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.

YouTube: Thank you, Martha!

This video was shown on the 10th anniversary Celebration of Martha Hathaway's work with landmine and bomb survivors in Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan and the Thai-Burma border.

The music is Natalie Merchant's "Kind & Generous" off of her CD OPHELIA and is used with permission.

It was shown (as a surprise to her) at on October 13th after a letter from the US Dept of State was read and before a speech by Senator Patrick Leahy and a performance by Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion.

One Swift, Powerful Kick Through the Uprights

We are savoring the rainy interlude here in Hue that allows for a bit of catch up on email, journaling, and musing.

Yesterday, we travelled from Da Nang to Hue via a detour to the old city of Hoi An. We spent an enjoyable couple of hours strolling through the extensive street market in Hoi An. Markets always bring me to the ground floor of the local experience -- they are so filled with aromas: spicy, punget, human, fish, fruit. They are filled with the noises of commerce, haggling, banging, chopping, yelling. They are filled with the reality of people interacting in ways meaningful, real, traditional and efficient. The old women are snoozing beneath their conical hats. The young people are checking out electronics or new clothes. Families are slurping noodles, squatting on benches. It transports me and humbles me. i never miss the chance to stroll up and down the dark passage ways between all the various stalls.



After a fine lunch at the Blue Dragon (which supports education for at risk kids in Vietnam -- there is a great theme to our travel here in Vietnam in that so many of the places that we visit for meals and necessities are supporting causes: of training street kids in the food industry ~Wa Xua in Hanoi, education in promoting helmet compliance for motos and bike drivers/riders, etc... at least it's compassionate, humanitarian tourism) we backtracked through Da Nang to pass through the six kilometer Hai Van tunnel. Duc, CPI's fabulous and meticulous logistics director and Vietnam's best driver, brought us into Hue so that we could visit two Clear Path beneficiaries.

Our first visit was with young Nghia. I had the privilege of meeting him and his family on last year's trip. He had been a recent victim of a mortar explosion that had blown off both of his feet and his left hand and wrist. At that time, he was very withdrawn and depressed, feet and arm bandaged and wrapped post amputation. The horrendous devastation of the destructive explosion had been equally painfully obvious on the drawn faces of his parents.

As Duc negotiated his way through the back roads of Hue, uncharacteristically, he brought us to a very sudden stop. "There he is!, There's Nghia!!!" He was excitingly pointing to a group of young local guys kicking a red plastic soccer ball around. Unbelievably, there was Nghia kicking the ball with force right at the improvised goal: a stick going across two small trees. We piled out enthusiastically - surprising everyone. In his blue jeans, not even my professional, clinical eyes would have guessed -or perhaps even believed- that this solidly healthy, athletic young man (he's 14 this year) could be a triple amputee. There is the slightest sense that maybe he's minimally more bowlegged than the average Joe, but otherwise one simply sees brilliant, vibrant, physical, thriving life. Together, we all wandered up the lane to Nghia's home where his obviously proud parents poured tea for all of us. Duc and Son (CPI's marvelous medical liaison specialist) helped us to find out how Nghia was doing He was just about to re-enter school, they translated. We enquired if he had any special needs that we could help with. Nghia indicated that all was well; i asked if there was anything that he was having problems with physically (though, after watching his football performance, i doubted it...) Nope, he was doing everything he wanted to ~ except for riding a bike. [and i will soon be correcting that] A bit concerned, i asked if he was the only amputee in his class. He quickly shook his bashfully smiling head. This meant that not only would he not stand out in his school (one in five landmine/UXO survivors are children -- CPI has helped greater than 2500 since it began its mission), but there were companions that would benefit from his example of complete recovery, and especially the strength of his spirit.

If there are ever moments of doubt, of self questioning: Are we doing something? Is what we're doing making a difference? Is what we do changing how someone gets through life? Nghia puts them completely, inarguably to rest with one swift, powerful kick through the uprights.
Thanks, Nghia.


wolfgang brolley rpt
CPI Rehab Advisor

Great News from Vietnam

Chi posted yesterday a video of our 14 year old friend Nghia walking. I first wrote about Nghia on this blog in March of 2005. He was injured by a bomb left over from the US-Vietnam War while I was visiting with the Vietnam staff.

