MAG's UXO clearance activities at school sites, in partnership with the Humpty Dumpty Institute and International Relief and Development, are helping to increase school attendance.
The Partnership for Safe Educational Opportunities – consisting of the Humpty Dumpty Institute (HDI), MAG and International Relief and Development (IRD) – is the first initiative in Laos to explicitly link unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance with increased school attendance through school feeding.
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Ko with the unexploded ordnance he found in his family’s rice field |
Mr Sysavan is the only teacher at the school, but he is not as busy as he should be: attendance is low, particularly after the first grade.
"The main reason is poverty," he explains. "The children like to come to school – however, their parents need them to work in the fields or take care of their younger brothers and sisters."
In this mountainous part of Khammouane province, families suffer rice shortages for between seven and nine months of the year. During this period they eat only what they can collect from the forest.
Some try to earn money with which to buy rice, but virtually the only work option in this area is collecting scrap metal left over from the Vietnam war. This scrap includes bomb casings, shards of metal and UXO.
According to the village leader, this UXO is one of the reasons Nong Khieo is poor. Families want to increase the area under rice cultivation in order to ease rice shortages, but some of them, he says, "worry about the UXO so don’t open up new farming land."
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UXO in Ban Bung Na, another target village for the project |
Others, such as mother of three Mrs Mak, decide to accept the risk. Whilst preparing a new field one day with her eldest son Ko, aged 17, she came across four long metal tubes. Ko dug them up and moved them to the edge of the field.
"I knew it was dangerous, as I could see that the tubes still had all of the UXO inside, but I worried that my younger brothers would dig and hit them," he says.
Mrs Mak’s other children, aged eight and nine, both help with planting and harvesting rice. Her husband died a few years ago. Following his death, her eldest son Ko dropped out of school.
"I wanted to continue studying but there was no one to help my mother. Now I am worried my younger brother will also not be able to continue at school," says Ko.
Under the project, the school will be rehabilitated and a water pump installed in order to reduce the possibility of illness amongst the students. A new school garden will also be used to grow vegetables in order to improve the nutritional health of the children.
Through the school feeding activities, rehabilitation and supplying water to the school it is anticipated that more children will attend classes.
They will be healthier and better fed, their parents and community will be more supportive of education, and their teachers will have greater capacity to teach. Nutrition and health information will help children participate in school and develop physically.
Village Assisted Clearance will also be implemented by MAG, to enable community ownership of the solution to UXO contamination and enable villagers be involved in the clearance of their land. VAC also provides income generating opportunities for the community and provides villagers with training and experience in a formal work environment.
Related links:
MAG in Laos
Spotlight on Village Assisted Clearance
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