World Ark Magazine - September/October 2008 - (Page 15)

are planted thickly in this remote border region, and most are invisible, buried just a few centimeters below the surface. At least 14 Ban Hoy villagers have been killed by land mines, and another 18 have lost limbs or been otherwise injured. One man died when his tractor ran over an anti-tank mine. Another died after he stepped on a mine while clearing brush. Another died while using a shovel to try to remove mines, which were killing his pigs and cows. Sim Ry, 53, who lives in a thatchedroof house sided with weathered bamboo slats, has a stump where his hand used to be. The former Khmer Rouge soldier tripped a land mine while cutting down trees to plant corn several years ago. He survived, but his injury, and the presence of more mines, made it difficult to earn enough for his wife and five children. Each time his children leave the house, he worries they might not come back alive. “It’s very hard,” Ry said. Others who work as subsistence farmers say the mines make crucial land unusable. “We can’t farm the land that we own,” said Ouch Ouy, 40, a leatherfaced villager who was also a Khmer Rouge soldier. He said he wasn’t involved in planting the mines, and called the Mines Advisory Group to request the area be cleared. Because many villagers were involved in the fighting on one side or another, mine-clearing groups send interviewers to find out where mines were planted, or where battles took place, or where injuries occurred. Yet many were placed haphazardly and without any records kept. At a command tent in Pailin, Mines Advisory Group officials showed the types of mines they look for: antipersonnel mines of all varieties—ones that pop up before exploding for maximum casualties, trip-wire mines, directional-spray mines set alongside trails and unexploded mortar shells and grenades. Most here were made in Russia, Vietnam and Hungary. Some are the size of cigar boxes, others casserole dishes and others small hockey pucks. The Mines Advisory Group, which works in current and former war zones in 35 countries, came to Cambodia in 1992 and now has 476 people working in seven provinces. Of its 56 field teams, many are Cambodians and nearly one in 10 is an amputee. With international FROM LEFT: A child pauses on the street in front of a billboard cautioning villagers about farming in potentially dangerous areas and warning against tampering with excavated dormant mines. Bunny Bunthong, 11, stands in a schoolyard that not long ago was a mine field. The Mines Advisory Group helped clear Ta Krouk village of mines before the school was built. Workers march toward a command tent after long hours spent scouring the dangerous landscape. Nearly half of Cambodia’s 13,908 villages are plagued by hidden land mines. groups and the Cambodian government’s efforts, about 4,000 people are working to remove mines. Bunsont said he does it partly for the good pay, which beats raising vegetables, but also to help others. He was on patrol with the government troops near Siem Reap in 1988 when he tripped a wire that set off a mine, slicing off his leg. He said the benefits are worth the potential danger. Though such instances are rare for trained mine clearers, in January of www.heifer.org September/October 2008 | WORLD ARK 15 http://www.heifer.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Ark Magazine - September/October 2008

World Ark Magazine - September/October 2008 Contents Letters For the Record The Good Life Asked and Answered Digging Up the Past Not a Drop to Drink Facing the Ogres of Progress Mixed Media Heifer Bulletin Heifer Spirit World Ark Market Calendar First Person

World Ark Magazine - September/October 2008

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