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!

Mines in Myanmar

In 2001, Myanmar's military placed landmines along their border with Thailand. In an attempt to "fence the country" the troops were ordered to put landmines inside the country and along the border it shares with Thailand. The eastern area of Myanmar has a very heavy concentration of land miles. In Myanmar, nine of the fourteen states are affected by landmines. The mine fields and heavily mine-affected areas are not properly marked. 

A landmine survivor in Myanmar suffers an average of 12 hours before receiving medical assistance. According to Handicap International, 77% of Myanmar landmine survivors go to hospitals in Thailand, while only 23% are hospitalized locally.  The health care system and the hospitals in Myanmar are known to be corrupt institutions. Landmine survivors from the army are supposed to receive medical treatment. However, war victims have had to bribe the hospital before being helped. 

Dr. Gino Strada

Dr. Gino Strada wrote the following in Green Parrots: 

"The countries, the names, the skin colors change, but the story of these wretched ones is tragically similar.  There is the one who is walking in the meadow, the one who is playing in the backyard or who is shepherding goats, the one who tills the ground or who gathers its fruits. Then the blast...Djamila felt a metallic click under her foot and had a fraction of a second to think before her left leg disintegrated...Many others like Esfandyar do not remember a thing.  A deafening noise and they are hurled on the ground....They wrapped Esfandyar in a big sheet, and they loaded him in the back of a farm truck. Esfandyar did not complain - the father told us - not of the pain, nor of the uneven roads. It was as if he were sleeping. And he was still in that drowsy state when he arrived at the emergency room of our hospital...He woke up different, Esfandyar, without an arm and a leg, and he will remain different, a young disabled person in a country so poor that it cannot afford to care for him."

In 1994 Dr. Strada founded Emergency, a non-profit organization that provides landmine victims with free medical assistance. Emergency helps civilian war victims, especially with landmine related injuries. Currently, Emergency is helping landmine victims in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Sri Lanka. 

 

Howard Zen

In A Power Governments Cannot Suppress, Howard Zen writes: 

"I can accept that there may be rare situations where a small act of force might be used to halt a genocidal situation - Darfur and Rwanda are examples. But war, defined as the massive and indiscriminate use of force cannot be accepted, once you understand its human consequences. 

Campaigns to rid the earth of landmines, napalm, white phosphorus, and depleted uranium, are important in themselves, as the reduction of symptoms is to anyone suffering from a deadly illness. But those campaigns must be accompanied by the understanding that the illness itself must be eliminated. 

Albert Einstein horrified by the first World War, said: 'War cannot be humanized. It can only be abolished.' "

Vietnam & Cambodia

During the 2004 LSN trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, each of the travelers had the opportunity to meet dozens of landmine survivors. What struck me about the survivors was their willingness to face life with hope and resilience despite their tragedies. While traveling, I learned that many survivors in this part of the world are shunned by their families and communities. Landmine survivors are faced with the challenge of proving that they can be productive members of society and overcoming the prejudices they face.

According to LSN’s website, “Over 80% of landmine victims are civilians, of which nearly one-third are women and children.” In Vietnam I met a woman who had lost her leg when she was a child. She picked up an unexploded mine while playing outdoors. Her family refused to provide her with the medical attention she needed. Her status in the family was reduced to that of a servant. With the help of a landmine survivor from LSN she has received emotional counseling for depression. She has acquired pigs to raise and sell. Today she has the confidence to be a respected member of society.

Awareness is the key to mobilizing support for landmine survivors. Today, up to 400,000 people worldwide are living with landmine-related injuries. This number continues to grow as 18,000 landmines harm or kill addition victims each year.