Remove landmines from a village in Cambodia

With increasing demand for agricultural land in Cambodia, internal migration in Northwest Cambodia is especially high. People eager to start cultivating their land must wait for HALO to remove landmines. In some cases, people who are new to an area are unaware of the threat of landmines and begin building homes and cultivating the land at high risk. With frequesnt migration in the Northeast corridor, along the K5 minebelt, the need for mine clearance and risk education is important as ever.

Mrs Suon has lived with her family of five in Chub Kokir West, Oddar Meanchey Province, since July 2015. Before that she lived in the next nearest village, Chub Kokir East. She moved because she was offered free land, but she was not aware that the area was on the K5 minebelt and is extensively mined.

While her husband was building their house he found one anti-personnel mine. Suon is worried about her children’s safety living in the minefield, especially because HALO found mines very close to her house. HALO began clearing the minefield in December 2015, finding a total of 88 anti-personnel mines so far. In addition to the current housing, there are plans to build more houses on the land. There are 45 families living on, or due to live on this minefield once clearance is completed.

Removing even one landmine can make the world of difference to families living under the threat these hidden killers. Contributions from donors like you enable HALO to help clear mines from homes just like Mrs Suon Mom's.

Have any suggesitons for how we can spread the word? Let us know! Email us at: mail@halousa.org,  we'd love to hear your thoughts. 

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In Cambodia, much of the rural population's livelihood depends on agriculture. With landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW) contaminating the country-side, farmers are deprived of vital resources to pull in higher incomes.

Pre landmine clearance assessments conducted by HALO over the past year show that approximately 70% of HALO beneficiaries live in poverty or are ‘near poor’, living on less than $2.30 a day. With agriculture being the single largest use for cleared land, mine clearance is needed not only to ensure safety but also to grow livelihoods and pull families out of poverty.

Mrs Huor (pictured above) has lived in Boeng Ta Srei village in Banteay Meanchey for 19 years with her husband. Aged 61, she looks after her 7 grandchildren while their parents work in Thailand. Mrs Huor knew that the land the family owned contained landmines so she stopped her children from farming it. As a result, they were unable to earn an income in the area and turned to day labour in Thailand, leaving their children with Mrs Huor and her husband.

Mrs Huor and her husband used to cut trees for wood on the land but they discovered mines. Each time her husband would move the mines and sometimes he burnt them, putting the family at risk. After this, she paid a local person to de-mine her land but she only had enough money for them to work on a small area. Her husband grows rice on that area of land, but it hasn't been enough to sustain the family.

HALO worked on this piece of land for 4 months, during which time we found and destroyed 5 landmines and 6 other explosive items. Mrs Huor is very happy that the HALO Trust has cleared her land as now her children can return home from Thailand and farm it - allowing them to spend more time with their children.

Thanks to supporters like you, we can remove the threat of landmines so families can safely put their land back to productive use.

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Have any suggestions for how we can get the message out? If so, please contact us at mail@halousa.org. We'd love to hear your thoughts.