Message of Hope

Landmine Survivors Network’s list of accomplishment in the Vietnam network office is most meaningful immediately after you have visited the country and seen the extent of the poverty and of the tragedy wreaked by landmines. LSN continues to train outreach workers who themselves are landmine survivors and to make hospital visits. Jerry White was inspired to make these peer visits a critical element of LSN’s work bases on his experience in Israelis hospitals where visits by survivors inspired him. LSN also trains outreach workers to visit survivors in their homes. Materials printed in the United States under the title “Surviving Limb Loss” have been translated and printed by LSN’s US office in Washington DC.

The power of LSN’s work in Vietnam and in other communities where landmines continue to threaten innocent victims lies in the role of survivors helping survivors. Those who have survived a tragedy are able to carry a message of hope to those just in the process of recovering. In doing so these survivors provide a purpose. From the depths of a tragedy that effect survivors physically, emotionally, and spiritually they are able with the help of LSN to find purpose and meaning that results directly from their experience as landmine survivors.

"To be an instant landmine expert, just remember the number 80: There are up to 80 million mines buried in over 80 countries and more than 80 percent of the victims are innocent civilians, including thousands of women and children each year."

- Jerry White

Angkor Wat

On Friday, March 26 our group flew to Saigon-Siem Reap, Cambodia. Once again LSN arranged an extraordinary opportunity to meet with a local expert on landmines. Photographer John McDermott offered our group a private tour of his photo exhibit at the Grand Hotel d’Angkor. The photos of survivors demonstrated with images in an immediate way that is impossible to convey with words the tragedy that strikes every time a landmine explodes.


The afternoon was devoted to the famous temple of Angkor Wat. Once again the mystery and the continued beauty of this place contrasted sharply with the tragedy with the destruction resulting from the continued existence of landmines.

Artisans d'Angkor

Perhaps the most striking moment of a day filled with visits to beautiful temples, was our time with the artists of Artisans d’Angkor. This cooperative of men and women are skilled artisans who are have continued to practice traditional handicrafts.  They are now working on a variety of crafts to supports themselves and their families. The years of war and genocide in Cambodia have been hard on the people. 

Artisans d'Angkor employs over 1,000 people including landmine survivors and young people studying to make a living. After working at Artisans these people can go back to their village and trade their merchandise and play are role in society. In Cambodia parts of the community are beginning to find ways to help people get their lives back. 

These individuals have emerged from their tragedy with a purpose in life: bringing beauty into the lives of others, while making a place for themselves in society.  

Dong Hoi, Bo Trach District

LSN operates seven network offices in Ethiopia, Jordan, Mozambique, El Salvador, Columbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Vietnam. At the office in Dong Hoi, which serves Vietnam we had the opportunity to meet with the extraordinary staff who provide a full range of services to landmine survivors. Theses services include counseling, medical care, economic aid, and job training. In countries like Vietnam this aid can take the form as something as simple as the grant of a cow or a pig, which in turn enables the survivor to achieve economic independence and regain self-confidence.


Following the meeting with the LSN staff, we met with four landmine survivors in their homes. What struck me most was the range of attitudes of the survivors. Some were still struggling with their loss of self-esteem, independence, and place in society. While other survivors had worked with LSN staff to regain their sense of confidence and their capacity to live a full meaningful life.



I remember visiting one family in particular. The father suffered lost his leg to a landmine when he was younger. As a landmine survivor he had a hard time making a living and supporting his family. With the help of LSN had returned to his place as head of the house hold, loving parent, and contributing member of society.

Demining Demonstration

On Thursday, March 25 our group had the extraordinary opportunity had the opportunity to witness first had the terrifying work required to begin to rid a country of landmines. At a demining demonstration arranged by LSN, we observed the extreme risks that the deminers must take in their efforts to make Dong Hoi a safer place for its residents. At a time when the United States refuses to sign the Ottawa Treaty, the experience of watching a demining demonstration is a powerful reminder of the need to prevent the use of landmines. Mines that can take a short time to plant require years and years of many lives risked to remove.

I don't believe it is right that people in Vietnam should have to remove the landmines that were placed there by other countries. I understand that these people are employed to demine but I don't think it seems ethical.