He lost his two lower legs and his lower left arm. He is lucky to be alive. I visited him in the hospital and we have followed his progress on this site since.

We first posted about him here, the San Jose Mercury News picked up the story here, and we posted photos of a follow up visit to his home here.

To see the video of him walking again is beyond thrilling.... he is a great little boy who has worked hard to come this far. Clear Path donors and staff have helped him make this happen.

Thank you to all of you from the bottom of my heart.

Boy Who Lost Legs Gets on His Feet

Ho Van Nghia, a 13-year old boy in Hue city, Viet Nam lost his legs and a hand in an UXO accident in March 2005. After going through long term treatments and rehabilitation, he now can get back on his feet. The following clip was taken by our Medical Liasion in Hue, Mr. Son on December 13, 2005.

Since the accident date, Nghia has been one of CPI's mostly cared victims. Thanks to the timely assistance, Nghia and his family have over come difficult time and gradually get back to normal pace of life.

View the Video of Nghia Walking again here.

Nghia's Making a Steady Recovery!

Toan posts this story from the field about the progress of our young friend, Nghia. You can read more about Nghia here.

One day in August 2005, I received a phone call from the Medical Liaison in Hue informed that Nghia wanted to have prosthetics legs. We CPI staff were very happy with this good news�

I came to visit Nghia on a weekend day August 27^th at his house in Hue. Seeing him sitting on the wheelchair outside the house, he looked so relaxed with a smile on his face when he saw me. He looked great and a bit fatter compared to 3 months ago. As a new school year is coming, I brought him a box with CPI logo, in which there are several stuff like pen, eraser, etc and asked him if he was ready to get back. He seemed very excited in answering me: �Yes, I want to go back to school this year. I have missed my classmates and teachers a lot but I have to delay this for some time�. He then smiled at Son, the Medical Liaison, with a shy look �I went to Hue Central Hospital on August 24^th for checking if I can wear prosthetic legs. It is good that the doctor said yes. And I have my legs measured already. I may have it in 10 days. I then need to stay in the hospital for a month to practise. I am longing for that from now�.

I could see his eyes twinked with the light of happiness. In fact, he had changed a lot in his spirit. From being upset and depressed after in uxo accident in March, the smile is now quite often in his face. His voice is also now more clearer and stronger. He told me that he really wanted to use the prosthetics which would help him walk a bit at first. Even though it is not real legs, he could be more confident in standing on his own legs instead of the wheelchair.

The Group Visits Nghia and the CPI School

Wolfgang Brolley is travelling with CPI co-founder Imbert Matthee and visiting CPI project sites in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand

This morning we had the pleasure and pain of visiting brave Nghia ~the young lad that has lost both feet and his left hand to old, but horrifically viable ordinance (see video of Nghia here). His new, brilliant red wheelchair was parked outside his home�s entrance. Loss, pain, grief and brokenness line the life-worn face of his diminutive father -- just as painfully obvious is the inescapable and unaddressable loss of spirit. My heart broke as it does every time that I have the privilege of meeting one of our beneficiaries. The barren tragedy of such inappropriate and devastating injury ~all stemming from the natural curiosity of a young boy to open some shiny thing he finds~ wiped me out. I have no ability to reconcile that shortfall in the cosmic balance sheet � kids must have the right and freedom to PLAY! It is an accounting evidenced to be even more wildly out of whack when I squatted down next to the father to explain the importance to him of correct positioning and regular exercising of his son�s residual limbs. I patted his leg only to find that he too had a below knee amputation, and then I was told that his father (Nghia�s grandfather!) had been an amputee landmine survivor. Three generations of limb loss � all due to these sickening objects of destruction that remain so malevolently potent years longer than many human lives last in this beautiful country.


As our day wound down we breathed back in some of the reckless (as it should be) joy of kids being their totally unselfconscious, silly selves at the school that CPI made possible (in part by clearing 550 UXO out of three acres of land) near the CPI office in Dong Ha. Visiting last year, we found a sparkling, spanking new school � but it was empty and silent � we had been greeted by the lone and lonely caretaker. This year, the grounds bubbled over with young boys and girls swatting at each other with their hats, practicing their crazy kung-fu inspired rough-housing, and chasing whoever might be �it�, unless they were totally clowning for us and our way too inspiring cameras!

