"I'm not under any pressure, like I was before."

In a country where deminers almost outnumber teachers, Haroon Hamdard had a risky but steady job clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance in Herat Province, on the border with Iran.

is until he made a bad call and lost his right hand.

In January 2003, at age 23, Haroon joined the Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation (OMAR), where he quickly worked his way up to the rank of team leader.

Nearly two and a half years later, Haroon Hamdard was working in a minefield where he found a cluster bomb. He grabbed it and threw it away from his work area. It exploded in his hand.

After he received emergency medical care and, later, a prosthetic arm, Haroon remained unemployed for six difficult years. He was forced to borrow money from relatives and others to survive. But the self-motivated young man took the opportunity to finish his high school education and in early 2008 received a unique opportunity to go back to work.

With technical leadership provided by Elegant Designs and Solutions (EDaS), Clear Path had just formed the Afghan Mine Action Technology Center, designed to create employment for disabled deminers and fabricate products for the demining industry, and asked the Afghan demining organizations to suggest possible employees. Haroon became AMATC's first employee.

Today, the native of Khewa District, Nangarhar Province, in eastern Afghanistan, makes flail hammers (used on front-mounted tractor drums to set off mines) and other products the center sells to demining outfits. The proceeds are used to support rehabilitation programs for other landmine accident survivors.

Haroon's own income allows him to travel home each weekend and take care of his family, including one son. He continues to repay the loans he took during his years of unemployment.

"Now that I am earning a salary, I do not have to borrow money from others," he said. "I can support myself and my family and am not under any pressure, like I was before."

Hearts and Mines: A documentary on the work of Clear Path International

All of us at Clear Path are thrilled to see the new trailer for HEARTS AND MINES the documentary by Dr. Joan Widdifield, a long-time CPI supporter. Hearts and Mines follows the CPI Vietnam staff as they work with landmine and bomb accident survivors and their families.

Great work, Joan! We look forward to the full movie!
If the movies is not showing up in your browser, below, you can go to http://vimeo.com/7350650 to check it out!

Hearts & Mines trailer from Hearts & Mines on Vimeo.

In Afghanistan, Goats Provide Livelihood for Landmine Survivors and More

JALALABAD, Afghanistan - What they say about sheep in New Zealand may not quite be true for goats in Afghanistan. They don't outnumber people here.
But the importance of the animal to individual families' survival in this arid mountainous country can not be underestimated and the gift of a goat can provide for many in a village.

In Clear Path's first survivor assistance project outside Kabul, 18 beneficiaries in the eastern city of Jalalabad received goats and animal husbandry training from CPI's local Afghan partner, Afghan Disabled & Vulnerable Society (ADVS).
Thirteen of the recipients were landmine accident survivors, two were female heads of disadvantaged households and three were Afghans with other disabilities. The $6,000 project was funded by the U.S. State Department's Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement through a contract with DynCorp to whom Clear Path was a subcontractor until early August. Now, CPI receives direct funding from State for its work in Afghanistan.

The beneficiaries, which included the head of ADVS, Said Husin Sadaqat, himself disabled, all reside in villages of the Qarghaye District, Laghman Province. ADVS employed a local veterinarian to provide technical support to the group in the form of milk production methods. Every six months, a female kid will be received from the existing owners and given to new beneficiaries.
More than 60 families (at least 125 people) will benefit from access to tea, yoghurt and cheese from the animals' milk. The beneficiaries will be able to sell these products in their local markets, strengthening their income from a meaningful economic pursuit.

ADVS was established in 1994 to assist Afghans in need. The director, bound to a wheelchair, has provided vocational skills training and income-generating projects for more than a decade.

Clear Path International now Independent, Expanding in Afghanistan

Waiting in a corridor between consultations, a young land mine victim looks at a new prosthetic leg propped up on a bench. Photo by Alixandra Fazzina

KABUL, Afghanistan - After two years as a subcontractor here, Clear Path International is now a full-fledged independent grant recipient of the U.S. Department of State with a growing vision for aid to landmine accident survivors and people with disabilities in Afghanistan.

Its newly independent status means Clear Path is also ready to begin accepting private-sector grants and contributions for its work in one of the world's most mine-contaminated countries. The program, which has already assisted more than 9,000 Afghans with disabilities, is now CPI's largest victim assistance effort, followed by Vietnam, Cambodia and the Thai-Burma border.

Clear Path's work in Afghanistan, which ranges from providing the traditional prosthetics, physical therapy and income-generating support services, is on the cutting edge of socio-economic support of landmine accident survivors.

A good example of its innovative approach is the creation of the Afghan Mine Action Technology Center, which employs disabled deminers and landmine accident survivors to fabricate tools and equipment for sale to demining professionals with revenues from the center going into medical and social services for survivors. The center was the brainchild of Elegant Design & Solutions (EDaS), a former CPI contractor.

Since it started in Afghanistan in 2007, CPI has been a subcontractor of DynCorp International., which holds a prime contract with the State Department's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement for a range of humanitarian mine action services.

Under its subcontract with DynCorp, CPI received nearly $3 million dollars to provide assistance to landmine accident survivors. Now the door is open for CPI to receive millions more to provide victim assistance services in Kabul, Jalalabad, Mazar-E-Sharif and parts of eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.

As part of its new status, CPI set up its own office in Kabul and registered as a non-governmental organization with the government of Afghanistan. The program is managed jointly by CPI Finance Manager Peter Albertsson and CPI Co-founder Kristen Leadem. The Kabul office has a staff of three Afghan nationals and agreements with half a dozen Afghan implementing partners.

Clear Path Mourns Loss of Jay Hathaway

Jay Hathaway, left, with son and CPI Co-Founder James Hathaway, right

The following is from a letter to the Manchester Journal.

The moment happened less than two weeks ago. I was Skyping our webmaster, James Hathaway Jr., co-founder of Clear Path International and a very close friend now for more than a decade, when his father, Jay, walked in the room to say hello.

I could see him on the webcam as he briefly sat down in James' seat and asked me how things were going at our organization and with my family. We chatted for a while and, as usual, I didn't get much of a chance to ask about him.

