Since beginning the clearance of landmine-contaminated land in the Malai district of Banteay Meanchey province in July 2006, MAG has located and destroyed 507 anti-personnel mines, two anti-tank mines and 30 other items of unexploded ordnance (UXO).
This 282,782 square metres of cleared, safe land has been returned to communities for development purposes – not only do landmines pose a deadly threat to life and limb, but they also block much needed development work and access to services for many of the most vulnerable families in rural Cambodia.
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Pen Kourm and his family at work cultivating their land, which is now free from the deadly threat of landmines. |
Directly benefiting are the 410 adults and children, who make up 74 families in the area. One such family is that of 49-year-old Pen Kourm, who was born in Borvel 1 village in Battambang province but moved to Kbal Tumnob village in Malai in 1996 with his wife Phal and their four children.
In the aftermath of conflict, economic necessities forced Kourm and many others to move to what were suspected minefields.
“I am very afraid of mines around here, but we decided to live here and take the daily risk of death or injury simply because we had no other choice,” he explains.
A MAG demining team deployed to his village under funding from Church World Service (CWS) to clear land for resettlement and cultivation, finding and destroying 199 anti-personnel mines in the process. For Kourm and the other villagers, this means not just peace of mind but also hopes for a better future and plans to achieve that goal.
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"Without MAG and CWS, we would still be living in fear of death and have no safe land to develop." - Pen Kourm |
“Before the area was cleared, we lived in fear for our lives and the lives of our children. We tried our best to keep them in the safe areas. MAG deminers did a very dangerous job so well, to clear the mines to help make things better for us.
“Now we can build new houses on safe land. We can safely cultivate our land – we can grow rice and have a small market. There’s now a health centre 15 kilometres from this village and also our children can go to school, so things are getting better.
“My family and I would like to thank MAG and CWS – without them we would still be living in fear of death and have no safe land to develop… it’s good to see my community changing for the better, but we still need help from organisations like MAG to help us to live in safety.”
Interviews and photos by Khan Tavrak, MAG Cambodia. Translation and editing by Yean Maly and Chham Rivann, MAG Cambodia.
2 July 08
