It's Wednesday afternoon here and things, amazingly, are getting back to some semblance of normality after the terrible tragedy of last week.
The children have all returned to the Museum and are back to their ruoutines, which is good, since they need that structure, involvement and activity.
Mine and Amamtak are back in school. I'm not sure they quite yet grasp the fullness of their loss, but Aki Ra is there with them every day.
The deminers are back in the field and Yon, Aki Ra's brother has joined the team as a supervisor.
I visited Hourt yesterday with Babes Feddon, a representative of the Cambodian Mine Action Authority, seconded to them by the United Nations. He left a wreath and we went to the Museum where he paid his condolences to AKi Ra.
Word is just getting out over here about Hourt's loss as many were away from the cities for the holidays.
Thank you for all the donations to help pay for Hourt's funeral. Aki Ra and the family have been deeply moved by the outpouring from around the world.
More later
Bill
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Hourt
To all those who have emailed me in the past few days, I apologize for not being able to give a personal response. I'll be posting here on a regular basis updating everyone on the happenings here in Cambodia.
Hourt's funeral services finished yesterday at noon. I arrived at 1330hrs. While I was unable to be here for any of the ceremonies, I was able to meet with Aki Ra, and Hourts family and convey all of our deepest sympathies and the depths of our sorrow.
As for the circumstances of her death, I am not going to go there. It is enough that she is gone, and our thoughts should be on her accomplishments and successes.
The children are doing alright although they don't understand that she is gone. Aki Ra is coping well. He has a lot of support, family and friends with him. I actually think they are coping better than we are. They are together and have been grieving together. We have to do it by ourselves, alone with our memories of this wonderful woman who accomplished so much in such a short time.
Her burial place is just outside Siem Reap in a lovely Pagoda surrounded by the countryside she loved so much. Her stupa (burial mound) is covered in flowers and there are dozens of incense sticks around her resting place. I visited her yesterday with Aki Ra and I will post a photo of her stupa later in the week.
The work goes on at the Museum and at CSHD. The children who had families went home a week ago to celebrate Khmer New Years which ends today, Sunday. Most were notified by phone of Hourt's passing and the others will be told as they arrive back at the Museum. Aki Ra returned there yesterday as did Sanghour and his wife Sotling. They are expecting their first child, a girl, any day.
The Landmine Relief Fund and the Cambodia Landmine Museum Relief Fund have raised most of the money to pay for the funeral expenses and for Hourt's stupa. We wanted to do this to not merely help the family meet these expenses, but so that we can all share in this tribute to a very special woman.
The flags at the Museum are flying at half staff and will do so for the next month.
More later.
Bill
Saturday, April 18, 2009
THE PASSING OF HOURT
It is with profound sadness that I announce the passing of Aki Ra's wife Hourt. She was the mother of Amatak, Mine, Metta and dozens of children who now and in years passed have called the Cambodia Landmine Museum their home.
She will be deeply missed. She made all of our lives better for having known her.
I am en route to Siem Reap for her funeral services which have already begun. I will be there for a couple of weeks to help where I can and let Aki Ra and the family know that they are in our hearts and prayers at this terrible time.
Donations to help them cover the cost of the funeral can be made at the our website:
www.landmine-relief-fund.com Any excess monies will be used to carry on the works that were so close to Hourt's heart.
With deep sadness
Bill
She will be deeply missed. She made all of our lives better for having known her.
I am en route to Siem Reap for her funeral services which have already begun. I will be there for a couple of weeks to help where I can and let Aki Ra and the family know that they are in our hearts and prayers at this terrible time.
Donations to help them cover the cost of the funeral can be made at the our website:
www.landmine-relief-fund.com Any excess monies will be used to carry on the works that were so close to Hourt's heart.
With deep sadness
Bill
Sunday, April 12, 2009
New Year and Gratitude
It's Khmer New Years so I thought it was a good time to sit down and tell a story about a young man who taught me how to look at the world through a different pair of glasses.
In February I sat with a 17 year old boy who told me how his hands were blown off when he picked up an unexploded cluster bomb.
He'd been told about landmines and UXOs. But he was 17! Remember when you were 17?
You were invincible.
You were immortal.
You would never grow old and wrinkled, bent and wheezy.
But this young man is grateful. He's grateful that he's found a home where he is cared for. He's grateful that he has the opportunity to go to school and get an education where most in his country don't. He's grateful to have others around who understand his physical limitations and push him beyond them.
He's actually a pretty happy kid.
There are a lot of kids in Cambodia who aren't happy, grateful or coping.
That's why my friend, Aki Ra, started clearing mines wherever he could find them. That's why he does it for free; and that's why he and his wife Hourt have adopted dozens of maimed, orphaned and destitute kids.
