Pat in Cambodia: Power Outages and Fish Cheese

note: Pat Roe is in Cambodia working on the CPI rice mill project in Battambang. In this entry she discovers prahok... fermented fish paste... also known as fish cheese

Well, I finally did it. I finally broke down and looked at the temperature. I had been avoiding it. I figured its really better not to know. At least not yet. Not in March when its only almost the hot season. At the very least, I should wait until April - which is allegedly the hottest month here. So, I started playing a little game with myself, kind of like when you're at the gym, on the treadmill, and you play that game, the one I call, "absolutely, under no circumstances should you look at the time." Because what if, just what if you've been running for what feels like forever, your face is red, you've worked up a sweat, you might pass out, or worse yet, be in danger of having an actual heart attack - and then you glance down at the time and it says you've only been running for a minute and a half? Or maybe this is only a game I play. Anyhow... the same is true with the temperature here. Its hot. That's all I know. Its hot everyday. It was hot in the "cool season" when I arrived two months ago, and it continues to get hotter. My logic is that as long as I don't know the actual temperature, it can't be that bad. So, I avoid it. Except, suddenly people are talking about it all the time. Noting the weather forecasts, commenting on whether it will or won't hit 42 today. So, I did it. I took out the handy little compass/thermometer tucked inside my backpack and checked the temperature. Only 35 degrees! That's nothing. That's... well, I don't know - math isn't my strong suit - maybe 95 degrees Fahrenheit? That's not even over 100 yet! Its practically cool.

The problem of course, is the power outages. I read that they were coming. It makes sense. The temperature rises and people use more and more power (I assume in the form of air-conditioning and not some sort of increase in hot showers), and then the system can't take it and everything shuts down. Since I've resisted the temptation to actually use the air conditioning, it didn't occur to me that this would still impact me. But, tonight, as I sit in my dark apartment, I realize that the fans also run on electricity. And, fans are nice. Even though it was only 35 degrees today.

Now, my only concern is the contents of my refrigerator. I hope my fish cheese isn't going to go bad. I know. I know what you're thinking. NO KIDDING - YOU WENT ALL THE WAY TO BATTAMBANG FOR THAT FISH CHEESE - IT BETTER NOT GO BAD!!! Of course, realistically - it sits out in the hot sun all day anyhow. Heck - I don't actually know if it needs to be refrigerated - just seemed like the right thing to do. Truth be told - I don't even know what it is. Its not cheese. That part I figured out. What it is though - that is the mystery.

I'm not sure why, but my coworkers almost always instinctively know which food I will eat and which food not even to offer. The dried fish that we sometimes have at lunch is fabulous. The thing I tried on my second day, the thing which seemed to have the color and consistency of a prune, but was shaped more like celery and tasted like pure salt - that thing I wasn't so fond of. And so far, no one has even asked if I want to try the things that look like larvae. Like worm larvae if you ask me. I am grateful, as I wouldn't hesitate to turn that down. But, this fish cheese keeps coming up. Sometimes there is fish cheese in dishes at work. Its been offered to me, but I have managed to avoid it. I hesitate, I create excuses, I divert attention somehow. I mean - seriously - FISH CHEESE?!? What is that? I know it isn't actually cheese made from a fish. But, it looks like neither fish nor cheese. Then last month in Battambang, we stopped at the side of the road for hot dogs. No, not really hot dogs, but something that I always just assumed were hot dogs. My coworkers explained - fish cheese. After lots of inquiries, I think I figured it out. Its fish. Some sort of fish that looks like a hot dog and has the consistency of, well of a hot dog. But, also of mozzarella cheese. (perhaps this is why they call it that?) It comes in these little plastic bags, and has tasty things stuffed inside, like peppers or ginger or both. While, I didn't really want to try the "hotdog impostering fish", my Khmer friends offered more than once, and like I said - they usually know what I will eat and what I won't. Oh, and also, I was really hungry. And, its a long trip from Battambang back to Phnom Penh. So, I tried one. And, then I ate about 12. I think. I just know I ate so many, we ran out. It turns out, fish cheese is delicious. I asked if we could stop again - but apparently the only fish cheese worth buying, the good fish cheese - is only at that one stop, back in Battambang.
So, I waited and waited for my next trip to our rice mill, and alas - I have a refrigerator full of fish cheese. I'm delighted. Except, now the power is out, and my only concern is whether fish cheese does or does not require refrigeration. I am going to assume not. And also hope the power comes back soon. And quite possibly spend the rest of the evening eating fish cheese.