That was Jay. Others always came first. And if it hadn't been for Jay's unconditional selflessness, our organization, which now helps thousands of landmine accident survivors around the world may never have fledged and soared that way it has with programs for mine victims in five countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Jay "James" Hathaway, 61, who suddenly passed away from a massive heart attack this weekend, was an exceptional man, always supportive, always full of encouragement. After we founded Clear Path on Bainbridge Island and James, Jay's son, and his former wife Martha, moved to Dorset to set up an office for us in Vermont, Jay and, his wife Terri, were of monumental support to our two co-founders.

Things were not easy then. It was shortly after 9/11. The recession hit and philanthropic giving was down for international causes like ours. But never mind that. Jay and Terry took James and Martha under their wings and helped nurture our humanitarian dreams with sage advice, introductions, outreach and special events planning such as the two Judy Collins benefit concerts at the Dorset Playhouse that many in your community will recall. Terri even made several trips to Vietnam to help organize our office there. And on the countless trips James and Martha took overseas to help us grow, Jay and Terri were there to look after the couple's boys, Ryder and Colvin.

From Bainbridge Island, where many Clear Path colleagues and supporters live, we mourn Jay's loss with all of you near the Hathaways' home. Dorset, Manchester, Vermont and the world have lost a great living soul. We will miss him more than words can say. On Wednesday, we will be there with you in spirit, Jay's indefatigable spirit.

Imbert Matthee
Executive Director
Clear Path International

Landmine Surivivor Farmers' Co-op in Cambodia Doubles in Size

SEAM VILLAGE, Battambang Province - Life was a struggle for Ream Luong before he joined the farmer's cooperative set up by Clear Path International and its partner in one of Cambodia's most heavily mined regions. This spring, the partners doubled the co-op to 150 households from 75, expanding an enterprise that's helping many landmine accident survivors succeed as rice farmers.

Ream Luong, Photo by Pat Roe, Clear Path International

Disabled by a landmine accident when he was 23 and now going on 50, the father of three whose wife died of a sudden illness was deep in debt to loan sharks. Every year, he had to borrow to invest in his crop and, because he couldn't store his rice, he had to sell it at harvest time when prices are rock bottom.

The co-op, aimed at providing a socio-economic support structure for landmine-disabled farmers and disadvantaged members of their communities, has turned that around for the below-the-knee amputee from Paum Takeav Village not far from the Thai border.

Thanks to low-interest spring-time micro loans, agricultural training, better crop seed and a chance to store his rice at the partners' rice mill, Ream is now virtually debt-free except for what he owes the project. He and his three children are now among the 750 direct and indirect beneficiaries of the farmers' co-op, which issued $30,000 in $200 loans to the members at an interest rate of 2 percent per month and provides many other services to the households.

Many members of the farmers' cooperative have independently organized their own rice banks. The members each contribute a portion of paddy rice to the bank at the harvest time. One member is elected to chair the rice bank and is responsible for tracking contributions, withdrawals and loan repayments. As the year progresses, if a member needs rice due to an emergency or unforeseen situation, they may borrow from the bank. The loan recipient will then repay the loan in rice with interest, thereby increasing the total amount in reserve.

While CPI does not officially organize or manage these rice banking systems, this sort of community self-reliance is encouraged and discussed in community workshops. Additionally, CPI offers free storage in the warehouse for members who wish to join such a program. Currently, there are 38 members who have established a rice bank, and there is 3,050 kilograms of rice in the bank.

Back To School: Nearly 500 Vietnamese Landmine Families Receive Clear Path International Support to Send Their Children Back to School

DONG HA, Central Vietnam - Mothers get teary-eyed when their kids return to school after the summer.

But the tears Tran Phuong Nhu's mother shed outside her daughter's classroom were not from a typical sense of pride and separation. As she watched the eight-year-old girl go inside wearing her best uniform, she could not help think of her husband who is still in critical condition at the Quang Tri General Hospital from a landmine accident that
happened in late July.

Tran Phuong Nhu at the scholarship granting ceremony

The third grader was among 52 children from landmine-affected families in Dong Ha town who received special scholarships from CPI at the school on Aug. 21 as the organization conducted the last round of assistance ceremonies at the start of the new school year. Sadly, Tran Phuong Nhu was a last-minute addition.

In all, 482 students in nine districts from four provinces north and south of the former Demilitarized Zone at the 17th parallel received CPI scholarships this year. The scholarship grants are for elementary to high school students who were injured by accidents with unexploded ordnance (UXO) or, as in Tran Phuong Nhu's case, whose family members sustained injuries from such accidents. UXO accidents still happen almost every week in central Vietnam.

Each scholarship grant worth about $35 covers most of the minimum tuition even the poorest families have to pay the public schools. CPI also awards special uniform and materials packages to mine-affected students with the best grades. One hundred and twenty nine, or more than a quarter, of the 482 students this year received such gifts in recognition to their tireless efforts to overcome their challenges at home and at school.

Nguyen Hong Hoa from Hiep Duc district, Quang Nam province, was one of the "honor" students. The 15-year-old boy lost two legs and an arm in 2007 when he was in 6th grade. His education was interrupted and everyone was afraid that he wouldn't recover from the psychological wound. But when Hoa went back to school a year later he did very well and gained an "excellent student" title.

Students from Gio Linh district, Quang Tri province and their parents gathering at the event.

CPI's educational scholarship program began in 2001 to a few newly mine-affected students in Quang Tri province. Since then, the activity has become an annual event. To date, 3,130 scholarships have helped families reduce their burden and nourish their hope of a better future thanks to their children's ability to keep returning to school.

Landmine accident survivor Nguyen Quoc Tich and his eldest son, Vuong, ride to the ceremony to collect a scholarship for Vuong's younger sister.

Clear Path International Provides The Gift of Hands for the Landmine Survivors at Care Villa

Palaw weeding after receiving a prosthetic hand from Clear Path International

By Melody Mociulski

Mae Sot, Thailand - Since we began supporting the Care Villa in 2002, we at Clear Path have dreamed of providing prosthetic hands for the amputees we serve there. Many of them have lost one or both arms in a landmine explosion and are wholly dependent on others for their care. Almost every time we visit our Karen friends at the giant sprawling Mae La refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border, we are asked for a device that will allow the men to use their upper limbs.

Now, two young American volunteers, Missy Malkush and Rachel Clagett, have made the dream come true. They arrived at the Care Villa this month with the gift of hands.

