride: fresh green rice fields, widely stretched out with the rough Burmese mountains in the background. A beautiful view straight ahead of me. The documentary that I watched yesterday about the brutal Burmese regime slips through my mind. The slavery, the torture of political prisoners, the numerous landminevictims, the enormous amount of displaced people who try to survive in the jungle... Maybe just there, in that �beautiful view straight ahead of me�...

Over a little bridge, where boys are fishing and welcome me with an enthusiastic �Hello, hello! What's your name?�. Slowly making my way through the motorbike taxi's that gather around the clinic, making fishing nets in between rides. Off the little hill, trying to avoid the mudpools and passed the MSF-car (Medecins sans Frontiers, who take care of the TB-patients).

It's a bit of a strange day today. The helicopters which use to fly over only once or twice a day, circle around now every ten minuten. There must be somthing going on at the border or so. At the clinic it's hectic as well. It only takes a second or two before I know what causes the restless atmosphere: they are cleaning the drain sytems. What a smell! I decide to do some computerwork at the library first, but there a second unpleasant surprise awaits me : a dead rat on the floor. I cross the mudpools to the inpatients department. A new medical student from Canada; a small group of people is standing around one of the wooden beds, yelling: �Do something�. The patient who causes the scene, screams �Aw� aw��, kicking around and waving his hands in the air. Two medics tie his hands and feet with some nylon robe and things calm down again. �Malaria-madness� is the diagnose and seems to be a result of the malaria medication. It doesn't take long before there's some more action around. A goat is being chased by two dogs and slips inside, running around through the people. �It's just like a little zoo� I think, and the chickens that shuffle around the toilets, make the picture complete.
At the trauma departure, the boys hang around, on, over each other as usual and when they notice me, the unrest spreads once more: �Hi teacher! Flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, inversion, eversion! Lessons today?� Last week, I started to train a group of medics and prosthetic technicians about the basics of rehabilitation treatment for the amputee patients in the Mae Tao clinic. It's a kind of action- learning program, which merely results in big fun: muscle stretching parties, eyes-closed balancing records, walk-on-your-knees-races and cheating on sensibility test. They learn how to solve problems in a practical way; jumping exercises for a double amputee doesn't make much sense (this may sound like a cruel joke, but is a true example of today's class). How to keep this same double amputated man active during his recovery? �He can't do anything, he's got no legs� is their first response. Well, he has still got his arms?! The idea of using a wheelchair seems to be the highlight of the day. But the next day, the wheelchair is still untouched. I ask why and they tell me �No use, flat tyres�. The idea of get a pump and solve the problem makes some eyes grow even wider. Gossip spreads just like the smell of this morning: on my way home, someone stops me and asks �Are you the phylosarist?� Well, something like that yes...(When I first arrived here, they had never really heard about a physiotherapist before.)
That night I'm having dinner at Casa Mia, the place to be for good food and to meet the just-arrived foreigners. �Hi Charlie!� I greet the boy who's working at the restaurant. �Hiiiii, Luka!� he replies and his eyes shine for the rest of the evening. I'm not sure about what happened to Charlie in Burma, but he doesn't walk smoothly and seems to have a minimal mental challenge. He has left behind his family, friends, and everything he had in Burma years ago. Now he works at the restaurant, 7 days a week, 14 hours a day, litteraly with his home country within sight. One time I asked if he wanted to go back to Burma. His shiny eyes dropped down and he answered with a dreamy look: �Maybe, one day�.

Clear Path assists UXO affected children with scholarships

On the occasion of the new school year 2006-2007, Clear Path International and its local partner, the Section of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (SoLISA) of Vinh Linh district organize a scholarship granting ceremony at the district people�s committee office.

This is the fifth year CPI conduct its annual activity to assist children affected by landmine/UXO in Vinh Linh. This year, 83 children from primary to high school levels are entitled to receive the grant. Many among them receive this as the third time.

Copy of VLD Scholarship 06-07  25.JPG
Photo: Scholarship Granting Ceremony

Apart from Vinh Linh, CPI scholarships are reached out to Cam Lo and other districts in Quang Tri as well. Within the next ten day, another 171 children through out the province will receive this type of assistance.