Young Man Loses Hand to Vietnam War Era Bomb

18-year-old Tran Van Khoa was injured by an explosive remnant of the US-VIetnam war at 8h a.m on March 26th 2007 in Trieu Ai commune, Trieu Phong district of Quang Tri province. He was hoeing land to plant trees with his mother in the garden. A cluster bomb suddenly detonated and severely injured him while his mother with good luck was completely safe because she had left the garden for a drink inside the house. Khoa received a lot of fragments in the left hand and chest and even lost the right hand. He was after the accident taken to the district hospital for first aid and then transferred to Quang Tri General Hospital on the same day for intensive treatment.

Accidents like this happen on a weekly basis here in Quang Tri Province,

History Channel Video: How do you clear a minefield?

One of the more popular search terms people use to find our website is "how to clear landmines".

I found this video today on the History Channel's website featuring some cutting edge military landmine clearance technology. I say MILITARY clearance because it is different than humanitarian demining. Military clearance is,of course, about moving troops quickly through an area.

In humanitarian clearance you have to make sure the land is safe to farm, drill for wells and build schools. The methods such as the below are not always enough.

Domino Theory: Vietnam now to have its own version of American Idol

As if we hadn't done enough damage in Vietnam with unexploded bombs and agent orange... American Idol will now have a Vietnamese counterpart called "Vietnam Idol".

From Thanh Nhien News:

Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV) and Vietnam Advertising Co. will launch a Vietnamese version of American Idol and the UK�s Pop Idol, under the name Vietnam Idol, in April.

The competition is open to all Vietnamese nationals aged between 16 and 30, except those who are already un�der contract with music stu�dios, or have won other musi�cal awards.

Check out the Vietnam Idol website here.

We had our own version of Vietnam Idol one day in a van ride to visit some beneficiaries when one of our staff started to sing. She sounded so beautiful, we pulled the van over and recorded her. I later made a slideshow/movie out of it and posted it to YouTube... check it out below:

YouTube: The Future of Landmines? I don't think so

Just found this video on YouTube tonight about a weapons system that the narrator claims could replace the landmine in future warfare. Doubtful...

The reason landmines are so pervasive is they are dirt cheap. A landmine costs a few dollars.... you could buy tens of thousands of landmines for the price of one of these....

Flickr: Children of War Photo Pool

Some time ago I set up a photo pool on flickr.com called Children of War. Over time the group has grown to over 80 contributors and over 200 images. From war zones all over the world, the images show children acting like children (or trying to) while the adults around them act like monsters.

Some are scared, some playful...others shellshocked and stunned... a sad and growing reality...

See the Children of War Slideshow.

See the Children of War photo pool as a gallery.

Well Known and Controversial Citizen Deminer, Aki Ra, Retires... or not

Well known Cambodian deminer, Aki Ra, who was famous for his bare bones landmine museum in Siem Reap and claims of removing thousands of pieces ordnance from the Cambodian soil has retired.

From an email I just received:

"Aki Ra has informed Akira Mine Action Centre founder Roy Warren Clark and its executive director Ty Khan that he has made a decision that he has now retired as a deminer/trainer.

He says that he will soon move his Cambodia Landmine Museum on the river near Angkor Wat to a new facility near Banteay Srei temple where he and his wife Hourt will start a new quieter life, he says, raising their two young sons Amatak and Mine (and the many landmine accident survivor children who will continue to live with them) without the constant dangers involved with his work to make Cambodia safe from landmines although he says that he will continue with other humanitarian projects. With a smile, he said he might even do a little farming."

Aki Ra's efforts were not without controversy in the demining community. Working wihout government or NGO backing, his efforts were widely condemned by mainstream ordnance removal organizations. Regardless, his landmine museum near Angkor Wat for many people was the first time they came face to face with the landmine problem. He became somewhat of a folk hero to many.

