Khai lost his right hand while scavenging for scrap metal to feed his family.
He knew the risks. He had heard the stories since childhood, and having served as a soldier in the 1980s, he understood what explosive ordnance looked like and what it could do. Still, when a round object surfaced from the soil one morning, he picked it up and knocked it against his hoe to shake off the dirt.
The blast knocked him unconscious.
When he came to, he was alone. The other men had been working in different directions across the field. Khai tore his shirt, tied a makeshift tourniquet around what remained of his arm, and waited nearly half an hour before someone found him. That was more than 30 years ago.
Today, Khai is 62 and lives with his wife in Hai Lang commune, Quang Tri province. He farms three hectares of melaleuca trees, a crop he began growing after learning to live and work with one hand. Recently, MAG clearance teams finished clearing his land, making it safe for him to farm without worrying about what lies beneath the soil.
When Khai arrived in the area in the early 1990s, much of the land was contaminated. Like many others with families to support, he turned to scrap metal collection for income. The accident changed that permanently.
His wife stayed by his side throughout his recovery.
"We have three children who need feeding and schooling," she told him. "It is difficult, but we must not give up."
So Khai adapted. He planted melaleuca and built a livelihood, working carefully around the unexploded ordnance that remained on his land. He could farm, but he could never dig deep enough to properly prepare the soil.
MAG teams found and destroyed 344 explosive items on Khai's land and in the surrounding area. With the land cleared, he can now use machinery to till the full three hectares, improving soil quality and increasing yields.
His children are grown now. These days, Khai and his wife are thinking about the future and saving for the years when they may no longer be able to work.
For Khai, clearance means more than increased income. After more than three decades of living with the consequences of one accident, he can finally work his land with confidence.
"It's calmer now," he says. "People can farm without constantly worrying about what might be in the ground."