Saturday, September 9, 2006

Pictures of Home Office in Vermont: Welcome home, Kristen!

I think that most people are pretty surprised when they learn that Clear Path International is based in Vermont... most ask why we are not in DC or New York. One of the reasons is a really big one... COST. In order to rent an office in either of those places, we would deplete most of our operating budget before we even turned on the lights!

The other reason we are here is that we REALLY LOVE VERMONT. By converting what was once an external garage on Martha's and my property here in Dorset, Vermont (where I grew up... my parents used to own a 200 year old country store right down the street and still live a mile or so away... free babysitting!) Clear Path pays no rent. NO RENT.... not a cent.

Today we are thrilled that our good buddy and Clear Path co-founder Kristen Leadem is here working with Martha on a proposal for a major donor.

Click the images below to see Kristen and Martha in our VT office.

IMG_4587 Clear Path International Home Office Martha and Kristen of Clear Path International in the home office in Vermont
Martha and Kristen in the Clear Path Home Office



Friday, September 8, 2006

Vietnam: Three Children Killed, Five Injured in Two Accidents with War Era Bombs

Quang Tri province: The accident happened at 5 p.m., in the front yard of Mrs. Vo Thi Ha�s, a local scrap dealer in Cam Nghia commune, Cam Lo district. Four people returned to the village after spending the whole day in the woods searching for scrap metal. Two of them were married men, who do this for a living; the other two were 8th grade students, who do this for pocket money. They came to Mrs. Ha�s to sell the metal junks collected in the day. Gathered in the front yard, they emptied their bags on the ground and started sorting out the stuff. One of them was Vo Van Hanh, Ha�s younger brother. Hanh not only sorted out the scrap, but also checked each piece of metal to make sure no dirt stuck on them for accurate weighing later (the scraps are sold by weight).



Another boy appeared as the four were focusing at their work. It was Nguyen Cong Thanh, 10 years old, who came in to buy some candies for his sick younger brother at home. The following is what recalled by the survivors: Hanh was tapping metal junks to get rid of the dirt, and when he reached over for one item, the other man warned him �do not tap that one, it still has the fuse in it�� seconds later the explosion happened.



Copy of Accident site_Hoan Cat 01.JPG

Commune Official Pointing at The Detonation Point



The blast hit all five people on that tiny yard. Two were killed instantly on spot included the innocent ten-year-old boy. Hanh received severe injuries at vital parts. He died later at the emergency room of the Quang Tri general hospital. The two students received minor injuries.



Thua Thien Hue: Earlier in the day, a group of young men were searching for scrap metal in Duong Hoa commune, Huong Thuy district, Thua Thien Hue province. At 2:30 p.m., a man named Khue dug up something by the size of a guava. Without knowing what it was, he called his friends up to have a look. As the two men were walking up, the device detonated right on Khue�s hand.



Khue lost his left hand and received other injuries on the left side of his body. His two friends received minor injuries.





Thursday, September 7, 2006

Cambodian resurrection: Land-mine victims forge a new pride in an unforgiving atmosphere

From Straight.com of Vancouver, British Columbia

Cambodian resurrection:
Land-mine victims forge a new pride in an unforgiving atmosphere

By roberta staley
Publish Date: 7-Sep-2006


San Suo hops down the rough wood ladder leading from the doorway of his one-room house, elevated on two-metre-high wood stilts to prevent flooding during the monsoon season. Hop may seem an odd word to describe San�s movements, as the 43-year-old has no legs, just bare brown stumps sticking out of red shorts, the mutilated reminder of limbs that were blown off by a land mine years ago. But hop he does down the grey, weathered rungs, until he is parallel to his wheelchair and can gracefully swing himself with muscled arms onto the wooden seat planks.

It is noon, and the family of six�wife San Nath and the couple�s four children�have been hiding from the 35�C sun inside their bamboo-floor home, roofed with dried palm leaf. Gaunt, almost featherless chickens peck in the dirt yard, and a second wheelchair�its seat a cheap plastic lawn chair�lies at the edge of the yard.