UPDATE April 9

In the last week many people have been contacting the CLMMRF about the
supposed "retirement" of Aki Ra's de-mining activity. Many people have
been writing the CLMMRF with concerned letters and emails asking if
this is true.

The CLMMRF would like to clarify that Aki Ra has "retired" from
independent de-mining activity as he is not licensed to clear mines
within the Kingdom Of Cambodia and this activity is only bringing him
more problems. Please do not be alarmed by this announcement as it is
a very positive step for AkiRa's personal safety and for
accountability issues that surround the independent de-mining
movement. The CLMMRF has been working for the last 7
Years to help create a more transparent and accountable reputation for
AkiRa's de-mining work and has arrived at an exciting alternative that
will both maximize his de-mining efforts and help increase the rate at
which he is able to clear mines. He has NOT retired from de-mining but
rather from de-mining on his own.

The CLMMRF is now working with Aki Ra and several national level army
Generals of the RCAF (Royal Cambodia Armed Forces), as well as with
members of the Cambodian Government to enlist Aki Ra as a "Chief
De-mining Technician" within the RCAF. This new position will allow
him to be able to clear mines with a much larger team of demining
technicians as well as giving him greater access to many areas where
he was restricted to de-minein the past. Best of all responsibilty
will fall under the authority of the RCAF and not Aki Ra. This new
position is an excellent opportunity for AkiRa to train more army
personnel with explosives engineering knowledge he acquired from the
International School of Security and Explosive Engineers in Salisbury
UK. (ISSEE training was provided through the CLMMRF donor funding over
the last 2 years and has given Aki Ra a much higher level of knowledge
and public relations value with regard to accident prevention and
up-to-date technology and mine safety awareness.) The ISSEE
certification also gives him much needed credibility with regard to
international de-mining NGO's who have not supported Aki Ra's methods
in the past. The CLMMRF has plans for Aki Ra to return to the ISSEE to
complete the very last level (LEVEL 3) of his explosive engineering
training before the end of 2007.

Truckin': A Big Donation to the Clear Path Medical Supplies Program

I cannot remember how many times I have been on the highway in a rented truck or in our old cargo van doing medical pickups and drooled at the sight of an Isuzu NPR box truck.

I would watch it go by thinking that it would be the perfect vehicle for us to round up the surplus donations we get from hospitals and nursing homes, not to mention promote our work aiding landmine victims on its big high sides like a rolling billboard.

Of course as a lean nonprofit we can't really justify buying an asset like that even used. But when we lost the old cargo van, a donation from Nick's Electric on Bainbridge Island that served us well for five years, to the scrap yard the need for a new set of wheels became a bit more urgent. Still no money for it.

So after a few failed attempts to get a cargo van donated, I called Hill Moving & Storage in Poulsbo, long a supporter of all sorts of community transportation needs from the giant Rotary Auction to Katrina relief to our own Pakistan earthquake relief and more.

"Hey, Mike," I asked one of the owners after I mustered up the courage to ask for one more favor. "We're looking for a vehicle to haul our medical donations. Do you know of anyone in your business who donates their old trucks."

Mike, a somewhat stoic guy with a great heart, didn't answer right away and the silence tanked my hopes. Then he said: "We do."

He discussed some options: large semis that may be available in a few months but would be way too big for us ($100 each way on the ferry to Seattle and no place to park it). "But we have this 1995 Isuzu diesel truck we're replacing. Would you be interested in that?"

Does King Kong like Big Bananas? Yes. Yes. Yes!

To make a long Blog short, that's what we got: a 14-foot Isuzu NPR box truck complete with lift gate, ramp, furniture dolly and a tank full of diesel. A highway dream come true.

I am already using it next Friday when I take 50 mattresses, two cast saws, reciprocating orthopedic tools and a pallet of casting plaster with me to Yakima where a nursing home is donating 50 beds for shipment to Laos, our second container there.

I'll be on the road again, this time I am in the truck I have longed for since we started our program six years ago. Thanks Mike, Kay, Debbie, Steve and everyone at Hill Moving & Storage. You've come through again in a big, big way!