Care Villa, located about an hour from the Thai border town of Mae Sot, is a 24-hour residential care facility for 18 physically-handicapped, dependent Burmese landmine survivors who have lost their eyesight, hands, legs, hearing, or some combination. Most all suffer post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression. They are marginalized by their community and are considered a burden to their families who already live in impoverished conditions.

Clear Path International is the primary source of support for these 18 men, aged 15-65, providing shelter and daily caretaking. To help the men deal with the anguish of their situation, music provides an outlet for their voices to be heard. A song written by one of the men describes their spirit to heal and find fulfillment in their lives.

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.

Rachel, pursuing a Doctorate in Physical Therapy, and Missy, with a Master's in Prosthetics and Orthotics, have been friends since their freshman year at Wake Forest University. They found themselves at a complacent point of their lives, and on a whim and unbeknownst to each other, each googled landmine victims and discovered Clear Path. A few months later they began their journey to Mae Sot to volunteer with Clear Path at the Care Villa and the Mae Tao Clinic to help landmine victims.

Hearing about the needs of the men at the Villa, Missy reached out to a colleague at LN-4 Hand, a non-profit in California which has designed prosthetic hands for developing countries. The hands are simple, innovative and easily fitted. With a protective sock worn underneath, the universal size prosthetic is wrapped around the limb and secured tightly over the bones of the elbow joint with a Velcro cuff. A combination of stationary and adjustable prongs provides multiple gripping patterns to fit the amputee's needs. LN-4 Hand generously donated 10 hands which Missy and Rachel personally carried with them to Mae Sot.

Training is essential for using a prosthesis. If one does not know how it can be helpful, it is just as good on the shelf. The Care Villa men have lived for more than 10 years without one or both hands. They have loving people to help them with their activities of daily living. They may not want to wear a device. However, waking up and brushing one's own teeth, or being able to bring a fork to one's own mouth provides a sense of independence. Missy and Rachel hope that "they are not only providing these men with a limb", but that they are showing the men that "they can do even more than they thought possible".

Missy and Rachel brought cucumbers and cake for the first training session. The cucumbers were fantastic because once jabbed, they did not go anywhere until they were in the mouth. Remembering that most of the men are blind, the last thing they wanted was to discourage them by continually bringing an empty spoon to their mouths. The cake was for the tongue's delight. Cucumbers and cake - a suitable midday meal for a new hand or a pair of new hands.

Tupo lost his sight in only one eye. As he could see how to use the new prosthetic, he learned quickly and easily. The first thing Tupo wanted to do was to hold a pen in his right hand and write, something he had not been able to do for far too many years. Although the Burmese script is beautiful, it is difficult to write with its many circles and curves. With his new prosthetic hand, he happily wrote all over his left hand and in a notebook - an exciting moment.

Tupo writing Burmese again

In a place where time moves slowly and dreams seem out of reach, the gift of hands from Missy and Rachel and LN-4 Hand has brought new hope and excitement to the 18 Burmese residents of the Care Villa. Missy and Rachel: a heartfelt thanks from all of us at Clear Path!

McNamara's Lethal Legacy Lives On After His Death: Wartime Bombs Kill Six in Central Vietnam

QUANG BINH, Central Vietnam - As a stark reminder of the Vietnam War's deadly legacy around the day one of its chief American architects dies, six people in central Vietnam were killed in two separate bomb explosions.

Former Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara, who has been criticized for escalating the war in Vietnam during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, died on July 6 at the age of 93.

On July 4 and 6, accidents involving ordnance from that war occurred in Quang Tri and Quang Binh provinces on both sides of the former demilitarized zone that once bore his name: the McNamara Line.

In Quang Tri province on July 4, Tran Long, age 35 was found dead by a small crater formed in the sandy land of Trieu Son commune. A short distance away, Nguyen Diem, age 39, had been also been injured in the explosion and died in transit to the hospital. These two men left behind wives and five children.

Just two days later, at 7:30 pm local time in Quang Binh Province on July 6, another war era bomb, weighing 500 pounds, was disturbed and detonated taking the lives of four men.The eldest was 30 years old, and the other three just 25. Three of the men were married with small children.

Tran Long's son at his father's funeral.

Tran Long's Widow

A Dangerous Job

All six men were killed while performing the same type of work - collecting scrap metal. Briefly described, scrap metal collectors use metal detectors, wandering through sandy areas once occupied by military installations or weaving through thick vegetation to reach areas which were once regular targets for massive B52 bombing raids. They look for anything made of metal - a rusty chunk of steel from a broken bomb case, a corroded brass ring from a rotating band of a projectile, or a smashed-up aluminum fin tail off a mortar round. Everything is picked up. At the end of the day, it is sorted at scrap dealer shops. Steel goes with steel, brass with brass, and cash is paid by the weight.


Scrap Metal Collected from the former Battlefields of Vietnam

Dinh Manh Hung, 26, was the only one among the six men who had a stable job as a secondary school teacher. He had been teaching chemistry for two years. However, as it was summer vacation, he wanted to earn additional income during his off time. The other five men were all farmers. They had their land to cultivate rice and other secondary crops. At home their wives raise animals. However, they still had available time after doing farm work. As the family demand for income was high, they found themselves spending more time in the woods digging up metal rather than tending their crops. In fact, their side job sometimes brought in more income than what the crops could provide.

At Tran Song Hao's home a deep search metal detector was seen. In other corners of the house there were piles of metal junk collected earlier, most of them large, thick fragments of bombs. Hao was not only a scrap metal collector; he was also a scrap metal dealer.

Time and experience taught these men skills for this job. The four men involved in the second accident knew where to search for metal junk on the Ho Chi Minh trail, the main supply line of the North Vietnamese which traversed their homeland. This network trail had been a regular target for B52 bombardments. When a heavy bomb is dropped from a high altitude, it often makes a deep penetration. When it explodes, some of the fragments make another penetration into the sides of the crater. This is especially true if the bomb uses a base fuse, causing the explosive train to travel from the tail to the nose of the bomb, pushing most of its fragments (parts of its steel case) deeper into the ground of the crater. Understanding this process, the scrap metal collectors find bomb craters, check them with deep search metal detectors, and dig up the metal fragments.

