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.