Israeli cluster bombs cause surge in demand for Prosthetics

Source: yaliban.com:

Beirut- Prosthetic limb-fitting centers in southern Lebanon are struggling to cope with the rising toll from the one million unexploded cluster bombs left over from last summer's Israeli offensive on the country.

To cope with the demand, the Canadian-financed Lebanese Welfare Association for the Handicapped has opened a new center in the southern market town of Nabatiyeh, in an area that bore the brunt of Israel's July-August offensive.

"Since our center opened in Nabatiyeh (two days ago) we have already had 35 requests for prosthetic arms and legs," said the center's director Bassam Singer.

Video: Elephant Landmine Survivors on the Thai-Burma Border

Not all landmine survivors are human. Many elephants are injured by mines while working in the jungles on the tense Thai-Burma border. Most are killed by their owners as caring for them is impossible.

But not always.

As the video below shows, a lucky few receive treatment... and one is even receiving a prosthetic leg.

The footage of the baby elephant injured by a mine is so tragic, yet so unreal cute at the same time...

See the video on CNN here.

You can read more about Motala,one of the elephants fetured in the piece above on the BBC's website.

Thank you to Xeni at BoingBoing for linking to this post!

Britain to ban some cluster bombs

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

THE British Defence Secretary, Des Browne, has banned Britain's armed forces from using "dumb" cluster bombs, which have killed and maimed thousands of civilians.

Mr Browne has written to the Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, and the International Development Secretary, Hilary Benn, saying his decision was taken on humanitarian grounds. He will tell MPs tomorrow that the ban will be immediate.

Human rights and aid organisations have been pressing for years for a ban on cluster munitions, which scatter hundreds of unexploded bomblets over a wide area, posing a lethal threat to civilians, particularly children.

Read the rest of this article here.

Imbert Matthee of CPI recently penned an editorial in the Seattle Post Intelligencer on Cluster Bombs... you can read his article here.

Clear Path Newsletter Available in PDF

The 2007 Winter/Spring CPI Newsletter is now available online. Read about our recent matching campaign with the US Dept of State, how we introduced a hippopotamus to Cambodia, and updates from Chi and Lobke, two of our representatives on the ground in Southeast Asia!

Download the PDF file here!

YouTube: Lost Arms to Grenade in Vietnam, Now He Swims and Rides his Bicycle

In this blog I want to share with you my first strong impression on how a
disabled person can adapt to do almost anything.

Beneficiary Profile:

Full Name: Hoang Lang
Born: 1961
Incident date: 1976
Type of device: M79 grenade
Address: Mai Dan village, Hai Lam commune, Hai Lang district, Quang Tri
province.

Mr. Lang was working with his parents in a potato field in 1976 when
he saw a bright yellow device (M79 grenade). He picked it up and the
device detonated in his hand. He lost two arms just below elbow.

He managed to learn doing a lot of things with what remain. He is one of
the Medal winners of PWD sports. He attends Paragames as a swimmer.

Attached are some related photos of Mr Lang with Paragames activities.

Click the photos to see them larger.



The following clip reveals an ordinary thing that he does in his daily
activities. He rode this bicycle to CPI office.

Lobke's Story: It All Began Last Year

It all began last year. Or maybe, it already began many years ago. I always had this dream of working abroad, there where people really need it. Without realizing at that time, that might have been the most important reason to become a physical therapist. As I am regularly looking for a change, I thought: �With a world-wide useful profession I will never run out of possibilities�. That idea, combined with a strong desire to look for the borders, the edges, the boundaries brought me here at Mae Sot, the Thai/Burmese border town, where no two days are the same and nothing is predictable (well, only the quality of Charlie�s curry).

Clear Path asked me to tell my story. I asked �Why?�. They thought it could be a motivation for other people. That�s the only reason why I would like to tell you my story.

I had a great job in a rehabilitation center in The Netherlands (my home-country). I had a nice appartment and a busy social life. Still, there was no escape from the restless feeling, the urge for adventure inside, and so from early 2005 I took a year off to travel. To New Zealand, that was the plan. Several months later I found myself travelling throughout Southeast-Asia. Never before had I felt attracted to Asia, but I decided to give it a fair chance. Then, completely unexpected, it happened: it caught me. It captured me, it struck me, just like that. When I encountered many amputees (mostly landmine or UXO victims) in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, the picture couldn�t be much clearer. I wanted to work with landmine accident survivors. That was what I wanted to do. And that was exactly what I was going to do.

