Cambodian Landmine Museum

~Currently, there are over 40,000 amputees in Cambodia due to landmines.
~Each year, a few hundred more individuals become landmine victims.
~Up to 20% of the land in rural Cambodia is still contaminated by landmines.

~It is estimated that it will take a minimum of 10-20 years to clear all the landmines in Cambodia.
Thankfully, there are individuals and organizations who are dedicated to this cause.  Within a few weeks of moving to Cambodia, my friends and I visited the Cambodia Landmine Museum Relief Facility, where I was first made aware of the severity of this problem.  Along with displays of the landmines that have been recovered, the museum serves to educate the public of the dangers that landmines still present in current-day Cambodia.  The museum shares the property with a school for landmine victims and their children.  To learn more about that this NGO does, please visit their website: http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/.

In my life, I have visited numerous museums all over the world but few have made a lasting impressions on my as this one.  Many months after my first visit to this museum, I still struggle to comprehend the magnitude of it all.

The museum was founded by Aki Ra, a former child solider of the Khmer Rouge, who is now "fighting" to remove all landmines from Cambodia.  He spends about 25 days each month in the minefields removing these awful devices and dedicates the rest of his time to his family and the children at the school supported by the Landmine Museum.  CNN honored him and the work that he does by naming him one of their Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2010.  Definitely a Hero in my book!  

Bill Morse works at the Cambodian Landmine Museum as one of the directors.  We met him during our first visit to the museum.  He proudly talked with us about the purpose of the museum and school.  

Old bomb shells that once littered the Cambodian countryside.

A display case in the center of the museum showcasing the different types of landmines that have been removed from rural parts of Cambodia.

  

  

This map just makes my stomach hurt and left me "seeing red".
(The red dots represent locations where the US dropped bombs during their four year carpet-bombing campaign in the early 1970's.)  

Leg amputation is common among landmine victims.  

These are examples of some of the prosthetic legs used.

  

Art is used as a form of therapy and provides landmine victims and their families an outlet for processing the grief and frustration they are experiencing.  Although I found it difficult to look at this picture, I appreciate those who provided the artist the materials and opportunity make this painting possible.

This diagram shows how Aki Ra and his crew locate landmines.  They literally walk through rural Cambodia with long sticks, poking the ground at an angle to find live, active landmines!  By touching the side of the landmine, and not the top, they can find but not activate the landmines.  The diagram also shows some of the different ways a landmine might be set up.  I thought landmines were only in the ground, not hanging from trees attached to a tripwire.

A visit to the museum costs only a few dollars but the smiles on these kids faces are priceless.

I appreciate the efforts of Aki Ra, Bill, and all who help make this museum and school possible.

It gives me great hope for the future of Cambodia.