Cambodia’s Healing Fields

"I have a beautiful voice, but my body is not whole," says singer Sovanreaksmey Kheng, who at age ten lost his right hand and eye in a detonator explosion. He is one of many land mine survivors in a nation on the mend. (Photograph by Lynn Johnson)

Selected as Miss Landmine Cambodia 2009, Dos Sopheap tries on her prize, a titanium leg, with pageant organizer Morten Traavik. Although she later found the leg too uncomfortable to wear, her fame brought her sponsorship for college.

Chhin Boreak, 19, lost his right arm to a land mine at the age of 10. One of 12 children in his family, he came to live at the relief center in northwest Cambodia founded by mine removal expert Aki Ra for kids and young adults whose families can't care for them. "It is my ambition to become a tour guide so I can teach tourists about my country's history," Boreak says. "I especially love the carvings on the temples and the stories they tell."

At a Battambang hospital, an x-ray of a child's amputated legs shows that his bones are still growing, making it painful for him to wear a prosthesis.

The Healing Fields

Land mines once crippled a war-ravaged Cambodia. Today the nation is a model for how to recover from this scourge.

January 2012
By Mark Jenkins
Phototograph by Lynn Johnson
National Geographic

Delicately brushing away the soil with his fingers, Aki Ra uncovers a dark green land mine buried two inches beneath the overgrown dirt road. The size of a large soup can, the mine was planted by the Khmer Rouge about 15 years ago on this ox track in northwestern Cambodia—the most densely mined region of one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.

"This is the type 69 Bouncing Betty made in China," says Aki Ra, his breath fogging the blastproof visor of his helmet. Bouncing Betty is the American nickname for a bounding fragmentation land mine. The pressure of a footstep causes it to leap out of the ground and then explode, spraying shrapnel in every direction. It can shred the legs of an entire squad.

Soft-spoken and cherubic, Aki Ra knows the inner workings of the Bouncing Betty and just about every other variety of mine. In the mid-1970s, when he was five, the Khmer Rouge separated him from his parents and took him into the jungle with other orphans. At that time, Pol Pot, commander of the Khmer Rouge, had plunged the country into chaos, closing schools, hospitals, factories, banks, and monasteries; executing teachers and businessmen; and forcing millions of city dwellers into a gulag of labor camps and farms. The small hands of children like Aki Ra were invaluable tools. He was trained to lay land mines, defuse and deconstruct enemy mines, and reuse the TNT for what are now called improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Some years later, when Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia, they dragooned Aki Ra into their army, and he was forced to fight against his former captors. When the United Nations' peacekeeping forces finally arrived in 1992, he'd been living in the jungle for some 15 years. He joined the UN as a deminer. When the peacekeepers left two years later, much of the best agricultural lands—vegetable gardens, pastures, rice fields—were still mined. Farmers trying to reclaim their fields were being blown to pieces. For a decade and a half, using only a knife and a stick, Aki Ra worked as an unpaid sapper, defusing rather than detonating land mines, reclaiming his country one square foot at a time. By his own count, he has defused some 50,000 devices: blast mines, antitank mines, bounding mines, and other explosives.

"I found a lot of mines that I laid," he says with a conflicted sense of pride and shame.

Cambodian beauty pageant for disabled full of land mines

Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010
ZSOMBOR PETER , PHORN BOPHA
PHNOM PENH— From Monday's Globe and Mail

Morten Traavik knew the idea of a beauty pageant for Cambodian land-mine victims was testing taboos: 20 women scarred by the country’s decades of war parading their amputated bodies for the chance at a new prosthetic limb.

“I wanted to see if I could apply my skills as an artist … to this reality and draw attention to the issues at hand in a new way that didn’t just confirm already established preconceptions of the land-mine survivors as pitiable abominations,” the Norwegian theatre director said.

He might even have expected the backlash that soon followed from some local charities, as happened with his first pageant for land-mine victims in Angola the year before. What he did not expect was the government’s about-face in August, 2009.

