CPI Southeast Asia Program Director Melody Mociulski has been visiting staff and beneficiaries in Vietnam and Cambodia with volunteer Sandy Schubach and CPI Board Chairman Laurie Miller.
We've spent two and a half days here in Dong Ha with the CPI team: Chi, Phuong, Nhi, and Duc. It is wonderful to see them again - like coming home. They have all worked for CPI for several years, Chi and Duc since the beginning, when CPI started in 2000. I am so very proud of their efforts to provide quality and thoughtful victim assistance to UXO survivors and their families in 14 provinces of Vietnam.
Today we visited two beneficiaries: an 11-year-old boy, Binh, whose left eye was severely damaged when he found a bomb ignitor on the street and tried to plug the red wires into an electrical outlet. He was lucky his injuries were not worse. Nevertheless, the accident has had a major impact to his family, both economically and emotionally.
And we met Kha and his wife. He lost a leg many years ago in a UXO accident, and is unable to shoulder the responsibilities of providing for his wife, three children, and two elderly parents. CPI provided them with a pig - one very large mama pig - to raise. Future piglets will be sold to generate income for the family.
We also visited some of the DMZ monuments and museums, conducted performance evaluations and learned more about life and culture in Vietnam.
Tomorrow Duc will drive us to Hue, a UN heritage city, and we will start our trek home via a night in Bangkok.
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