And its my very great honour to be allowed to help in my small way.
We can all make a difference. We just have to try.
Today is the beginning of the Cambodian New Year Celebration. So to all:
Sua Sdei Chnam Thmei
Happy Easter
Happy Passover
Babu
In February I sat with a 17 year old boy who told me how his hands were blown off when he picked up an unexploded cluster bomb.
He'd been told about landmines and UXOs. But he was 17! Remember when you were 17?
You were invincible.
You were immortal.
You would never grow old and wrinkled, bent and wheezy.
But this young man is grateful. He's grateful that he's found a home where he is cared for. He's grateful that he has the opportunity to go to school and get an education where most in his country don't. He's grateful to have others around who understand his physical limitations and push him beyond them.
He's actually a pretty happy kid.
There are a lot of kids in Cambodia who aren't happy, grateful or coping.
That's why my friend, Aki Ra, started clearing mines wherever he could find them. That's why he does it for free; and that's why he and his wife Hourt have adopted dozens of maimed, orphaned and destitute kids.
And its my very great honour to be allowed to help in my small way.
We can all make a difference. We just have to try.
Today is the beginning of the Cambodian New Year Celebration. So to all:
Sua Sdei Chnam Thmei
Happy Easter
Happy Passover
Babu
Saturday, March 7, 2009
YOU TOO CAN BLOW UP A LANDMINE
There are over5,000,000
LANDMINES
Left in Cambodia
HELP US BLOW THEM UP
2nd Annual Landmine Relief Fund Auction
Peabody’s Café
134 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs
(760) 322—1877
Wednesday March 25 - 7:00 PM
CLEANUP SOAP - WASH AWAY THE DIRT WHILE YOU WASH AWAY LANDMINES
CAMBODIAN SELF HELP DEMINING T-SHIRTS
PALM SPRINGS FOLLIES TICKETS,
LA ANGELS BASEBALL TICKETS,
LA CLIPPERS BASKETBALL TICKETS,
HAND-MADE JEWELRY FROM UNEXPLODED BOMBS,
CAMBODIAN HANDICRAFTS,
HAND-MADE JEWELRY FROM UNEXPLODED BOMBS,
CAMBODIAN HANDICRAFTS,
CLIPPERS AUTOGRAPHED TEAM BALL,
PAINTINGS BY LANDMINE SURVIVORS,
PAINTINGS BY LANDMINE SURVIVORS,
RESTAURANT COUPONS,
AND MUCH, MUCH MORE
AND MUCH, MUCH MORE
CAN'T BE THERE?
DONATE AT:
CLICK ON THE PAYPAL BUTTON
Thursday, February 26, 2009
The Costs of Demining
Cost Benefit Analysis: A process by which you weigh expected costs against expected benefits to determine the best (or most profitable) course of action
We get asked all the time: "How much does it cost you to clear a landmine?" or "How many mines can you clear with the money we donate?"
Let's restructure that questions a bit:
If you were told there was a landmine in the park where your children played, how much money would you spend to find it? Or more simply put: what’s the value of your child’s life?
Cost benefit analysis in mine clearing tries to put a dollar value on a life versus the cost of a clearing program. You tell me what the dollar value of a human life is? I certainly don’t know.
How much does it cost to clear a mine field? We spend whatever it takes.
One mine – One life.
CSHD is clearing mines in ‘low priority’ villages. Many in the government don’t like that term. All villages and all lives are of equal importance. But in reality, some villages will be cleared later rather than sooner. Sometimes it’s because teams are not available, sometimes because funds are scarce, and sometimes because more mines can be cleared in a shorter period of time in other places. All these reasons ‘shove’ villages to the bottom of the list…low priority.
But they are NOT low priority to the people getting blown up.
We’re often asked ‘How many mines can you clear for the dollar?’ It’s an impossible question to answer clearly. If we clear a densely mined filed it’s low. If we clear a jungle field, where we have to hack our way in, with only a few mines per hectare, the cost may be high. The village we’re clearing now is the latter. Yet they’ve lost 5 dead, 3 maimed and 15 cattle. We’re clearing the land slowly because of the jungle bush we need to clear. But when we’re through 15 families will have land to farm and safely raise their children.
I can’t cost/benefit that. Can you?
The next mine field we’ll clear is an open field. We should be able to move quickly and clear it in a matter of weeks. Faster equals cheaper. But if we tried to work faster in Kokchombuk we’d likely miss some little mines. Faster may be cheaper, but it can also be deadly.
