AP: Nations to form land-mine removal center

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Defense ministers from across the Americas agreed Wednesday to create an international land-mine removal center and many called for joint military missions for disaster relief and peacekeeping worldwide.


Read more here.

Landmine Frisbee Campaign in Singapore Raises Awareness of Clear Path International

To help raise awareness of the landmine crisis worldwide, and the work of Clear Path International, Rapp Collins of Singapore created frisbees that look like landmines and volunteers are tossing them around the city. When someone picks one up, a message on the other side tells the person doing so that the simple act of picking up what you think is a toy in landmine plagued communities can get you killed... it then encourages people to go to the web site of Clear Path International (http://www.cpi.org) to help landmine and bomb survivors.

Quite often children are killed by explosive remnants of war by thinking the bombs/mines are toys... this is a brilliant campaign!

Thank you to David Chee of Rapp Collins!

UPDATE: It is important to note that SINGAPORE is not an area where landmines are a problem. There have been a few comments where people have voiced concerns about children learning to pick up landmines due to this campaign.... that is not at all likely.

Thank you to BoingBoing for picking up this post as well as Houtlust.

Father of Micro Lending, Muhammad Yunus, Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

Wow.....! Micro-credit gets its due. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.... Clear Path also takes part in micro-credit/micro-granting programs in Cambodia and Vietnam. In Vietnam, we grant pigs to landmine and bomb surivivors to raise. The first litter of pigs is then donated back into the program, therefore repaying the beneficiaries debt to the program...

Here is more on Mahammad Yannus and the Grameen Bank's Nobel Peace Prize award.

The picture below is Nhi from the Vietnam office. Nhi heads up our pig granting program.

Mines to Vines Founder Blogs from Afghanistan

Founder of Mines to Vines, Heidi Kuhn, is currently blogging form Afghanistan... here is an excerpt:

Dr. Cairo has dedicated his life to this ICRC Clinic in Kabul for the past 17 years, and his professional demeanor is complimented by an incredible sense of humor. As he courageously greets his Afghan �friends� each day, he constantly reminds them that they are not landmine victims, but rather landmine survivors! His medicine is effective in healing the human spirit, as the Afghan smiles greet him as he energetically glides around the facility exuding his Italian charisma.

You can read more of her blog here: http://newrootsinafghanistan.blogspot.com/

Muppets teach children a land mine lesson

Thank you to Ray Doherty for sending this our way. Clear Path's Martha and Kristen met with Fazil, the director of the the Afghan organization featured in the piece below on their recent trip to Afghanistan.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Muppets teach children a land mine lesson
A British charity helps avert tragedy with a children's video on how to spot mines buried throughout Afghanistan.
By Rachel Morarjee | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN � "Bang!" The little puppet boy steps on a mine, and now he only has one leg. The Afghan children watching the video at a school on a Kabul hillside gasp.
Puppets have long been used to entertain and to teach children basic lessons such as how to count and the letters of the alphabet.

Now in Afghanistan the creators of Muppet stars Miss Piggy and Fozzy Bear have teamed up with two charities to teach children a lesson in survival: how not to get killed or maimed by the millions of land mines still buried in the Afghan soil.

Read the rest of the article here.

United States Helps to Clear Lebanon of Explosive Remnants of War

Source U.S. Department of State Press Release

Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
October 4, 2006
Update on United States Aid to Lebanon to Clear Explosive Remnants of War

The United States is committed to reducing the risk to Lebanese civilians posed by explosive remnants of war. From 1998 to the recent conflict, the inter-agency U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program invested more than $17 million dollars to rid Lebanon of persistent landmines and explosive remnants.

Since the onset of the most recent conflict, the United States has dedicated more than $9 million more for quickly and safely clearing these hazards:

* The Department of Defense transferred $5 million to the Department of State, with the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) receiving $2.8 million, and $2.2 million contracted through RONCO Consulting Corporation supporting the Lebanese Army Engineer Regiment�s clearing cluster munitions and other unexploded ordinance in south Lebanon.

* The Department of State�s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs provided an initial emergency grant of $420,000 to the MAG. The office also provided an initial $30,000 supporting the United Nations Joint Logistics Center for explosive remnants of war data collection and mapping capability in Lebanon, through its partnership with the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation. RONCO Consulting Corporation received $384,000, equipping two, 25-person teams to sweep for and mark explosive remnants of war for safe removal.

* The Department of State�s Bureau of International Organization Affairs is providing $2 million to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to sustain the operations of UNDP-controlled explosive clearance teams provided by the MAG and BACTEC International Limited.

* The U.S. Agency for International Development has awarded a grant of $1.2 million to the MAG for emergency unexploded ordnance and battle area clearance.

For more information on United States assistance to Lebanon, see the 6th edition of "To Walk the Earth Safety" at www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/rpt/walkearth/2006.

Thailand - Myanmar Border: Every dead end street has a side street leading somewhere

The Care Villa, it sounds like a nice place, convenient and relaxing. I have to admit, it is a very special place. The people who live there; the people who dedicate themselves to care for them; the atmosphere� it�s one of those places that you will never forget once you�ve been there. I had been there one time before, a few weeks ago, together with Imbert, Wolfgang, Lori and James to record songs.

It had been a very impressive day and their need for help stayed in my mind ever since. Last week I finally got the opportunity to go back into Mae La refugee camp, back to the Care Villa. My mission was to evaluate the needs and possibilities of all the 16 men living there together. This time, things were different: actually, things were normal.

A normal day, one of many others. For the residents of Care Villa a normal day consists of waking up early, of struggling to get dressed, of being fed, of needing help at the toilet, of finding the way on the touch, of asking a friend to scratch your mosquito bites, of accidentaly bumping into the wooden pillars, of frustration when the mug slips away between the stumps, of sitting, of waiting for the day to pass by. I was there, amongst them, with them, for them. I wanted to get to know the daily routine. I wanted to get to know them. I observed, I saw and I listened. But I didn�t dare to imagine, to be honest.

That�s what I normally do: imagine what it must be like to live with the limitations other people have to face. But the idea of losing both my eyes and my hands makes me simply freak out. I just wouldn�t know what to do. Try it yourself, maybe just for 10 minutes. And no cheating with all sorts of luxurous facilities or tools! No guiding dogs, no 24 hours personal care, no speaking computers, no automatic lights, no sound devices, no high-tech prosthesis controlled by brain activity. Add the imagination of living in a refugee camp, forced to leave your home country, maybe still suffering from nightmares about that life-changing moment when you touched that landmine, not being able to take care of your family in a culture where this might be the most important thing in life.

I got to know them. At least a little bit: the part that they wanted to share with me. Their history, their thoughts, their frustrations, their dreams, their stories. �A group of landmine survivors� became individual persons. Handicaps became challenges. Every dead end street has a side street leading somewhere. We only have to walk down the road first before we can see what�s around the corner.

Clear Path doesn�t turn its back on (what seems to be) a dead end street. We cannot fix eyes, hands or legs. We cannot turn back time or solve the issues in Burma. But we can look for possibilities, a side street, a change of direction; just small things that can make a big difference.