Moung Chheang (41) and his wife, Pho Sinath live in Banteay Ti II village Ousampor commune Malai district in Banteay Meanchey province. He is sometimes a worker and a farmer and currently cultivates his land and to produce rice and Soya beans to support his family and mother’s health treatment. Chheang and Sinath, along with some of their four children now live in the village on a 30m x 600m resettlement plot. He told us how he risked injury or death in attempting to clear this land to build a shelter for his family.

“After the conflict between Khmer Rouge and Government troops, we moved to here because our hometown was so small - but what made us disappointed were landmines. I could not work on this land; we have to face mines all the time and the question was how could we survive if landmines were all around us. We just want a safe life. I had to support my family and my children are still too young to pay attention to their own safety. Sometimes I want to leave here but fortunately in March 2008 MAG arrived and cleared the area which made me and my family so happy. We felt that we had got a new life.”

A MAG Mine Action Team (MAT) funded by Church World Service commenced clearance of Banteay Ti II 3 minefield on May 15, 2008. The team found and destroyed 22 anti-personnel mine (APM) and 10 items of UXO from the 8,980m² of suspect land cleared which will benefit 13 people from 56 families located in this area. Chheang said, “The situation in our family is very difficult but hopefully it will be better after we get land cleared to use for cultivation. I am so appreciative of MAG, also the donor.