First things had to come first. I had to return to my job in The Netherlands. It didn�t take long; I washed my clothes, got through the mail and started repacking. I quit my job, my appartment, sold most of my possesions. There wasn�t a single moment of doubt: I was going back to Southeast-Asia. As I was counting the last 2 weeks before departure, I was talking to the director of the rehab center. He liked my initiative and regretted that I �had to give up everything� (people use that expression, although I would rather call it: clear the road for new possibilities). He also liked my ideas about developing a new rehabilitation system and so, out of nowhere, he made me an offer. I could go and live my dream: I could leave to work with landmine victims for a while, exploring a new approach on rehabilitation, before coming back to the rehab center to implement things, using my experiences from abroad. It may sound like an experiment, but in fact isn�t much like that. The bottom line is to work a bit broader than only physical therapy (which is my educational background) and to offer a more comprehensive rehabilitation treatment by 1 person instead of 6 or 7.

Although I had my path clear in sight, I had to face several bumps in the road, a few detours and many windings, before I ended up at the Mae Tao Clinic. I got in touch with Clear Path a few month before that time; in the blog �My own two hands� you can read how we got to meet in Mae Sot. I planned to volunteer for a few months, to encounter my personal challenge, the �been there, done that� kind of thing. That idea was soon gone. The point that I had to admit �It happened again� came after a few weeks. It grabbed me again; this time it wasn�t so acute, but it somehow sneaked into me. I became attached, more then I could have foreseen. Life at the border, the Burma situation, the people, the work, and not in the last place the CPI mentality; this just was the way of life I had always wanted. Then I became afraid; afraid that I would have to chose one day, between staying here or going back to The Netherlands. The choice itself wouldn�t be necessarily difficult, but still there were some practical issues to be solved.
Fortunately, that choice was never to be made. After a presentation about my activities here, the same director of the rehab center who let me live my dream in the first place, agreed on me to continue working for CPI, and for them at the same time. How? By splitting the year in half, as to work 6 months in Holland, and 6 months in Thailand. Standing with one leg here and one leg there? I�m quite flexible, but not that much! So, we needed a bridge. The bridge was built by the agreement of the rehab center to support CPI on a 2-years base, in which I can continue my attempt to implement the basics of comprehensive rehabilitation treatment for landmine victims along the Thai/Burma border.
I have been incredibly lucky. Others say I created my own luck. Eitherway, this is working out better than I ever imagined. My life has changed a bit, since I took off in April 2005. And I have no idea what the future will bring. But I do know that CPI needs people to keep the good work going. It�s not always an easy job, but it�s definitely worth whatever amount of energy you put in it. �Every dead end street has a sideway, leading somewhere� and if there doesn�t seem to be a way at all, we need to pave one.
I understand that not everyone will be in such a priviledged position as I am. Not everyone will have a boss with the same generous attitude. And not everyone will be in the posibility to leave �home� behind to go and explore. But everyone can help in his or her own, specific way. When limitations are obvious, we need to look for possibilities.
Lobke Dijkstra,
PT and Clear Path�s representative at the Thai Burma border

Seattle Post Intelligencer: Cluster bombs leave a lethal legacy

From the Seattle Post Intelligencer:

Cluster bombs leave a lethal legacy

IMBERT MATTHEE
GUEST COLUMNIST

Every evening, 14-year-old Phan Van Rot set fish traps in the stream outside his home on the coast of central Vietnam. The following day he would collect the fish on a string and take his catch to the house.

One morning, after heavy rains breached a dam upstream, he noticed something peculiar in the water: a round brown object. He bent down and reached for it. Just as he lifted the small but heavy ball from the sandy stream bottom, it exploded.

It was a cluster bomb. It took his left hand above the wrist and his left leg below the knee. Shrapnel perforated his abdomen. The date was July 5, 2002 -- more than a quarter-century after the war in Vietnam ended.

You can change Rot's name, the place of his accident and the date, but the result will be the same. In the past hour, it probably happened again somewhere else. Perhaps in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq or Chechnya.

