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FROM THE FIELD

LAO PDR: 'We feel safer now'
18 Nov 2009 11:18:00 GMT
 Source: MAG (Mines Advisory Group)
Website: Website: http://www.maginternational.org

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"Last year I grew 20 sacks of rice [about 1,400kg], an increase of five sacks compared to my previous paddy field." - Ten
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"Last year I grew 20 sacks of rice [about 1,400kg], an increase of five sacks compared to my previous paddy field." - Ten
Sean Sutton / MAG

Background

•  Food and hunger

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"I am 61 years old. It is hard for me to walk all day up a steep mountainside to my paddy field like before!" says Ten, with a smile.

Ten is smiling because he no longer has to walk for a whole day to reach the field that provides his livelihood. In the past, he could not farm the land close to his village due to the high level of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the ground. His field - "on the other side of the next mountain", he says - was the closest safe land he could find.

As one of the poorest in the village, the family was selected by MAG's Community Liaison staff in conjunction with the village authorities.

MAG cleared land for a new paddy field for Ten in late 2007, just half a kilometre from his house. More than 20 items of unexploded ordnance were found and destroyed in the process.

"Many of them were bombies [the local name for cluster bomblets]. One bomb was as big as my leg, I don't know what type it was, but it must have been dropped by a plane during the [Vietnam-American] war," he says.

"Last year I grew 20 sacks of rice [about 1,400kg], an increase of five sacks compared to my previous paddy field," he says.

Ten also says that, as his family does not have to spend so long traveling to their field, they have more spare time. This gives them the opportunity to sell their labour to others during harvest time.

His memories of the war remain vivid.

"I was a young farmer during the war," he recalls. "We used to hide in the jungle, in caves or bunkers, depending on the situation. Often we got stuck in the cave because of the continuous bombing day and night. We had to defecate inside bamboo tubes and throw it outside when we thought it was safe.

"I have seen many civilians killed, and others wounded and screaming... all the livestock were killed, all houses were completely damaged. There was nothing left, not even cooking pots, all [the things] you can see here now are from after the war."

The last physical reminder of the war - the unexploded ordnance lying in the ground - has finally gone.

"The work MAG has done in our community is very helpful. We feel safer now," he says.

Khouanpho village was cleared with funds from the Humpty Dumpty Institute and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).




[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Topics

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•  Landmines and explosives

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

Background information

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Food and hunger Landmines and explosives
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Laos

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Last updated:Wed Nov 18 11:21:44 2009