Every classroom was filled, the kids (until we opened the gates of visitor sanctioned bedlam) studious and immaculately well behaved. For me, this was true �swords into plowshares.� The school, the kids, and our group were all standing around not wasting too many thoughts on the fact that 4 years earlier one misstep could have cost any one of us a limb. Now, I couldn�t spy a single amputee in the crowd. That ~in this country~ is a beautiful thing.

May it ever be so.

Much love to all humanity,

wolfgang brolley

Vietnam War's Painful Legacy

I have written a lot here about the young boy, Nghia, who found a bomb in Vietnam and lost his lower legs and one arm while tampering with it in March.

The San Jose Mercury News has written about him here.

UPDATE: Video of Nghia at Home

When I was in Vietnam a month ago, I wrote of a sweet, young boy who had found a piece of ordnance and tampered with it. The result was that he lost two legs and an arm...

Our phenomenal staff in Vietnam has been checking in on him and I just realized they posted a video of him to our FTP site a while ago and I somehow missed it.

Here is the video of Nghia at home a few weeks after his accident.

Update: Injured Boy, Nghia, Returns Home

Just before I left Vietnam on my most recent trip, there was a terrible accident involving a young boy named Nghia (see posts here and here). Nghia had found a piece of ordnance and was tampering with it to get the scrap metal inside to sell.

He lost both of his lower legs from the calf down and his left arm from just below the elbow.

He returned home a few days ago and the CPI staff was there to check in on the family. He is doing very well, considering.

Click on the images to enlarge.

         

Why I am Here

This entry was originally written for Tom Peters' blog at www.tompeters.com.

Here is my post to Tom's blog:

As I mentioned in my last post, I am in Quang Tri Province in Central Vietnam. This region received the heaviest sustained bombing campaign in the history of the world... more bombs were dropped here than in WWI and WWII combined. Not all of the bombs detonated on impact, and many still lie in the ground here. These bombs are not duds, they just have not exploded... yet. They lie in wait to be removed safely, or, much too often, detonate when someone disturbs them accidentally (sometimes intentionally) and the person is killed or maimed for life.

In the last two days I have visited with 3 young bomb survivors who are receiving help through our organization. Thanks to our terrific staff, two of them are now walking again. One though, a 13 year old boy, is lying in a hospital bed after an artillery shell he was playing with blew off his lower legs and one of his arms last week.

Yesterday we visited the boy in the hospital. His mother and father were at his bedside along with other family members. His face was full of gunpowder burns and small bits of shrapnel.
"How do you feel?" one of our staff asked in Vietnamese.
"It really hurts." he replied.
It is hard not to see your own children in the eyes of one so badly injured. My heart broke when they translated what he said and I sat down beside him. His lower legs from a few inches down the knee had been amputated as had his left arm just beneath the elbow. I was relieved to see initial reports were wrong and that his fingers on his right hand remained and his eyesight seemed ok. (video here. contains graphic content.)
I sat with him for a while. His father cried next to the bed. He had lost his lower right leg to a landmine during the war... now his son was suffering a seemingly worse fate.
On the way back from the hospital the staff and I discussed next steps. His amputations were in good locations for prosthetics and we will see he gets them and they are paid for by us. We already informed the family on my visit that we would be covering all his medical expenses and setting up a scholarship fund. A home assesment was made today to see if the family needs construction work to make the house handicap accesible.
I know he will thrive someday because we visited two other young people that have been through our program and are now walking. At one point it looked like they may never again.
I want to thank Tom for providing me with this forum. This will be my last post as I head back in a few days to the States. I will dearly miss my life here... this work IS my passion. Thanks, Tom for all your inspiration over the last 10 plus years (Marth and I celebrate our tenth anniversary in May!)... I am so proud to call you a friend.
Thanks to all for your comments! I wish you all the best.
shameless plug: www.cpi.org
The photos below are of Ha and Rot... the kids I visted today... their stories are worth a read.