Earlier in the day, the metal detector emitted strong signals deep from the center of a crater. The men decided to wait for the sun to go down to avoid the heat. They got back to the site at 6:30 pm to start the excavation. None of them could believe that long before any of them were born, a complete bomb made its way deep inside the crater but failed to explode.
TO LIVE BY THE SWORD AND DIE BY THE SWORD

I knew Tran Long well before his fatal accident. In July 2005, CPI responded to a new accident. A young man had been injured while digging up scrap metal for his livelihood. I went to the Quang Tri general hospital to visit and interview the survivor. It was our first meeting. Long survived from that accident when the tiny piece of metal he picked up exploded. The blast took away four fingers on his left hand. We had a very open conversation, and I learned that he had just spent a fortune, several months of his savings, to purchase a deep-search metal detector.

Tran Long in treatment for losing his fingers in a previous accident.

As I said goodbye to Long after our conversation in 2005, I thought he had learned a hard lesson and that the loss of his fingers would remind him of the risks. I was positive that his wife would also persuade him to find safer work.

I was wrong. I never would have thought that four years later I would meet him again in a totally different situation. He is no longer in this world.

The fatality accident site was approximately 12 kms from their village. Both men traveled there by motorbike, taking along their work equipment. Diem took the lead with the detector, searching for signals, while Long followed him to excavate. The explosive was subsurface. When it exploded, Long received the direct hit of the blast. Duan received only one injury. A fragment entered his body in the back, exiting from his chest.


Blast area where the men lost their lives.

CONSEQUENCES
Five out of the six families have children. The oldest one is ten years old; the youngest one is still being breast-fed. All together, 8 children lost their fathers forever. I doubt if any of them are fully aware of the loss for they are all still innocent children, too small to understand.

Contrary to the innocent children are the exhausted, worried, grievous faces of the five widows and an old mother. They have all just lost a sole provider. In the long road ahead they will be struggling on their own. From now on, they must shoulder not only a mother's role but all other roles and responsibilities left by their husbands.

Article: In a rugged part of the world, help needed now and far beyond

From the Manchester Journal in Manchester, VT:

Since 2007 Clear Path has constructed 25 handicap access ramps at 13 different schools in Kabul, the capital city, and provided training about the rights of the disabled. It has established the Afghan Mine Action Technology Center, which employs disabled Afghans to produce equipment for de-mining efforts. The center also brings state-of-the-art prosthetic devices to those who need them

Read the rest of this article on Clear Path International in Afghanistan here.

Dutch Charity "Stichting Mensenkinderen" Awards $140,000 to Clear Path International

HARDERWIJK, Netherlands - The Dutch charity "Stichting Mensenkinderen" (www.mensenkinderen.nl) has given a grant for 100,000 Euro ($140,000) to Clear Path International for its humanitarian mine action work in Vietnam and Cambodia.

About two-thirds of the grant will be used to help match $127,000 in funding for Vietnam from the U.S. Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement, while the remainder will be used as a match for the $50,000 provided by WRA for CPI's rice mill enterprise for landmine accident survivors in Cambodia.

"Several thousand landmine victims, family members and persons with disabilities will benefit from the grants by Mensenkinderen and State," said Imbert Matthee, CPI's executive director. "It means that our much-needed work in Southeast Asia can go on in a difficult fundraising environment. We're extremely grateful for this."

Stichting Mensenkinderen (literally translated as "the Foundation for Children" or "the Foundation for Human Children") was founded in 2003 by television producer Sipke van der Land. Since it began, the organization has focused on providing food, shelter, vocational training and other services to disadvantaged, disabled and orphaned children in Albania, Moldavia and Bulgaria.

The last two years, the charity has expanded its interest to include other regions of the world. In 2007 and 2008, it gave donor-advised grants to CPI for its work along the Thai-Burma border.

In Vietnam, the Mensenkinderen funds will be used to continue Clear Path's aid to landmine accident survivors and family members in the central region (north and south of the former Demilitarized Zone) where they receive everything from emergency medical care and prostheses to home improvement and income-generating grants.

In Cambodia, the Dutch grant money will go to help expand CPI's current network of farmers' coops and to provide services to amputee farmers in the poor communities around its rice mill in Battambang province on the border with Thailand.

Like Clear Path, Stichting Mensenkinderen has a small staff and office while relying heavily on volunteers.

US State Department Funds Clear Path International Programs in Vietnam & Cambodia

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement has approved matching grants totaling $177,000 for Clear Path International's humanitarian mine action programs in Vietnam and Cambodia.

The largest grant of $127,000 will be used to fund efforts that assist survivors of accidents with landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in central Vietnam. The second grant of $50,000 will be used for CPI's rice mill enterprise for landmine survivors in Battambang, Cambodia, where its beneficiaries receive training, microcredit and crop processing services.

The two grants are matched by financial contributions from the private sector, including the McKnight Foundation of Minneapolis, the Johnson & Widdifield Charitable Trust, the Seattle-based law firm Marler Clark and the Dutch charity Stichting Mensenkinderen.

"At a time when it's challenging to raise money from private-sector sponsors, the government's steady and ongoing support of our work helps sustain vital survivor assistance programs," says Imbert Matthee, CPI's executive director. "It also inspires private charities to keep giving despite the economic downturn."

At least 1,000 landmine accident survivors, their family members and disadvantaged members of their communities will benefit from the two grants in the remainder of 2009 and the first part of 2010, Matthee says.

In Vietnam, aid to survivors comes in the form of emergency medical care, prosthetics, physical rehabilitation, income-generating assistance, animal husbandry programs, scholarships and sports activities.

In Cambodia, CPI and its local partner, Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development, will expand the cooperative of amputee farmers, boost micro-credit lending, offer training, mill and sell their rice.

Destination Cambodia | Clear Path International Sends Its 73rd Overseas Medical Shipment

REDMOND, Wash. - As part of its ongoing effort to strengthen local health care in mine-affected countries, Clear Path International has sent its 73rd container of relief goods collected from donors in the Seattle area.

The 40-foot container shipment destined for Phnom Penh, Cambodia, included 234 items ranging from hospital beds and wheelchairs to surgical supplies and diagnostic equipment with a total value of more than $50,000.

The items were donated by Emerald Heights, a retirement community in Redmond; Group Health Cooperative in Seattle; Care Manor, a nursing facility in Gig Harbor; and Martha & Mary's, a retirement home in Poulsbo.

Clear Path has had a program to assist landmine accident survivors in Cambodia since 2002. It is currently operating a rice mill in the heavily mine province of Battambang near the border with Thailand, where it helps hundreds of landmine victims with farm training, microcredit, rice processing and sales.