How do you cost/benefit a life; or a leg? Is the loss of your right hand worth more than loss of your left? If a child dies, do you value that at a lower amount than a working adult? Or do you calculate the ‘potential’ income the child would have in a lifetime to determine your cost/benefit ratio?
And the ultimate question: if you can cost/benefit a mine field, when do you just walk away and say: “It’s cheaper to let ‘em die.” That will clear the field too.
We don’t cost/benefit mine clearing. We’d rather look at lives changed and villages made free from fear.
One Mine – One Life
We get asked all the time: "How much does it cost you to clear a landmine?" or "How many mines can you clear with the money we donate?"
Let's restructure that questions a bit:
If you were told there was a landmine in the park where your children played, how much money would you spend to find it? Or more simply put: what’s the value of your child’s life?
Cost benefit analysis in mine clearing tries to put a dollar value on a life versus the cost of a clearing program. You tell me what the dollar value of a human life is? I certainly don’t know.
How much does it cost to clear a mine field? We spend whatever it takes.
One mine – One life.
CSHD is clearing mines in ‘low priority’ villages. Many in the government don’t like that term. All villages and all lives are of equal importance. But in reality, some villages will be cleared later rather than sooner. Sometimes it’s because teams are not available, sometimes because funds are scarce, and sometimes because more mines can be cleared in a shorter period of time in other places. All these reasons ‘shove’ villages to the bottom of the list…low priority.
But they are NOT low priority to the people getting blown up.
We’re often asked ‘How many mines can you clear for the dollar?’ It’s an impossible question to answer clearly. If we clear a densely mined filed it’s low. If we clear a jungle field, where we have to hack our way in, with only a few mines per hectare, the cost may be high. The village we’re clearing now is the latter. Yet they’ve lost 5 dead, 3 maimed and 15 cattle. We’re clearing the land slowly because of the jungle bush we need to clear. But when we’re through 15 families will have land to farm and safely raise their children.
I can’t cost/benefit that. Can you?
The next mine field we’ll clear is an open field. We should be able to move quickly and clear it in a matter of weeks. Faster equals cheaper. But if we tried to work faster in Kokchombuk we’d likely miss some little mines. Faster may be cheaper, but it can also be deadly.
How do you cost/benefit a life; or a leg? Is the loss of your right hand worth more than loss of your left? If a child dies, do you value that at a lower amount than a working adult? Or do you calculate the ‘potential’ income the child would have in a lifetime to determine your cost/benefit ratio?
And the ultimate question: if you can cost/benefit a mine field, when do you just walk away and say: “It’s cheaper to let ‘em die.” That will clear the field too.
We don’t cost/benefit mine clearing. We’d rather look at lives changed and villages made free from fear.
One Mine – One Life
Saturday, February 21, 2009
The Recovery of Sim Sao
Sim Sao has been a tuk tuk driver in Siem Reap for 7 years. Before that he was a monk. He’s married with children now and supports them on the little income he gets from the tourists in Siem Reap. When he works, he sleeps on the floor of a restaurant a friend owns.
Those of us who work with Aki Ra and the kids have been using Sao as our driver for the last several years. We hire him on a weekly basis. He can find anything, knows tons of people, and can get us anywhere we want to go on time, and most importantly, in a country where it is bad luck to look over your shoulder (no kidding), he gets us where want to go safely.
About 6 weeks ago Sao was driving home to his village, about 45 minutes from town, when he had a collision with a food cart vendor. Sao was driving down the road on his motor scooter when the food cart turned in front of him. (Remember it’s bad luck to look over your shoulder.) The two collided, and the boiling oil from the food cart spilled all over Sao’s right leg. He sustained severe 2nd degree burns to his inside calf and thigh.
Unlike at home, there is free medical coverage in Cambodia. But like the poor in the US, you have to sit in the emergency room for hours to get treated. To get good, fast care you have to pay, and it starts at about $50 for a visit to a private hospital, plus meds. That may not sound like a lot to us, but the average income over here is less than $1 per day, so private care is pretty much impossible for the average Khmer.
Sao’s options were pretty limited…..
• Sit in the emergency room at the provincial hospital and hope to get treated
• Go to Calmet hospital in Phnom Penh, a 6 hour drive each way and get treated there
• Have the local village ‘doctor’ treat him with potions and herbs
I knew he’d had an accident, but had no idea of its severity until he came back to town on the 30th of January to try and get back to work. He’d sent some pictures of his leg to our compatriot, Asad in the US and Lisa McCoy, a Canadian working here in SE Asia.
I saw Sao about the same time Asad and Lisa saw the photos. We called a Western doctor working here in Siem Reap and he offered another ‘option’. The Royal Angkor International Hospital was opened a year or so ago. It was built by Thais and staffed by Thai doctors. We were told we could take Sao there but it would be VERY expensive. It’s of western standards and better than many I’ve seen in the US.