At 2 p.m., when the temperature drops a few degrees, San and hundreds of other villagers of Veal Thom, 100 kilometres north of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, return to their 50-by-300-metre parcels of land. They hack with handmade hoes at the jungle roots that threaten to reclaim soil tamed for jackfruit, papayas, and bananas. San�s patch of earth is one kilometre away, uphill. He cannot wheel up the long incline, so his children push him to the field.

Read the rest of the article here.


Tuesday, September 5, 2006

New Department of State - Newsweek Wall Map Charts Global Landmine Problem

We often receive inquiries from educators and students working on presentations regarding landmines and looking for materials.

This press release from the US Dept of State provides details on how to get a GREAT, free (even geater) map on the landmine issue. Martha, Imbert and I have used the previous edition in many of our talks....

Good stuff... thank you Newsweek and USDoS!

New Department of State - Newsweek Wall Map Charts Global Landmine Problem

The Newsweek Education Program has published the Second Edition of their popular wall map, "Landmines: Eliminating the Threat." Limited copies of this edition are available at no cost from the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State�s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which commissioned it.

One of the notable differences from the first map, which was distributed in 2002 to over 5000 school teachers throughout the United States and to many mine action organizations worldwide, is that Costa Rica, Djibouti, and Honduras are free from the humanitarian impact of landmines, thanks in part to the inter-agency U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program.

This colorful wall map (3 feet 9 inches x 2 feet 9 inches; 114.30 x 83.82 centimeters) charts the degree to which countries are mine affected, depicts some of the most commonly found persistent landmines that pose a threat around the world, graphs how much the United States, the European Commission, and other leading donors have contributed to humanitarian mine action, and includes demographic facts on landmine survivors. The United States contribution to mine action surpassed $1 billion dollars shortly after the map was published. The map also provides an illustrated description of the three main "pillars" of humanitarian mine action: mine detection and clearance; mine risk education; and mine survivors assistance.

To request a free map, send an email with your name and complete mailing address to GrayVC2@state.gov.

To learn more about the U.S. Department of State�s role in the U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program and related activities to stem illegal trafficking in small arms, light weapons and man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), visit www.state.gov/t/pm/wra.


Monday, September 4, 2006

CLEAR PATH SPONSORS LANDMINE SURVIVORS TO ATTEND SPORT EVENTS

Started on September 3rd, 2006, 40 qualified people with disabilities (PWD) athletes entered their 28 days intensive training period in Dong Ha town. After the training, a short list of 30 athletes will be finalized for National round of qualification which will be held in Ho Chi Minh City in late September. Then the chance of being a member of the National team is open for everyone, who would have the best scores, to compete at the Asian Sport Event for PWD called FESPIC games 15 in Malaysia late this year.

Quang Tri Province Landmine and Bomb Survivors Athletic Team

Quang Tri PWD Athletes Team

30 out of 40 athletes are landmine/UXO survivors, who had overcome their pains, sorrows, family circumstances� to be what they are today. Each of them is aiming to gain a ticket to Malaysia. As an encouragement, Clear Path is sponsoring the costs of 3/4 major categories proposed by the Sport Department. All landmine survivors/athletes will have their costs covered on lodging, two ways travel and, as a plus, all 40 athletes are granted a T-shirt with Clear Path logo. (Photo below)

CPI sponsor T_Shirt.JPG

Sponsoring the participation of landmine survivors in sport events has been CPI�s annual activity since 2003. With this assistance, many poor survivors could have a chance to assess to the tracks; and surprisingly, quite a few survivors wrote their names in the National Team to compete at the regional events.

YOUTUBE: Lebanese Children Victims of Unexploded Cluster Bombs



Sunday, September 3, 2006

'Where to Begin?': Stretching and Learning at the Mae Sot Refugee Clinic on the Border of Thailand and Myanmar

�Where to begin?� That was the main question I struggled with, when I first started to volunteer at The Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot. There was no such thing as physical therapy, let alone some form of rehabilitation treatment. In fact, no one really seemed to have ever heard of it. I had to make a choice. Leave it the way it is (they already do what lies within their possibilities), or introduce them to a world of endless possibilities.

