Clear Path International's First Study Trip to Laos

Ever since James, Martha, Kristen and I started Clear Path International nearly six
years ago, I have wanted to go to Laos. Now I finally had a chance to do so, as we
sandwiched three days in between our project visits to Vietnam, Cambodia and the
Thai-Burma border.



It was our work in central Vietnam that inspired me to go to Laos. Along Vietnam's
coast -- to the north and south of the former Demilaterized Zone at the 17th
parallel -- we support what we call "landmine accident survivors" who are really
UXO victims. That stands for "unexploded ordnance" and it includes a whole range of
explosives, such as cluster bombs, mortars, rockets, phospherous grenades and so on.





During the Indochina War, the same explosives were used in Vietnam and Laos. All
along the Lao border with Vietnam ran the Ho Chi Minh trail and it was bombed by
U.S. forces for years, making Laos the most bombarded country in the world. And
although Laos' population is only a fraction of Vietnam's, the UXO problem there
continues to claim new casualties at a disturbing rate.



Accurate figures are hard to come by, but rough estimates put the number of UXO
survivors in Laos at about 2,500, with 140 new accident survivors joining their
ranks each year.



Needless to say we learned a lot from our three days in Vientiane, the Lao capital,
thanks almost exclusively to Mike Boddington of COPE, the Cooperative Orthotic &
Prosthetic Enterprise, who hosted us and put us in touch with key players in the
area of survivor assistance.



COPE brings together brings together organizations that work in the field of
mobility disability in Laos. These include the National Rehabilitation Center of
the Ministry of Health, World Vision, Association for Aid & Relief Japan and the
Leprosy Mission International of Singapore.



We toured the National Rehabilitation Center on our second day in Laos. It was a
Friday and things were a bit slow, but that was just as well because it gave us
plenty of time to look at all of its departments without having to disturb many
patients.



The NRC assists all persons with disabilities, a number of them are landmine/UXO
survivors. More importantly, the NRC and COPE run four other prosthetics and
orthotics centers in the provinces of Luang Brabang, Xiang Khuang, Savannakhet and
Pakse.



All these provinces have a high concentration of UXO survivors that benefit from
the centers' services. In 2004 and 2005, COPE provides physical mobility services
to 1,487 and 1,268 patients throughout Laos respectively.



A number of NGOs, such as World Vision, World Education and Handicap International
also provide additional community-based rehabilitation services ranging from
emergency medical care to vocational training -- much the same as Clear Path does
in central Vietnam.



But these NGOs assist all persons with disabilities and only cover certain
provinces, leaving gaps in aid to UXO survivors elsewhere.



At this time, it's not our intention to start up services in another country. We
have our hands full in Vietnam, Cambodia and along the Thai-Burma border. But
meeting with Mike and the NGOs inspired us to look for small ways to be helpful and
to return in the not-too-distant future to visit the provinces, particularly the
heavily bombed ones up against the border with Vietnam.



So we told Mike we would arrange for a shipment of medical equipment and supplies
to better outfit and provision the National Rehabilitation Center in Vientiane,
which is otherwise well organized and productive. It needs beds and it can use
plaster casting strips, just to name a few items. In the coming weeks, CPI hopes to
get a wish list from the NRC to start setting items aside for it.



Meanwhile, we intend to stay in touch with the folks we met in Laos to make sure
that whatever we decide to do fits in with the needs of landmine survivors and
complements the work already done by other NGOs there.



On this first trip to Laos, we succeeded in collecting initial impressions and
ideas. But I am already looking forward to going again next year and exploring this
laid-back but ruggedly beautiful country more.