Clear Path's Humanitarian Work Recognized

On January 23, 2006, leaders of the Quang Binh Committee for Population, Family and Children (CPFC) paid a visit to Clear Path's Vietname Office in Dong Ha town, Quang Tri province. Mr. Le Thanh Tan, CPFC chairman, was authorized to award CPI a Merit Certificate issued by the Quang Binh Province People's Committee. The certificate recognizes Clear Path's active contribution to humanitarian work in the province.

Quang Binh is one of the two provinces that CPI offers all of its services towards Landmine/UXO survivors, their families and their communities. In the last two years of 2004 and 2005, Clear Path had implemented over US $ 80,000 in the province under four major components of Emergency Outreach Service (EOS), Supplementary Beneficiary Service and Scholarship (SBS & SC), Medical Equipment Donation (MED) and one full-scale project of Accident Survivor Assistance (ASAP) in Le Thuy district.

Since its first operation in the province in November 2003, Clear Path's list of beneficiaries has come up to 429 todate.

14-Year-Old Boy Lost Hand in War-Era Munition Accident

It was Sunday, January 8, 2006, a day off school and Nguyen The Thang was busy in the backyard moving some bonsai trees to plant in the front entrance. Tet, the Vietnamese traditional Newyear festival is coming in two weeks, and everyone is busy preparing their home for a new appearance to welcom the lunar new year.

While planting the third tree, Thang dug up something metal. The conical shape of the item attracted his curiosity. Thang bended down, picked it up for a close look. The item was a bit heavy, rusty looking and stuck with dirt. The 8 grade student sat down and tapped it against a rock to get loose the dirt. Beyond his expectation, the thing detonated right in his hand.

Thang was immediately transported to the commune aid station for first aids and forwarded to the provincial hospital for intensive treatment of his injuries. The doctors have saved his life but unable to keep his left hand as the blast had totally crushed it.
Thang is from Hoa Thuy commune, Le Thuy district, Quang Binh province. His village is just north of the former DMZ.

Father of Five Killed in Vietnam

This just in from our office in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam:

(Truong Quoc Dung-aged 40) A horrible accident happened to a 40-year-old man in Gio Linh district of Quang Tri province at 16h on Dec 27th 2005. Unknown ordnance suddenly exploded when he was digging a hole for planting trees in a new resettlement vilage to the west of the same district. The victim was severely injured: one of his kidneys and liver were damaged while the lungs were also seriously affected. He was suffered from too much bleeding.He was taken immediately to Gio Linh Health center for first aid and transferred to Quang Tri General Hospital some hours later for intensive care and treatment, where he got surgeries by the doctors. Due to the severe injury, he was transferred to Hue Central Hospital one day after. Unluckily, the doctors in Hue could not save his life. He died one day after being taken to Hue.He left behide his wife and 5 young children, of which the youngest is only one year old and the eldest is 14 years old.

CPI Raises Substantial Funding in 4th Quarter

Good news in our most recent press release:

During the fourth quarter of 2005, Clear Path International raised more than $275,000 for landmine accident survivors in Southeast Asia through major grants, special events and grassroots contributions, the organization said this week.

In October, Clear Path�s fifth anniversary benefit dinner at the Columbia Tower Club in Seattle, attended by many of its island supporters, raised nearly $30,000. This included a $5,000 underwriting grant from the Seattle-based law firm Marler Clark, LLC.

In December, the humanitarian mine action group received word from the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis of $180,000 in grants for Clear Path�s survivor assistance projects in Vietnam and Cambodia during the next two years.

The largest two-year grant from McKnight, for $105,000, will support a joint project of CPI and Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development in Phnom Penh to build a rice mill in Battambang Province, western Cambodia.

The proposed rice mill and adjoining facility in Battambang will accommodate the training of landmine accident survivors and their families in hands-on agricultural and technical vocational skills.
The total budget for the mill, whose production is expected to make the training program self-sustaining within three years, is $327,000.

The other two-year McKnight grant for $75,000 will support Clear Path International�s survivor assistance program in central Vietnam, where the organization provides medical and socioeconomic assistance to hundreds of families in three districts north and south of the former Demilitarized Zone that once split the country in two.

From the Mark D. Johnson Charitable Trust in California, Clear Path received a $50,000 gift, with $30,000 for survivor assistance in all three program countries �� Vietnam, Cambodia and the Thai-Burma border area �� and $20,000 for a media project to raise awareness of the landmine problem in Southeast Asia.

In addition, Clear Path received a $5,000 grant for its survivor assistance and mine action work from the Olive Higgins Prouty Foundation and $4,000 from John and Hazel Griffith of San Jose. The remainder of the $275,000 came from individual donations.

Since it was founded on Bainbridge Island in 2000, Clear Path has provided assistance to more than 2,300 landmine accident survivors and their families in Southeast Asia, and sent 60 containers with $4 million worth of medical equipment and supplies to dozens of hospitals in 20 countries affected by the presence of landmines.

Sally Taylor & John Curley to Host CPI�s 5th Anniversary on Oct. 16

SEATTLE -- Clear Path International will celebrate its fifth anniversary at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 16 with a benefit dinner high above Seattle at the Columbia Tower Club.

The event, �An Evening of Hope for Landmine Survivors,� will be hosted by KING 5 Evening Magazine�s John Curley and feature Singer-songwriter Sally Taylor (daughter of James Taylor and Carly Simon) (www.sallytaylor.com).

Taylor, along with her music career, is also a force in the field of humanitarian mine action. Together with her husband, Dean Bragonier, she started the tranquility project, raising money and awareness to combat the global landmine problem (www.tranquilityproject.org).

Besides Taylor�s unique blend of folk and country, and MC John Curley�s lively and engaging personality, the evening will include a live and silent auction with getaways to Provence, the Caribbean, Whistler, Sun Valley; signed Pink Floyd album cover art and other rock 'n roll collectibles.

The evening will mark the first five years since Clear Path International began its work assisting landmine accident survivors.

In that time, Clear Path has provided everything from prostheses to vocational skills training to more than 2,000 mine and bomb victims in Southeast Asia. And, it has sent 50 containers with $3.5 million worth of medical equipment and supplies to hospitals in 20 mine-affected countries.

Looking ahead to the next five years, CPI foresees an ongoing, and in some cases increasing, need for our medical and social services to innocent victims of landmine explosions.

Because of growth and development in Vietnam�s war-torn central provinces, for instance, accidental explosions happen several times a week, sometimes every day now, and often involve children (www.cpi.org).

Proceeds from the benefit will be used to support Clear Path�s humanitarian work in Vietnam, Cambodia and along the Thai-Burma border. Individual tickets are $75. Couples and corporate packages are also available.

For registration and details: Call CPI�s West Coast office at 206-780-5964 or write to Imbert Matthee: Imbert@cpi.org

Journal of Mine Action Article on Clear Path

An article written by CPI Co-founder Imbert Matthee is appearing in this month's online version of the Journal of Mine Action.

Survivor Assistance Profile: Clear Path International

Rebuilding Shattered Lives in Southeast Asia


You can read the article here.


Imbert, far left (in more ways than one, really) interviews a landmine survivor in Cambodia.