The first days, I tried to examine and to treat as many patients as I could. There was a lot of work to do, so I said to myself: �You�ve got two hands, use them!�. Eyes got wide open, the medics were obviously curious on what that foreign girl with this hard-to-remember-name and even-more-difficult-professional-description, was doing. It was the father of a boy I was working with, who made me realise that this wasn�t the best way. As I was trying to move the boy�s joints, stretching his muscles and decreasing his spastic contractures, his father looked at me and started to copy my activities. We didn�t speak a word of communal language, and obviously, we didn�t need to. The next day, when I came back, I saw that same father moving and stretching his son again. There was a little girl at the other of the bed. She, at her turn, was copying the way father was working. That was, when I realised what I needed to do: pass on the skills, the knowledge that they need, so that they can do it themselves. That way, they won�t become dependant on that white girl, who has to leave one day eventually.

So here I was, facing a major challenge. Focussing on the long term, instead of instantly treating patients. Passing on knowledge, isn�t that the key to development?

I had to leave all the �luxury� behind and go back to the basics of my work. After all, it wouldn�t make any sense to try and make them work in the way we do in the West. I had to think practically. Where do they really need to expand their knowledge? What sort of skills would they benefit from?

I found out that there is an important gap in between the amputation surgery and the fabrication of the prosthesis. Waiting for the wound to be healed, means: waiting for contractures, atrophia (loss of muscle strength) and loss of physical conditions that the amputee will need once he�ll start to use his prosthesis. It is very likely that the shape of the stump will change once the patient starts walking again, with his artificial leg. That again, will result in fitting problems, possible wounds, pressure sores, or other physical problems due to compensation strategies. We can avoid a lot of troubles by instructing the patient to exercise before the prosthesis is made.

And so, the pieces of the puzzle fell together. I suggested to train a small group of medics and technicians so that they can provide a basic rehabilitation program to the (leg)amputees that are treated in the Mae Tao Clinic. My plan was enthusiastically accepted by both CPI and the clinic, so I parked myself behind the computer for a few long days, again forcing myself to think practically and always keep in mind: �What do they need to know?�. Overloading them would only be discouraging, while understanding what they are supposed to do will make things more easy to remember and stimulate them to actually doing it. So, things must be practical, understandable, but as well �home made�. You will use the things that you made with your own hands better than the things someone else made for you. Because it has a meaning, it makes sense to you and it took an effort to purposely make it.

Based on those aspects, I wrote a 10-weeks training program, that we�ll start tomorrow. Hopefully, in a few months, 6 medics and 2 technicians will be able to instruct the amputees and guide them through the rehabilitation process, with their self-build training schedules, and the amputees well be less likely to have problems with their prostheses. And who knows, if it turns out to be successful, it could be adjusted and used in other CPI-projects as well. But, first things first! Let's start at the beginning.

Lobke Dijkstra, physical therapist and CPI volunteer.

note from James: the video below is archival footage we have from the Mae Sot Clinic, where Lobke is currently working





Saturday, September 2, 2006

Thailand: Care Villa at the Mae La Refugee Camp

Of all the projects we visit and the people we see, my personal highlight of our
yearly trip to Southeast Asia is the Care Villa at the Mae La refugee camp in
Thailand.


Here at this sprawling "city" of huts pushed up against the steep hills that
separate Thailand from Myanmar live more than 50,000 Burmese refugees who have
escaped the fighting in their ethnic home states. The refugees include 15 landmine
accident survivors who are severely disabled, missing not only arms and/or legs but
also their sight.






For the second year, we are supporting the Care Villa where our dependent friends
live and are cared for by three staff members of the Karen Handicap Welfare
Association. Our visit was my second one, following last year's gift to us of some
of the most deeply moving songs I had heard in my life (see Lobke Dijkstra's blog).


I was ready with a small recording panel as part of my project to make a CD with
songs and instrumentals by musically talented landmine survivors. They were ready
with some wonderful songs in the Karen language and with a letter that I had not
expected. Here is what it said:



Dear Friends,


Thanks for your coming and above all for your compassionate hearts toward people
like us. You've become a great blessing for our people especially we at the Care
Villa. You meet our needs and come personally to see us with your eyes.


Actually, all the songs we've sung are mainly about our country and our struggle
for liberation and our desire to return to our homeland. We really love our land
and hope one day to go back even though we don't know when.


Lastly, excuse our limitations and once again thank you all very much.