Cluster bombs, invented in World War II and now standard air-dropped munitions for many nations, leave a lethal legacy. According to one estimate, 98 percent of cluster bomb casualties are civilians.

Aside from the "collateral damage" they cause in wartime, most "brands" of cluster bombs do not reliably explode when intended, while others are designed like landmines to go off on the ground so the enemy is denied access to territory, roads, utility installations and so on.

Their recent use in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah last summer was another wake-up call to the havoc they wreak. In the last three days of the fighting, 4 million cluster bombs were dropped. At least one in every four did not explode. The ones that remained caused 161 casualties among civilians, including 19 deaths, by Christmas -- initially at a rate of three accidents a day.
Given their high failure rates and controversial deployment, there is a growing movement afoot to restrict the use of cluster bombs. It's time to end the kind of post-conflict suffering I see every time I travel to Southeast Asia for Clear Path International, our non-profit organization that assists landmine and bomb victims. In the past two years, we have assisted more than 200 new accident survivors like Phan Van Rot in central Vietnam alone, many of them victims of cluster bomb accidents.
In February, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced legislation to restrict federal funds for the use, sale or transfer of cluster bombs except for clearly defined military targets. The bombs would also have to be 99 percent reliable or more. Currently, dud rates range from 5 percent to 40 percent.
The bill was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The two senators hope a similar bill will be introduced in the House.
Our state's delegation should support this legislation, which comes at a time when other countries are seeking even tighter restrictions. In Olso last month, 43 countries signed an agreement calling for a ban on the munitions by 2008. The United States (not even invited), Russia and China were absent.
With all the laser-like precision technology supposedly available these days, why do armies still insist on using a shotgun approach to warfare using products that could have been improved decades ago and leave a deadly mess for generations?
Imbert Matthee is president of Clear Path International, which has offices on Bainbridge Island and in Vermont.

Reuters: Hidden Bombs Stalk Vietnamese as States Seek Treaty

REUTERS/Kham

This article ran today on the Reuters wire and reports on the accident Chi blogged about today.

The article also makes mention that both US and Vietnamese ordnance pollute the landscape and how the work of NGOs and the Vietnamese government are helping clear land and assist victims.

What the article fails to mention is that the US Government is one of the lead donors in clearing deadly ordnance and assisting victims of their accidents in Vietnam.

At the end of the piece there is a passage that references our good friend Phuong who has been mentioned on this blog before.

Le Thi Hoai Phuong was 17 when her left leg was blown off by an explosion while she and her father were plowing. Now 31, she has an artificial leg.

Four years ago she took up running, the long jump and high jump and she became a champion, winning three gold medals at the 2005 Southeast Asian Para Games in the Philippines.

"To people who have a disability, I would like to say that you need to be strong in your mind," Phuong said. "Don't blame anyone. It's just your bad luck. Take the people's joy as your happiness."

Bombs Injure Three Boys, Kill One Over Tet Holidays in Central Vietnam

February 16, 2007 (Lunar New Year�s Eve) � Phong Xuan commune, Phong Dien district, Hue. M79 Grenade

It was 2 p.m. when Buu, a 10 years old boy went herding his cows in the hill. Buu was the smallest member in the family of two parents and three siblings. Thus, it was reasonable for him to look after the cows while other members were busy with cleaning the house and preparing the New Year�s Eve ceremony. Up a slope he met Tinh, who was 6 years older than his also took his cows out for some grass. There were only two boys and the cows in the quiet surroundings in the very last hours of the year.

The afternoon passed. At 5 p.m. the boys decided to take their cows back to the village. The cows followed one another heading down hill. Two boys walked along in a near distance. Suddenly, Tinh saw something reflected the bright sunlight. He came closer and saw an M79 warhead semi-buried right on the path. He knew what the item was and that it could explode if their cows stepped on it. In prevention, he urged the smaller boy to direct the cows off the path. The boy jumped up and down but the cows ignored him. Seeing all that, Tinh looked around and saw a large rock. He picked it up and threw it at the cows as a threat. Unfortunately, the rock made an unexpected direct landing right on the warhead.

The blast sent back it fragments and injured both boys. Tinh was the worst: one large fragment penetrated into his lung. His legs, hands were badly injured with sharp cuts.