The medical shipment will be received and distributed throughout Cambodia by the Volunteer Association of Medical Professional in Phnom Penh headed by Dr. Muoy Sroy. A special thanks to the staff of Emerald Heights and CPI volunteers Brent Olsen, Howard Hanners and John Anderson.



Staff from Emerald Heights help CPI load its 73rd container of medical relief goods.



CPI volunteer Brent Olsen (wearing a white T-shirt) and staff from Emerald Heights stack hospital beds into the container for Cambodia.

Noted War Photographer Alixandra Fazzina Documents Clear Path International's Work in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - A bearded tribal elder awaiting his new prosthesis with a look of "Inshallah." A downcast girl in a red dress against a blue wall, her dark eyes pained from the struggle to use a walker. A hospitalized young man whose naked upper limbs contort like the wing bones of a wounded bird.

The images linger in your mind even hours after you've seen them. Such is the power of Alixandra Fazzina's extraordinary photography and in this case, her subjects are patients at the Kabul Orthopedic Organization. KOO gets a major portion of its funding from Clear Path International under a subcontract with DynCorp International, which in turn is supported by the U.S. State Department's Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement.

Fazzina, a noted war photographer who grew up in the United Kingdom, spent an entire day documenting the work of CPI's partner adjacent to the main military hospital in Kabul. The 33-year-old, dubbed a "hot star" by the British Independent newspaper, has spent a decade visually recording conflicts around the world. Her subjects have included the infamous Lord's Resistance Army In Uganda, the Miya-Miya rebels in the Congo, and the aftermath of wars in Sierra Leone and Bosnia.

More than 6,000 KOO patients like the ones photographed by Fazzina received care through the clinic's partnership with CPI in 2007 and 2008. Persons with disabilities, especially landmine accident survivors, come from all over Afghanistan to be treated there. Stay tuned for more of Alixandra's photos, as she recently visited Jalalabad Afghanistan where CPI sponsors Afghanistan's only cricket club, made up of persons with disabilities.



Injured in a landmine explosion, an old man receives heat treatment on his leg during a physiotherapy session at the Kabul Orthepedic Organisation (KOO).





A female patient uses an exercise bicycle to help her gain use of her legs during physiotherapy at the Kabul Orthepedic Centre.




Waiting in a corridor between consultations, a young land mine victim looks at a new prosthetic leg propped up on a bench.





With the aid of a frame, a young girl learns to walk on prosthetic limbs at the Kabul Orthepedic Organisation's clinic for children.



Head of the Kabul Orthepedic Organisation's workshops Muhammad Ghous helps amputee Sher Muhammad walk on a new prosthetic leg for the first time. Having lost his leg in a landmine explosion when he was fighting with the Mujahadeen in Kunduz, Sher is receiving his first "lighter and stronger"; prostheses.



Surrounded by other war wounded, an Afghan National Army soldier is assessed by a doctor having has his shattered leg bone screwed together.



Recently married with a new born baby, twenty-six year old soldier Muhammad Naeem spends his third month as a bed-ridden quadriplegic after sustaining a head injury in a landmine blast.

Thanks for Everything, Lobke: Dutch Clear Path International Representative in Thailand Moves to Spain

After nearly four years as a volunteer Country Representative for Clear Path International on the Thai-Burma border, Dutch physical therapist Lobke Dijkstra has moved to Spain to start an organization providing recreational opportunities for persons with disabilities.

Dijkstra, who spent at least several months a year in Thailand on leave from her regular job as a PT in the Netherlands, leaves behind a legacy of services now available to landmine accident survivors up and down the long western border of Thailand.

For the 2009 - 2010 cycle, CPI is expecting to assist at least 477 survivors with everything from prosthetics care, full-time nursing care (for blind amputees) and income-generating projects for refugee amputees. The program, now under the direction of CPI's new SE Asia director, melody Mociulski, serves beneficiaries from the Karen, Karenni and Shan ethnic states in Burma in seven different locations.

In a note copied to all CPI staff and directors, Board President Nancy Norton sent a "Certificate of Appreciation" to Dijkstra and said "Our organization and the people we help have been immeasurably blessed by your extraordinary volunteer efforts during the past several years. Your compassion, dedication and perseverance have allowed us to assist hundreds of landmine accident survivors from Burma whose needs would have gone unfulfilled. By your selflessness, your devotion and your boundless energy we are all deeply humbled."

In response to the note, Dijkstra said she learned a lot from her time on the Thai-Burma border and that her work was a chance to fulfill her childhood dream of working in development overseas.

"I want to thank CPI for its trust in me and I'm grateful to all who put their energy into this much-needed work year in, year out," she said.

Read Lobke's blog posting about working on the Thai Burma Border, "My Own Two Hands", here.

CPI Starts Year of the Buffalo with Pig-breeding Project For Landmine Accident Survivors in Vietnam's Gio Linh

GIO LINH, CENTRAL VIETNAM -- In the new lunar Year of the Buffalo, Clear Path in Vietnam began its activities supporting landmine and bomb accident with a pig-raising project in the coastal commune of Gio Hai in Quang Tri Province's Gio Linh District.

Gio Linh District is among the spots in central Vietnam most heavily contaminated by unexploded ordnance (UXO). Fourteen of its 20 communes have confirmed or suspected contamination levels and it�s the site of regular accidents. In humanitarian mine action �speak,� Gio Linh is considered 98 percent contaminated.
Twenty of Gio Hai commune's 44 poorest households affected by bomb accidents were selected for the pig-breeding project by a Clear Path outreach worker through home assessment visits and interviews probing their capacity to succeed in the program. CPI works closely with the local People�s Committee.