Days before a photo exhibit of the contestants was set to debut in the capital of Phnom Penh, a lead-up to the live pageant being planned for December, the Ministry of Social Affairs pulled the plug. Calling the affair an affront to Cambodian tradition, it ordered the project shuttered “immediately” and asked Mr. Traavik to leave the country. The local support he had dried up.

“When the Minister of Social Affairs himself started his own campaign against Miss Landmine,” he said, “everybody ran for cover.”

Miss Landmine, a new Canadian documentary that follows the project from start to finish, premiers Monday on CBC.

By the Cambodian government’s best estimates, land mines still litter some 650 square kilometres of the country, a legacy of the Khmer Rouge and their fanatic efforts to keep their neighbours and enemies at bay. In its pursuit of North Vietnamese forces crossing into Cambodia, the United States dropped another 2.75 million tons of bombs on the country during the Vietnam War, many of which failed to explode on impact and remain active to this day.

Together, land mines and other old ordnance have killed or maimed some 63,000 Cambodians since the 1979 fall of the Khmer Rouge and continue to claim more than 200 victims a year.

In moving the pageant from Angola to Cambodia, Mr. Traavik knew he had to make a few changes. In a culture where modesty trumps most other virtues, the swimsuits had to go. Soft, candy-coloured gowns took their place.

With support from the relevant ministries and the government’s mine-action agency, Mr. Traavik and his team set to work, scouring the country for contestants. With tens of thousands of land-mine victims across Cambodia, the women weren’t hard to find. They also found some critics.

“I have the same feelings now as then,” said Punk Chhiv Kek, the president of a leading local human rights group who called the pageant “a contest of suffering.”

“In my personal opinion, the project is in poor taste,” she said. “But at the end of the day, whether to appear or not is a decision for each contestant to make. They are, or should be, free to choose what they want.”

Others were more adamant. Chris Minko, an Australian national who heads Cambodia’s disabled volleyball league, took his complaint straight to the Minister of Social Affairs, suggesting Mr. Traavik be asked to leave.

“There are more dignified ways of showcasing the ability of Cambodian women land-mine survivors, such as through the many high[ly] successful and internationally recognized Cambodian programs of sport and disability,” he said.

The ministry agreed. NGOs that had supported the project fell silent. A letter Mr. Traavik sent to about 20 non-government groups asking for their support also went ignored. More than a year on, local NGOs active in mine clearance and victim assistance were still reluctant to talk about the pageant for the record.

Lim El Djurado, a spokesman for the Social Affairs Ministry, said the government banned the project to protect the country’s customs.

“We did not allow the contest to take place because it degrades Cambodian tradition,” he said. “When you make disabled people do this kind of thing, it looks like you mock them.

“If they really want to help, they can come and provide artificial limbs and give them skills to improve their lives.”

Mr. Traavik believes he was offering the women something just as valuable. By giving them a chance to be part of something typically reserved for the able bodied, he believes he gave them a chance to reclaim their pride and self-respect. For proof, he offers the women themselves.

“If they had felt the same way as the government,” he said, “they would never have taken part.”

Among the women who did was Dos Sopheap, who posed for her photo shoot with a toy machine gun.

From a soft black gown cut just below the knee, a single leg runs to the floor. She balances herself against a whitewashed wall with one arm and holds the gun in the other. Composed and confident, she offers up only the slightest smile, an image of playfulness and power all at once.

Fourteen years ago, at the age of six, Ms. Dos was headed fishing with some neighbours when they ran into a Khmer Rouge soldier, one of a band still holding out in a few remote pockets of western Cambodia. When the soldier tossed a grenade their way, she recalled, the group ran for cover. Someone stepped on a land mine. Her father lost a hand. Ms. Dos lost her left leg.

As that young girl grew older, she learned to hide.

“I didn’t want to go to school. When I saw other kinds wearing shorts, I really wanted to but couldn’t. … All I could do was cry,” she said. “I felt like I should not have been born.”

Now, she said, “I have hope about going back to school. I believe I can do things like the others.”

In December, the Miss Landmine team slipped back into Cambodia unannounced to officially crown Ms. Dos and present her with a new, custom-fitted prosthetic leg. When the government threw the project out of the country, Mr. Traavik simply moved the pageant online. Some 2,300 votes came in from more than 30 countries.