The boys were immediately taken to the commune station for first aids and by 10 p.m. were forwarded to Hue central hospital. The accident had ruined the two families traditional New Year�s Eve.

As of today, the boys are recovering from the wounds and both are expected to be released from the hospital soon.

February 19, 2007 (the 3rd day of the New Year) � Vinh Tu commune, Vinh Linh district, Quang Tri province, Cluster Bomb.

While herding cows in the morning of February 19, 2007, Son, a 14 year old boy, happened to see one half of a cluster bomb by a small bush. He picked it up and called his friend, Cong to come have a look. Two boys passed the round to and from each other for examination.

Both Son and Cong knew what cluster bombs are since they�ve seen many before. However, this was the first time they found one half of a bomb: a hemisphere, not a complete steel sphere. They could see the yellow TNT exposed and a round metal section at the center of the explosive. After examining, the boys decided to light up the TNT just to see how it burn.

Because none of them had any lighter, they took the hemisphere to a neighbor man, who was also looking after his cows near by to borrow his lighter. The man refused their request with a warning and got back to his work. Being disappointed, Son walked away and sat on a pile of logs under a shade of a tree. Cong followed several meters behind, still holding the hemisphere in his hand.

Two boys soon became not anymore interested in the thing they found. Thus, as Cong was approaching he asked his friend whether he want to take it. Son looked up with no reply. At a distance of 2 meters, Cong tossed the hemisphere to Son. The seated boy looked at it but instead of catching it with his hand, he let it go. The bomb made a free landing on one of the logs with an explosion.

The blast injured both boys especially Son. They were immediately taken to the Quang Tri general hospital by an ambulance but Son did not make it. He died shortly at the hospital due to severe injuries in his skull. Cong was released from the hospital 2 days later with two tiny fragments still in the soft tissue of his thigh.

BBC Series: Saving Lives on the Burmese border

As part of a series on life on the Thai-Burma border, the BBC visits with Dr. Cynthia and the Mae Toa Clinic in Mae Sot. Clear Path has been funding work with landmine survivors at the clinic since 2002. CPI representative, Lobke Dijkstra has been blogging her experiences there on this blog for the past year.

In addittion to the article below is an excellent photo gallery.

If you were to trek into the jungle in eastern Burma, and mention the name Dr Cynthia, people would know immediately who you meant.

Cynthia Maung is well-known to Burmese in the border region, because her clinic in the Thai town of Mae Sot offers free healthcare, whatever the circumstances.

Most of the staff - including Dr Cynthia herself - are living in Thailand as refugees, having fled from Burma's harsh military regime.

Her clinic caters for thousands of other refugees, as well as economic migrants, and every year an increasing number of patients also come across the border from Burma, especially for treatment.

Such is the draw of the clinic - and the paucity of Burma's healthcare facilities - that even Burmese soldiers, with access to the country's best medical care, have been known to abandon their posts and turn up at Dr Cynthia's door.

"There is a real need for Burmese people to get access to basic healthcare, because conditions there are so bad," said Dr Cynthia. "We treat everyone we can, and we don't discriminate."

Allied to the clinic is another organisation, the Backpack Health Workers Team, which trains and equips local people to provide basic medical services in their communities back in Burma.

Often working in active conflict zones, riddled with landmines, these backpack medics risk their lives for their work - in fact seven have already been killed.

Read the rest of this article here.

Iraqi Shepherds Harvest Landmines and Bombs to Fuel Insurgency

This weekend I linked to a YouTube video that showed how North Vietnamese forces repurposed unexploded US ordnance. In the article below, the author tells how Iraqi shepherds are digging up landmines left over from the Iran-Iraq war and other unexploded ordance and selling them to insurgents for use against US and coalition forces.

Despite the recent spotlight on Iran, U.S. officials say the majority of weapons used by Sunni and Shiite extremists have been in this country for years and were looted from Iraqi military arsenals after the fall of Saddam in April 2003.

About 30 percent of the insurgent weapons found here in Diyala province date back to the Iran-Iraq war, said Maj. Suzanne MacDonald, an intelligence officer with the 1st Cavalry Division's 3rd Brigade.

