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).
