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.