They include not only mines planted along the Iranian border but also weapons caches buried by the Iraqi military decades ago in a labyrinth of clay dunes and stone outcroppings, said MacDonald, 38.

"Terrorists go and collect those weapons � land mines and mortars � that are left from the Iran-Iraq war," said Gen. Nazim Shareef Muhamed, a former Kurdish guerrilla fighter who heads the Iraqi Department of Border Enforcement in Khanaqin.

It is easier for locals, who have farmed this difficult terrain for generations, to find the buried weaponry, said Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq.

They "don't need night vision technology" to locate it, Mixon said. The Iraqis then presumably remove the detonators before transporting the mines for sale to insurgents.

Those recycled weapons have been used against U.S. and Iraqi forces across a wide area of eastern Iraq.

Read the rest of this article here.

Just as I posted the above, I saw this: Most Iraq casualties come from IEDs in ambushes, not gunfire in firefights

YouTube: Improvised Explosive Devices of the Vietnam War

A fascinating video on how unexploded US ordnance was used in Vietnam by North Vietnamese forces. Considering how much ordnance is STILL on the ground to this day, there must have been no shortage of the stuff. Much of the Improvised Explosive Devices being used against US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are also created using unexploded ordnance.

Rick Gunn Visits, and Photographs, Clear Path in Vietnam

Photographer Rick Gunn is biking around the world and contacted us recently while biking through Vietnam and asked if he could visit some of our project sites. Here is an excerpt from an article that ran in the Tahoe Daily Tribune and is also on Rick's site with his stunning photographs of Vietnam another locations he has visited.

In my heart I wanted something different than the picture postcard experiences offered up by my travel guide. What I sought was something more meaningful, something deeper.

So I sent out a few e-mails.

In a stroke of luck, I received a reply from James Hathaway, co-founder of Clear Path International, a U.S.-based humanitarian mine action organization operating in central Vietnam. Clear Path International has provided surgical, medical, and financial assistance to more than 2,500 survivors of ordnance accidents and their families since the year 2000.

After an invite, I cycled 70 miles south to Da Nang, then made my way to the Da Nang Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Center, one of the places where Clear Path International assisted mine survivors

There I was introduced to 25-year-old Vinh Nguyen Dinh. Vinh was being fitted for a new prosthetic leg.

When his doctors were done with the fitting, I watched as Vinh pulled himself to a set of training rails.

Twenty minutes later, with muscles trembling and sweat pouring from his head, I stood in silent witness as Vinh took his first unassisted steps since the accident.

"Vinh was planting trees on his land," his doctor explained. "That's when he swung his pick into an unexploded bomb."

I cringed.

"It might take a while," the doctor concluded, "but Vinh will learn to walk again."

.

Read the rest of this article here

Claymore Camera makes a dumb mine much smarter

This is interesting... some claymore mines (which sit above ground and are triggered by remote control or by trip wires) are being outfitted with cameras to help better identify targets. Here is an excerpt form the original story on gizmag.com.

An age-old problem in battlefield scenarios is collateral damage (i.e. casualties caused by traditional anti-personnel land mines), nowadays the problem is still, to some extent, present due to the imprecise detonation of the command-detonated Claymore mines which have taken the place of old-fashioned AP mines.

This innovative and inexpensive product is a great tool to avoid the loss of innocent lives by mistake, solving the problem of not knowing what the mine is detonated against, but, above all, it turns regular dumb mines into intelligent mines which represents a revolutionary progress in minefield technology. A Claymore Camera Standard Kit is composed of a 50 meters reel of cable connected with MIL connectors to the standard Giraffe tactical ruggedized display unit. The camera is a 380 TV lines IR unit (higher definitions, up to 600 TV lines are available as well as lengths of cable up to 200 meters).

Read the rest of this article here. See the image gallery here.

We can't outlaw war, sadly, but technology can help avoid civilian casualties. Inexpensive cameras are one way to help reduce innocent victims of the claymore ... now why can't we figure out a way to make a cluster bomb inert after it has been lying around for a few days? Argh...

This reminds me of a YouTube video I posted here some time ago. My favorite line in the piece: "If some bombs are smart, then cluster munitions are destructive morons".