Care Villa Members



The last line of our friends' letter is particularly poignant: Their apology for
their "limitations!" What our friends may miss in the physical realm they more than
make up in their ability to touch us with their music. They humbly remind us that
all our bodies are merely temporary and imperfect while our spirits, connected
through music and thoughts, across time and terrain, will last forever.






Vanity Fair: The Vietnam Syndrome ...'the effects of war no longer end when the shooting stops'

Vanity Fair: The Vietnam Syndrome

In the 1960s, the United States blanketed the Mekong River delta with Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant more devastating than napalm. Thirty years after the end of the Vietnam War, the chemical is still poisoning the water and coursing through the blood of a third generation. From Ho Chi Minh City to the town of Ben Tre�and from Greensboro, North Carolina, to Hackettstown, New Jersey�the photographer James Nachtwey went in search of the ecocide's cruelest legacy, horribly deformed children in both Vietnam and America. Nachtwey, arguably the most celebrated war photographer of his generation, sees the former conflict in Southeast Asia as a touchstone for his work. "My decision to become a photographer," he says, "was inspired by photographs from the Vietnam War." This expanded photo essay from the land of Agent Orange�part of which appears in the August V.F. with an accompanying essay by Christopher Hitchens�makes clear, according to Nachtwey, that "the effects of war no longer end when the shooting stops."


View the rest of the article here.

Friday, September 1, 2006

My Own Two Hands: Clear Path Volunteer Writes from the Mae Sot Refugee Clinic on Thailand - Myanmar Border

Do you know that feeling when a plan works out? When your efforts seem to result in truly making a difference? When some crisscrossed points turn out to show just the perfect picture when you draw a line, connecting the dots? When your goal comes clearly into sight after broadly checking out the environment, not exactly knowing what you were looking for at first? Well, that's the kind of feeling I had when I met Imbert, Wolfgang, Lori and James last weekend. They were on the last leg of a three-week trip to see all of Clear Path's projects in Southeast Asia. I had just started volunteering in the Mae Tao clinic in Mae Sot. The perfect time to pass on the baton!

It was earlier this year when I first learned about Clear Path International. I returned home after tavelling through Southeast Asia and decided that it was time to stop dreaming. �If you really want to work with landmine victims, you'll have to switch into action-mode. Just go and do it,� I told myself. And so I did. It took another few months, a detour through different coutries and several emails back and forth to Imbert, before I finally met them.
And there I was, among this small group of special people, everyone in their own way dedicated to the work of CPI, sitting in the Care Villa at the Mae La refugee camp on a Saturday afternoon in August.

Imagine that you lose both your sight and your hands in a landmine accident. Besides the extreme difficulty in staying �in touch� with the world, what would you be able to do, practically speaking? How would you feed yourself, wash yourself, find the toilet before it's too late? I never realised that this might be the most limiting combination of physical disabilities one might get. Many of the landmine survivors who stay at the Care Villa have to face this fact. These severely damaged, still beautiful people found a way to spend their time, to challenge and express themselves by making music and singing their own, personal songs. That Saturday we were there to record their voices, their stories, their lives. It is hard to catch this amazing experience in words or in pictures. An experience that will stay in my mind for a long time.



One song in particular hit me and, to use Imberts word's, �Went straight to my heart�. Freely translated, it goes something like this:

�I lost my eyes, so I can't look at you.

I lost my arms, so I can't hold you.

I lost my legs, so I can't come with you.

My heart is broken, but I've still got my voice.

So I'll sing.�


It reminds me of a song from Jack Johnson and Ben Harper, who are fortunate enough to live in a country without the ongoing threat of landmines and unexploded ordnance. Their song contrasts with the one of our friends at the Care Villa, but brings it together at the same time.

�I can change the world, with my own two hands.

I can clean up the earth, with my own two hands.

I'm gonna make it a safer place, with my own two hands.

I can reach out to you, with my own two hands.

But you've got to use your own two hands.

Use your own two hands.�


It reflects my idea about the work of CPI. People who know that the world can only be improved by using your own two hands. I see, with my own eyes, that we can make a difference. That I can make a difference. By using my own two hands.

Lobke Dijkstra, physical therapist & Clear Path volunteer