Project beneficiaries review their commitment documents before submitting them to CPI. (Photo by Tran Hong Chi)

Last year, Gio Hai was classified by the government as a "Commune Faced with Extreme Difficulties." Fishing is the main source of income here. Only men go out in small boats to fish along its shore. In the sandy fields behind the dunes, peanuts and sweet potatoes struggle to grow against the elements: frequent floods in the monsoon season and sand moving around in the dry season. These tough conditions explain why half the people here don�t have steady jobs. According to the People's Committee, hundreds of people from Gio Hai leave every year for seasonal jobs elsewhere.
Vo Quang Kha, 42, was selected as a project participant from Gio Hai's Village 4. Kha lost his left leg almost up to his hip when he was only 9. A cluster bomb exploded when he was raking trash in his schoolyard. For long, Kha struggled with his disability and living conditions. Kha lives in a household of three generations and seven people: His parents, who are in their seventies, his wife and their three children ages 14, 13 and 10. Kha's wife is the family's sole breadwinner. For this reason and despite his old age, Kha's mute father still goes out fishing at times to share the workload with his daughter-in-law. His oldest son, who weighs just 44 pounds, looks like a primary school boy. With so many disabled, weak and dependent members, the family barely subsists. Seven people share less than US $2 for food every day, not counting rice.



Mr. Kha enjoys a ride with CPI to attend training course. (Photo by Tran Hong Chi)

Participating in this pig-raising project, beneficiary households like Mr. Kha's receive training from a district agriculture officer; a CPI grant ranging from $41 to $59 to upgrade their old pigsty or build a new one. And, each household receives $6 to vaccinate their new piglets. And the piglets? CPI gives each household a $70 loan to buy three to four piglets without interest. The households have to pay back the loan after a year. They can make two annual installments: after six months and after a year. This is called a revolving loan fund because the money paid back by the families is used for new candidates in new project areas.

Kha's family once raised a sow. When it got old they sold it, but not for enough to buy a new breeding pig. That was almost two years ago. Now with the first grant from CPI, Kha has already put a new roof on his old pigsty and plans to build a new section. He and his wife intend to buy a sow of about 20 lbs for breeding and three piglets to raise for meat in the short term.
Despite the modest size of the grant, this assistance opens new opportunities for families like Kha's. It creates work for people with disabilities and boosts their household income. Kha is a confident participant in the project, saying that his wife has experience raising pigs and CPI's support will help kick-start his household economy. For Kha, the program is also of moral support to him, as he has never received any assistance before as a bomb accident survivor.

Started as a pilot project in Vinh Linh district (Quang Tri Province) in 2004, the pig-raising model has proven to be a success. After Vinh Linh and Cam Lo, Gio Linh is the third district where CPI brings this assistance to households affected by accidents with unexploded ordnance (UXO).

Clear Path International Releases Annual Report

In a one-year period, Clear Path International assisted more than 9,400 landmine accident survivors, persons with disabilities and members of their families in five countries, as you can read in our 2007 � 2008 annual report.

The number of 2007 � 2008 beneficiaries is more than CPI served in its entire history since 2000. It stems largely from our new Afghanistan operation and from a record number of bomb survivors assisted in Vietnam during the period. CPI�s other program activities are in Cambodia, Thailand and just inside Burma.

In the period covered by the report, we have assisted 6,325 beneficiaries in Afghanistan, 1,679 in Vietnam, 929 in Cambodia and 538 on both sides of the Thai-Burma border.

The report covers the breadth of services CPI offers, ranging from prosthetic care and physical therapy to vocational skills training and support for sports activities. We've raised nearly $1.3 million in 2007 � 2008 and spent $878,950, or 87.2 percent, of its operating expenses on program services.
Download a copy of Clear Path International's 2007 � 2008 Annual Report here.

Clear Path International Beneficiaries in Vietnam Become Deminers Thanks to Mines Advisory Group

DONG HA, Vietnam -- As part of its partnership with Clear Path International, Mines Advisory Group in Vietnam has started to recruit CPI-supported landmine accident survivors or their family members to train them as clearance technicians.

The latest person to benefit from this project is 31-year-old Mrs. Tran Thi Hanh from Hoan Cat Village, Cam Lo District, Quang Tri Province. The mother of two children, aged six and 11, has been looking after them and her husband, Nguyen Van Nam, 33, who was injured while collecting war scrap metal two years ago. Mr. Nam still has metal shrapnel embedded in his body from a mortar fuse that exploded in 2005 while he was digging it up. He also received shrapnel wounds to his hands, eyes and chest, and is no longer able to work for a living.

CPI and MAG condemn the dangerous economic pursuit of reclaiming wartime ordnance for resale as scrap metal but some financially marginal Vietnamese families cannot resist the instant cash they can earn from their freelance activities. Although survivors such as Mr. Nam aren�t considered �innocent� victims of unexploded ordnance accidents, their family members are.



�My husband was a scrap collector and can now no longer work as a normal person,� says Mrs. Hanh. �He just does the easy house work, grows sweet potatoes and takes the children to school.�

She added: �Before his accident, he used to go out with his detector at 6am and return home at 6pm after selling the scrap metal.�

From this potentially lethal occupation, Mr. Nam brought home VND30,000 (USD1.87) a day, which was added to the income Mrs. Hanh made from in farming. This supplumentaryl income dried up shortly after Mr. Nam was injured despite CPI�s coverage of his medical bills.

As the main breadwinner of the Hanh family, Mrs. Hanh was selected by CPI for the MAG�s deminer recruitment program. Where possible, MAG attempts to recruit landmine accident survivors as deminers but because of some of the survivors� injuries and the physical requirements of work in a Mine Action Team (MAT), they aren�t able to take part in the training course. Sometimes, they can be employed in administrative positions.



�After the training, I returned home and in September MAG called me and offered me a job,� she said. �I love this work and will serve MAG until the end.�

Mrs. Hanh is one of eight CPI beneficiaries recommended to MAG for possible recruitment and training as professional deminers. From the list, MAG selected two for whom it had positions on its clearance teams.

Nineteen-year-old Duong Van Duy is another MAG recruit brought forward by CPI. Duong is the brother of a landmine accident survivor from a six-member family in Quang Trung Commune, Quang Trach District in Quang Binh Province.



�When I knew that I would be recruited by MAG I was so happy,� he says. �I was no longer unemployed. I will have a job�a good job and I want to share my happiness with my brother.�

Though he was the youngest in the MAG demining class, Duong turned out to be the best student, according to his supervisor, Mr. Tran Xuan Thang, who also said the young recruit �will be a good addition to our 100-strong technical workforce.�

Duong helped make his own community safer. MAG conducted mobile responses to sightings of unexploded ordnance in 9 out of the 15 communes in Quang Trach District, removed and destroyed 5,879 items, and cleared 3,400 square meters of land thus making it possible for new medical clinics, kindergartens, schools and homes to be built on de-contaminated land.

