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Although the dark years of Khmer Rouge hostilities are over now, many Cambodians still live in the shadow of war. Due to the presence of millions of land mines and other explosives, many people die, get injured and big plots of fertile land remain uncultivated because they cannot be safely accessed. Poignantly, the victims are often the weakest in society such as young children and already poor peasants.   “My sister was killed when she stepped on a land mine while herding cattle and my brother met a similar end while catching fish in a rice paddy,” Ling Phanh, a resident of Nipeach village told us. “I have lost two brothers and one sister within just five years!” “My parents don't understand why all this had to happen to their children and they often blame themselves for it.”

Unfortunately Phanh's story is not unique and nearly everyone in Nipeach  has lost relatives due to unexploded ordnance. After having lost her brother to the terror of land mines, Phanh decided to do something against it and with the help of CWS she joined a MAG de-mining team.
“When I found a land mine for the first time, I sweat all over my body and I thought it must have been the same type of mine that killed mybrother and sister” Phanh said. She has since become an experienced deminer and, combined with her status as income earner, she feels much more confident about the future now.

“Without MAG my family would still have been in poverty because I don't qualify for other employment due to my limited education”. “My job as a deminer not only helps me to support my family but also allows me to participate in the fight against mines which claimed the lives of my brother and sister.”

New Opportunities

Close by in Don Chouk village, the rainy season has finally arrived. Everybody is very busy planting rice, and what once used to be a minefield is now covered by bright green seedlings that are shining in the sun. Pa Nout, a farmer and father of four, is working on his land during our visit and explains that it was only recently cleared by MAG.

“When I returned to my village after the war, I did not dare to work on my own land because of all the mines”. “At first I hired an ex-Khmer Rouge to do the demining but I'm sure not all mines were taken out by him.” “Fortunately, our family was lucky enough not to have detonated any mine” Pa Nout told us.

“I am very happy with the presence of MAG in our village. I can now even extend my land to the adjacent bushes where I never dared to go! MAG also made me better understand the dangers of land mines and UXO through trainings they have given in our village.”

Saving Lives and Building Futures

Since 1994, Church World Service has cooperated with MAG to tackle the problem of land mines and other unexploded ordnance. For the last seven years, our focus area has been Kompong Thom but last year the project was extended to Battambang in order to conduct mine clearance operations for some severely mine affected families. In the first half of 2006, CWS and MAG were able to clear 648.052 square meters (equivalent to almost 100 football fields) of land across 3 major minefields, directly benefiting 324 families.

Clearing mines is a difficult and dangerous job but over the years, MAG has developed unique skills to minimize the dangers while increasing productivity. Our method even works so well that in the last seven years there have never been any mine related accidents after completion of our work. Yet another strong point in our approach is the use of so called “locality demining teams” (LDMTs). An LDMT is made up of twelve villagers who are hired from the communities where MAG has been requested to work. The villagers are trained by MAG to the same standard as all other deminers, and they work side by side with other teams. The advantage of working according to this approach is that MAG can provide a greater flexibility of response to the situations experienced on the ground. As the teams are small and familiar with the area, they concentrate on high impact areas, where the risk of mines to civilians is high. Another advantage is that by hiring local staff, knowledge about mines (and its dangers) will always be present in the village. Deminers are further granted the opportunity to earn some money to assist their families while helping their community to get out of a dark epoch of war.