Portrait of Mrs. Chanh, a landmine survivor from Laos. | © Singkham / HI
Portrait of Mrs. Chanh, a landmine survivor from Laos. | © Singkham / HI
In 1970, when she was 15, Mrs. Chanh stepped on a US made landmine. The next day she went to the hospital in Houameuang where her left leg was amputated. Her life changed.
Humanity & Inlcusion (HI) support Mrs. Chanh with a financial aid to raise cattle – she already owns two cows purchased with funds from the Lao government.
“We are celebrating the 25 years of the Ottawa Treaty this year. I want to underline that Victim Assistance is an obligation of the treaty and is vital for survivors, their relatives and communities. Victim Assistance includes a vast range of activities including emergency and on-going medical care, rehabilitation, psychological and social support, access to education and economic inclusion… support needs last long after clearance operations end. A country or a region can be freed from explosive ordnances but the survivors are still there and need support," says Julien Kempeneers, Regional Humanitarian Mine Action Specialist
For more than 50 years now, Mrs. Chanh, who is now 74 years old, has been living with a prosthesis made by her uncle with scrap metal collected from a cluster bomb.
HI will soon provide her with a new adapted prosthesis and a rehabilitation service that will make her daily life easier.
"Bombs and mines must be removed from my village, so that people and younger generations can safely enter the forest and live without fear. I don't want anyone to go through the same experience as me," says Mrs. Chanh.
Ms. Chanh is a HI “disability champion”. It means she is involved in HI's advocacy activities.
HI launched its first demining operations in Laos in June 1996 :clearing remnants of exploded bombs, pieces of bombs, explosive ordnances, grenades, ammunitions... The deminers also detect larger bombs, often weighing several hundred kilos, which did not explode on impact and transport them to a specialized site to be destroyed.
Laos has the highest level of cluster bomb contamination in the world (small bombs as big as a a tennis ball). 1 200 km² of areas (more than ten times Paris) have already been identified as dangerous.
HI clearance activities started in June 1996 in laos. HI has cleared 5 millions square meters since 2006 in Houaphan and Savannakhet provinces and has destroyed 6,710 unexploded ordnances since 2019.