Afghanistan: Better Access to Schools for Disabled Girls and Boys

KABUL, Afghanistan � It�s one thing to be disabled and face the kind of discrimination typical for anyone with a disability here. It�s another to be disabled girl and go to school in one of the most conservative Islamic countries in the world.

The last thing you need is to face physical barriers as well, particularly in a wheelchair.

That�s one of the reason Clear Path works closely with the Accessibility Organization for Afghan Disabled, a domestic charity that builds wheelchair ramps and provides other advocacy services for persons with disabilities in Afghanistan.

Since CPI began as a subcontractor of the U.S. State Department�s Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement through a prime contract with DynCorp International, it has funded the construction of 25 wheelchair ramps at 13 schools around Kabul, including several schools for girls.

It has also paid for the training of 40 teachers and principals in the rights of persons with disabilities and the creation of fully accessible computer train g room for the disabled.

The School Accessibility Initiative was conducted in accordance with The Government of Afghanistan�s Victim Assistance Plan of Action, known as the Kabul Report, to render at least ten percent of existing schools per year physically accessible to children with disabilities.

More than 640,000 Afghan are considered severely disabled with wheelchairs as the only means of physical mobility. To have any chance at securing meaningful employment in Afghanistan, children using wheelchairs need access to an education and means they need to be able to get into the building and the restrooms.

At Ariana, a Kabul high school for girls where CPI funded one of its first ramps for WRA, more than 80 girls with disabilities use wheelchairs and now have barrier-free access to the buildings thanks to the AOAD project.

Clear Path International's Afghanistan Partner Reaches Out And Speaks Up For Survivors

KABUL, Afghanistan � We were in the armored car again driving through the city through a never-ending maze of checkpoints and concrete barriers. But I noticed the scene began to change gradually. I saw more Afghans on the sidewalk, fewer road blocks, fewer police and a market where residents were milling around. Children were playing in the streets.

We had reached one of Kabul�s many neighborhoods. Kristen, Peter and Zabi had taken me here to see another one of Clear Path�s implementing partners in Afghanistan, the Afghan Landmine Survivors Organization. Life seemed more normal here than in the fortified and rarified sections of the downtown area with its foreign embassies, company headquarters and NGO offices.

A good sign, I thought, for an organization that works with landmine accident survivors after they recover from their medical treatment and regain physical mobility. ALSO struck me as a real grassroots organization, founded by Afghans for Afghans. Its social workers, many of them male and female survivors themselves, work directly with the survivor families where they live. They fight for the survivors� full inclusion and participation in Afghan society, which tends to discriminate against persons with disabilities, particularly women.

A recent survey shows that 2.7 percent of Afghanistan�s population is disabled. In round numbers that�s about 800,000. Of these persons with disabilities, 59 percent were men and 41 percent women. It includes a large percentage of landmine accident survivors. Many struggle with psychological challenges, low self-esteem and limited access to services.

ALSO�s social workers take inventory of the individual survivors� needs and tries to connect them to services many don�t even know exist. They organize peer-support activities such as sports through which the survivors can get to know each and rebuild their self-confidence. In addition, the group tries to create vocational skills training and employment opportunities and educates others in Afghanistan about the rights of persons with disabilities.
For example, ALSO has published a series of 10 illustrated booklets for adults and children in primary and secondary school. The books have some writing in Dari and Pashto but largely rely on cartoons to get their point across to literate and illiterate residents alike.

CPI�s support of ALSO, which comes from the U.S. State Department�s Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement through a prime contract with DynCorp International, has resulted in outreach and services to several hundred landmine accident survivors in Kabul. CPI and ALSO are now exploring the possibility of expanding the program to other large communities in Afghanistan such as Jalalabad.
We met one survivor who is employed by ALSO as a security guard. Mohammad Nassim Ismail Mohammadi was 8 years old when he lost his leg due to a landmine explosion in 1994. An above-the-knee amputee, he now lives in Kabul�s Char Qalae Wazir Abad District 10.

�After the accident I was traumatized, didn�t know what to do, and remained hidden at home,� said Mohammed. �I have been through pain, suffering and exclusion. I face all sorts of barriers, material and immaterial, that prevent my full participation in community life.�

But his sense of isolation began to change after he was visited by a social worker from ALSO and learned of educational and other opportunities. Then, the group hired him to keep the compound secure.

�I feel better about myself and my situation,� he said.

Afghanistan: Better Tools, Better Lives

KABUL, Afghanistan � A steel landmine probe. A deminer�s trowel. A flail hammer. Mine field marking tape. Newly polished safety visors. These tools may not sound familiar to you, but mine clearance professionals use them every day.

And these days, deminers in Afghanistan don�t have to look any further than the catalog of the Afghan Mine Action Technology Center to buy these tools locally thanks to Clear Path�s partner Elegant Design And Solution.

The center, which is located at the Kabul Orthopedics Organization on the grounds of Afghanistan�s main military hospital, was created to capture a portion of the market for demining equipment and make money to support survivors of landmine accidents.

AMATC employs three Afghan landmine accident survivors and produces a dozen different mine clearance tools and prostheses. It�s the brainchild of Ed Pennington-Ridge, a British inventor.

The cutting-edge program matching the needs of the demining industry (a big one in Afghanistan after three decades of war) and the survivors of landmine accidents is funded by the U.S. State Department�s Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement through a prime contract with DynCorp International. It is one of several programs Clear Path manages in Afghanistan as a subcontractor of DynCorp.

The center started almost two years ago by offering to re-polish the safety visors deminers wear to protect their faces in case of a blast. Constant use tends to scratch the visors� polycarbonate surface. Instead of buying a pricy brand-new replacement visor, demining operators could simply get a $30 makeover with extra blast protection.

The AMATC catalog has grown quickly since then. It offers hammers secured to the end of chain-link flails used on armored demining vehicles as a way to safely set off landmines. Its steel trowels and probes replace hand tools that get mangled in a blast. The red skull-and-bones marking tape warns of landmines in Dari.

At the moment, Ed and his partner Tanya Shaffenrath, are hard at work to complete the design for a large sifter that mounts to a dozer and separates ordnance from the dirt in which it�s buried.

In the area of prosthetics, AMATC offers polypropylene limbs, knee joints for above-the-knee prostheses and the cosmetic covers for hand prostheses that look real enough to belong in Madame Tussauds.

