Clearing Charlie 1
Just outside the town of Dong Ha in central Vietnam is an area belonging to the village of Truc Lam in a district called Hai Lang.
In a little under three years of work, MAG teams have turned life around for 78 families from the village: 300 people including 60 young children are now living in the village again, in safety. Their parents or grandparents had left their land some 30 years ago as the American base was built and then expanded. This was one of a series of Fire-Support Bases covering the Demilitarized Zone between what was then North and South Vietnam.
Due to the size of the site, over 370 acres, and the constraints of time and resources, a number of mechanical innovations were introduced based on existing digging and quarrying machinery available in the country.
Freeman Foundation plant first banana tree on cleared Charlie 1.
In all, MAG cleared 2,019 landmines and 8,375 unexploded bombs, shells, grenades and mortars from the site. The area has now been handed back to the families who lived there before the war. In addition to the clearance, MAG developed housing, water supply and irrigation, and built a school and kindergarten. The photographs show what a difference mine action can make! Each family now owns 0.7 acres (3000 m2) around their house for a garden, and an extra 3.5 acres (1.4 hectares) of agricultural land within the village for rice paddy, fruit trees and vegetables. Each family has now been given a 'red book': the entitlement book that gives them legal rights to the new land for as long as they live.
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