When I talked to Jerry White last month he said, "I believe the responsibility for clean up lies with the governments who have made and used these weapons. The polluter pays, as we say. Just like we teach our kids to clean up after themselves.... militaries worldwide should clean up their lethal litter."

US Embassy representative

Traveling with LSN afforded us the opportunity to meet with scholars and experts like professor Truong Quong Hoc on daily basis. On Tuesday, March 23 LSN arranged for our group to meet over breakfast with representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. These representatives emphasized to us that long after the war ended the landmines remained a threat to life and limb most often effecting innocent: small children playing, farmers in the field, and mothers performing daily chores.

At dinner, LSN arranged for our group to meet with a local journalist at the press club. He was open to our questions and emphasized that the work of LSN with survivors is critical to changing attitudes in a country where landmine survivors has traditionally been shunned by society.

At 11 PM we boarded the train from Hanoi for Dong Hoi.

Hanoi, Halong Bay

To me this photo captures a piece of the beauty of Vietnam.

Monday morning at a breakfast briefing with Professor Truong Quong Hoc from Vietnam National University we prepared for a day of touring the Temple of Literature and the History Museum. The more we learned of Vietnam’s ancient and rich history, the more we realized how significant and horrific the impact of landmines has been on this beautiful country.

These children that we passed on our way to the Temple of Literature are typical of the beauty and grace of this country which has some how managed to survive war and the ever present landmines. Unfortunately in a country filled with landmines children aren’t safe.

Injuring and killing children is one of the many problems with cluster munitions. According to Jerry White, “these are the bombs that explode and send out little round bombies or bomblets across a half mile radius. With a dud rate of 20% this military litter becomes like de facto landmines. Kids find them on the ground and think they are toys and pick them up and they explode. Many lose their eyes and hands, if not their lives.”

Welcome to Vietnam

I arrived in Hanoi on Sunday March 21, 2004 to participate in the Discover Vietnam trip with Landmine Survivors Network. On the streets of Hanoi the poverty is obvious. Hungry children sit on side walks asking for food. Even in this bustling city, people are living in one room shacks.

Living in America we often forget that the rest of the world doesn't live like us.

Our groups of twenty visitors from the United States, all passionate about the cause, met with LSN executive director Jerry White for a briefing. Jerry explained to us the basic statistics on landmines in Vietnam, the history of landmines in the country, and the toll they have taken.

My journey

In 2004 I had the opportunity to take a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia with Landmine Survivors Network. I wanted to visit the survivors so they would know that Americans and people in other parts of the world care about them and think about them. I also wanted to see for myself the damage and pain landmines have caused to innocent victims. When I learned about how LSN works with survivors I was really impressed. The organization helps people "move from being victims, to survivors, to fully participating citizens in their communities."

LSN’s network office in Vietnam works with survivors toward four goals. First, to bring survivors together with other survivors through visits and activities as a means of offering peer support. Second, to support survivors in the areas of healthcare, use of prostheses, rehabilitation, and economic training. Third, to assist survivors in exchange for community service provided by the survivor. Finally, to encourage participation of survivors in regional activities that promote pride and interaction.


These talented men are all landmine survivors. Today they are members of a band and members of society.

Telling their stories

"Landmines can't tell the difference between the sandal of a child or the footfall of a soldier. They are indiscriminate and inhumane weapons. Like poison gas, they are beyond the pale and should be delegated to the dustbin of history.

The Mine Ban Treaty, with 150 members, is the most comprehensive strategy to eliminate the scourge of landmines. It calls for a complete ban on the production, stockpile, export and use of anti-personnel mines. Since we negotiated the treaty ten years ago, we shut down the trade in landmines. More mines are coming out of the ground than going in the ground. Countries have destroyed more than 50 million mines from their stockpiles. Casualty rates have decreased from over 26,000 per year--a victim every 22 minutes--to fewer than 10,000 today."



In the last ten years, through hard work and dedication non profit organizations have made huge changes. This is a cause worth fighting for. This is a cause where our support, our voices, and our encouragement can make a difference. I can share with you the photos I have taken, what I have seen , and what I have learned about landmines. I feel it is important to speak for all of the people whose voices can't be heard. Thank you for listening!