Ed is a long-time contributor to innovations in humanitarian mine action. From his base in Wales, he has worked on projects for the United Nations Association USA�s Adopt-A-Minefield and now for CPI.

�This is the most innovative project in mine action today,� says Peter Albertsson, CPI finance manager and co-program manager for Afghanistan. �Disabled survivors are making safer demining tools and the profits are used to care for other survivors.�

The proceeds from Ed�s sales to the demining sector will reach at least $50,000 this year and will end up funding survivor assistance services at the Kabul Orthopedics Organization.

The Eyes of Zab Mohammed: Fear & Hope On My First Trip to Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan � I can�t explain it. I�ve met hundreds of landmine and bomb accident survivors in the past nine years. I�ve visited them at home after years of painful recovery. I�ve seen them shortly after their accident their families in tears. I�ve seen the faces of boys scarred by shrapnel and girls who couldn�t walk because of burn injuries. I�ve seen survivors who could no longer see or touch because they lost their sight and their hands.

It moves me every single time but I usually remain composed.

That wasn�t the case with Zab Mohammed whom I met in the civilian post-op ward at the military hospital in Kabul. My encounter with the 18-year-old simply pulled out the rug.

Maybe it was the ghost I saw in his eyes, the ghost of the accident that happened just 25 days ago when a landmine in his hometown in Nangaher Porvince snuffed out his leg above the knee and took away a portion of his hand.

Maybe the statistics finally sunk in. Survivors like Zab come into hospitals around Afghanistan at the rate of hundreds per month and that their numbers won�t go down any time soon because of the renewed fighting with the Taleban.

Maybe it was his youth and the realization that he was just three years younger than my oldest son, that he could have passed for a senior at our local high school or the son of a neighbor.

Maybe it was just at that moment that Clear Path�s newest program became immediate and personal. It was, after all, my first time in Afghanistan. The program started two years ago.

My three-day visit was intense. Winter is harsh in Kabul. The city was raw from a recent bomb attack on the German embassy. Security seemed other-wordly. Downtown is a maze of road blocks, sand-bagged army posts and roads lined with huge concrete buffers. On the tour of our partners, I was given a flack jacket. Our two Nepalese guards packed pistols and machine guns. The car we drove was armored, including the tinted windows and back hatch. Getting things done here is challenging to say the least.

That gave me even more respect for what Kristen, Martha, Peter, Zabi, Arahim and Shalima have been able to accomplish.

The CPI survivor assistance program is part of a larger project funded by the U.S. State Department�s Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement through a subcontract with DynCorp Intl. Under its task order, Clear Path works with several Afghan partners to provide services to landmine accident survivors like Zab.

Once Zab�s amputation has healed and his residual limb is ready, he will be transferred to the Kabul Orthopedic Organization next door where the WRA program has funded prostheses, physical therapy and other recovery services to more than 6,000 landmine accident survivors and other Afghans with disabilities since it started in 2007.

KOO treats 500 civilian patients per month. Four out of every five are landmine accident survivors. Most of them make their way to Kabul from the provinces at great personal expense but the treatment is free and KOO hopes to bring its services closer to the survivors by setting up facilities in other parts of the country.

That would be a blessing to Fazal Mohammed. The 20-year-old was injured by a suicide bomb attack that set off a landmine while he was waiting with other young men for construction jobs in Jhore Province six months ago. His spine was fractured and he is no longer expected to walk. KOO gave him full-leg orthoses. When I met him and his brother there, he was relearning to stand using the parallel bars. It took the pair 36 hours to get from their adobe village to Kabul by car. They had to rent a special bus because Fazal had to lie flat during the trip. The cost exceeded $350, a fortune in Afghanistan. He�s going home with crutches, a wheelchair and a slew of physical therapy exercises. He hopes to become a shopkeeper at some point but it may be as a single man. His fianc�is not so sure about the wedding anymore. Yet in the midst of telling me his tragic story, he managed to grant me a smile. He hadn�t lost all hope.

In the coming days I hope to describe the work of Clear Path�s other partners.

CPI Poised For Growth With New Team

After eight years of rapid development, Clear Path International has attracted a new team of professionals to manage its growing portfolio of country programs assisting landmine accident survivors in Asia.

The new team consists of Nancy Norton, volunteer board president and legal counsel; Imbert Matthee, executive director (co-founder); Peter Albertsson, finance manager and Afghanistan co-program manager; Melody Mociulski, Southeast Asia program director; and Gail Suitor Follet, office manager. Co-founder Kristen Leadem remains special overseas programs manager/Afghanistan co-program manager. Teresa Birns, a Dorset-based accountant, has been recruited as CPI's part-time bookkeeper.

Over the years, the organization's work has expanded from a single project in central Vietnam to a far-reaching operation of landmine accident survivor programs in five countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Afghanistan. CPI now assists thousands of survivors and their family members each year with an annual budget of more than $2 million.

"The larger management team we have in place will allow us to take advantage of new opportunities to grow our accident survivor assistance programs and help more people who need our support," volunteer president Norton says. "We have a chance to take Clear Path's work to the next level."

To keep its overhead small and retain CPI's spirit of humanitarian service, most of the positions on the team are still part-time, though the actual work load is often fulltime, says Matthee. "It's important to minimize our overhead costs so the bulk of donors' charitable contributions can help landmine accident survivors with the services they need."




Norton, who has served as the board's legal counsel for the past three years, is a veteran corporate and international attorney. Albertsson has been a corporate finance manager and entrepreneur. Mociuslki is a former government grants, program and purchasing manager for the City of Seattle. Suitor-Follet has held several administrative and clerical positions. Matthee, a former journalist and public relations specialist, co-founded CPI and has helped expand its work in Southeast Asia. Albertsson, Suitor-Follet and Birns are based at the East Coast office in Vermont, while Norton, Matthee and Mociulski work from the West Coast office on Bainbridge Island.

After the team prepared for CPI's annual benefit on Bainbridge Island in November, the group traveled to New York and Washington, DC, to meet with existing and prospective new donors. The new management team also took the opportunity to plan for 2009, when CPI hopes to further strengthen its programs in its existing project countries and expand its grassroots, private-sector institutional, corporate and government-sector support.

We're Growing Fast!

The CPI family and mission has been growing a lot over the last year. Check out our newly updated About Us page for an update at www.cpi.org/info.php