Let’s see …… we could send Sao to the local hospital where he might get some help, let him keep going to the local ‘doctor’ or spend a little of our own money and get him some good treatment…hmmmm
Pretty much a ‘no-brainer’.
Lisa and I took him to Angkor Int’l on the 30th. He was with the doctor a good 90 minutes. They cleaned and dressed the wound and gave him some meds to take. Then we got the bill! $80.81
We took him back to the hospital every day to have his dressing changed. He’s started calling it ‘The Happy Place.” Poor guy can hardly walk after they clean and dress his burn. On the 15th a nurse from Canada arrived to do some volunteer work and she’s cleaning the wound now and we’ve taught Sao how to change the dressing so he can go home and spend some time with his family.
All the treatments and all the meds have run just over $500. Pretty cheap by western standards, but way beyond the grasp of the average Cambodian citizen. Sao’s friends from around the world are chipping in to cover the costs. If we collect more than we’ve spent, we’ll donate the balance to his local school. If you want to help cover the costs go to:
www.landmine-releif-fund.com and click on the PayPal button. Drop me a note to let me know the donation is for the Sim Sao Recovery Fund.
I got a text message from Sao right after we started taking him to the hospital: ‘Bill, I am so happy. I’ve never had anyone help me before. Thank you all so much.’
How could we have done less?
Babu
Those of us who work with Aki Ra and the kids have been using Sao as our driver for the last several years. We hire him on a weekly basis. He can find anything, knows tons of people, and can get us anywhere we want to go on time, and most importantly, in a country where it is bad luck to look over your shoulder (no kidding), he gets us where want to go safely.
About 6 weeks ago Sao was driving home to his village, about 45 minutes from town, when he had a collision with a food cart vendor. Sao was driving down the road on his motor scooter when the food cart turned in front of him. (Remember it’s bad luck to look over your shoulder.) The two collided, and the boiling oil from the food cart spilled all over Sao’s right leg. He sustained severe 2nd degree burns to his inside calf and thigh.
Unlike at home, there is free medical coverage in Cambodia. But like the poor in the US, you have to sit in the emergency room for hours to get treated. To get good, fast care you have to pay, and it starts at about $50 for a visit to a private hospital, plus meds. That may not sound like a lot to us, but the average income over here is less than $1 per day, so private care is pretty much impossible for the average Khmer.
Sao’s options were pretty limited…..
• Sit in the emergency room at the provincial hospital and hope to get treated
• Go to Calmet hospital in Phnom Penh, a 6 hour drive each way and get treated there
• Have the local village ‘doctor’ treat him with potions and herbs
I knew he’d had an accident, but had no idea of its severity until he came back to town on the 30th of January to try and get back to work. He’d sent some pictures of his leg to our compatriot, Asad in the US and Lisa McCoy, a Canadian working here in SE Asia.
I saw Sao about the same time Asad and Lisa saw the photos. We called a Western doctor working here in Siem Reap and he offered another ‘option’. The Royal Angkor International Hospital was opened a year or so ago. It was built by Thais and staffed by Thai doctors. We were told we could take Sao there but it would be VERY expensive. It’s of western standards and better than many I’ve seen in the US.
Let’s see …… we could send Sao to the local hospital where he might get some help, let him keep going to the local ‘doctor’ or spend a little of our own money and get him some good treatment…hmmmm
Pretty much a ‘no-brainer’.
Lisa and I took him to Angkor Int’l on the 30th. He was with the doctor a good 90 minutes. They cleaned and dressed the wound and gave him some meds to take. Then we got the bill! $80.81
We took him back to the hospital every day to have his dressing changed. He’s started calling it ‘The Happy Place.” Poor guy can hardly walk after they clean and dress his burn. On the 15th a nurse from Canada arrived to do some volunteer work and she’s cleaning the wound now and we’ve taught Sao how to change the dressing so he can go home and spend some time with his family.
All the treatments and all the meds have run just over $500. Pretty cheap by western standards, but way beyond the grasp of the average Cambodian citizen. Sao’s friends from around the world are chipping in to cover the costs. If we collect more than we’ve spent, we’ll donate the balance to his local school. If you want to help cover the costs go to:
www.landmine-releif-fund.com and click on the PayPal button. Drop me a note to let me know the donation is for the Sim Sao Recovery Fund.
I got a text message from Sao right after we started taking him to the hospital: ‘Bill, I am so happy. I’ve never had anyone help me before. Thank you all so much.’
How could we have done less?
Babu
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