Ban Nong Het Tai village, Nong Het district, Xieng Khouang Province:
The area around Mr Yong's house was littered with items of unexploded ordnance (UXO)*. Several times he hit UXO with his spade whilst farming, but his luck held on each occasion. Now MAG – with funding from DFID – has taken away the element of chance.
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Mr Yong in the spot where he used to fire an anti-aircraft gun. [photo: MAG Lao] |
"The bombies are scared of me!" says 76-year-old Mr Yong. Last year, whilst working his land, his spade split a bombie [a cluster bomb submunition] open but it did not explode. He has his own theory why: "Maybe it didn't hurt me because I used to fight in the war!"
Mr Yong built his house as a memorial to three of his friends, who were killed whilst manning an anti-aircraft gun with him. The trench where they fired the gun, almost 40 years ago, can still be seen just a few metres behind his house.
"My job was to load the ammunition. Once, we shot down an American aircraft," he says.
The area around his house in Nong Het, Xieng Khouang Province, was littered with unexploded ordnance (UXO)*. Nong Het village lies on a road close to the Vietnamese border that was heavily bombed during the war.
In the past, Mr Yong would move UXO that he found whilst farming. "I can't count how many items I moved," he says. Even so, several times he hit bombies with his spade, as they were hidden under the earth.
His luck held on each occasion, but MAG – with funding from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) – has now taken away the element of chance.
"Now that MAG has cleared my land, I am able to grow more sweetcorn, on land next to my house. In the past, I had to walk for two to three hours to use land elsewhere, and even so I still had a rice shortage for two to three months every year. I have seven children to support," he says.
Note: * Unexploded ordnance (UXO) = unexploded bombs, rockets, missiles, mortars, grenades and more.
Links:
- Discuss this article at MAG's Facebook group page
- MAG Lao microsite
- Department for International Development (DFID)
22 October 08