Miss Landmine captures the trip on film. As with the pageant, though, the government has vowed to bar any attempt to screen it in Cambodia.

Stan Feingold, the movie’s director, finds the government’s stand hard to fathom.

“The Miss Landmine project has a very positive message,” he said. “Disabled people don’t have to hide in their homes and be ashamed of their injuries. Disabled people can contribute in many positive ways to Cambodian society. I don’t understand how the Cambodian government could disagree with that.”

Special to The Globe and Mail

Computer game shows Cambodian kids how to avoid landmines

June 25, 2010
ABC Radio Australia

A computer game designed to help young people recognise the dangers of landmines and unexploded ordinance has just undergone initial testing in Cambodia. The developers from Michigan State University in the U-S say they hope the game will cut the number of children killed and maimed each year.

Presenter: Robert Carmichael
Speakers: Professor Frank Biocca, MIND Lab, Michigan State University; Allen Tan, Country Head, Golden West Humanitarian Trust; Lai, a child testing the game

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

CARMICHAEL: You might guess from the tinny music and excited chatter that you are listening to a group of children playing a computer game. Here they are looking for food for their on-screen pet dog in a Cambodian landscape that is dotted with the occasional red warning sign.

Every so often, if they aren't careful, you will hear this sound.

The boom is the sound of a landmine exploding. The whistle is from a Cambodian deminer who pops up on the screen to explain what they did wrong. In short, the player missed one of the red warning signs that dot Cambodia's real landscape, and stood on a landmine.

In the game the children get another chance - in fact they get as many as they want. In real life, things don't work out that way.

Cambodia is littered with landmines and UXO, or unexploded ordnance - the legacy of decades of conflict. Demining teams work year-round on mine clearance and education, but there are millions of mines and limited resources. Ridding Cambodia of mines will take years, possibly decades.

In the meantime the casualties continue to mount. Last year almost 250 people were killed or injured by mines and UXO. One-third of them were children.

Traditional methods of landmine education involve someone standing in front of them with a board and posters. But a computer game that combines fun with learning is a more appealing option.

Those who developed the game being tested today believe it will not only be more fun, but the children will retain more too. So says Professor Frank Biocca of Michigan State University's MIND lab. He was here testing the game and comparing what was learned against the standard education method.

Biocca says development of this unique game started 18 months ago, with some funding from the US State Department.

BIOCCA: Now we've rolled out the alpha phase, which we're testing today. The beta phase will be definitely out by late summer. We probably can have the final game done by December of 2010.

CARMICHAEL: Development came at the prompting of the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, a US-based charity that provides technical assistance to demining organizations.

Allen Tan heads the Cambodian country office of Golden West, which provided images and assistance to Michigan University during development, and has helped to organise today's testing.

Tan, a former bomb disposal expert with the US Army, says that although the game is being trialled in Cambodia, the idea is to roll it out to dozens of other countries.

TAN: Any of these post-conflict zones are going to be targets for this kind of education, especially with young populations that might not have been around when the conflict happened, and a lot of these hazards are legacy hazards. Certainly any post-conflict zone could be a target for this type of training.

CARMICHAEL: Biocca says the need to adapt the game at costs as low as $1,000 for other countries and cultures was uppermost during development.

BIOCCA: Each new game should take no more than a month to make because now in this case the platform is designed. So that all we have to do is replace the audio with the local language, replace the images with images that are appropriate for that country, and maybe adapt the icon representation of the child so that it is culturally-appropriate.

CARMICHAEL: Equally importantly the game, which cost around $70,000 to develop, had to be simple to alter for different countries.

BIOCCA: All the audio swapped out, all the images swapped out, so you can adapt very quickly and very inexpensively to the environment and make a new game.

CARMICHAEL: They can even convert the pet dog to another animal should local custom require it.

Although the children are playing the game on the 100 dollar laptops used in the One Laptop Per Child initiative, Biocca says the game can run on almost any platform - Windows, Mac, Linux, the web, even mobile phones that are used for gaming.

The several dozen children testing the game loved it, and those I spoke to seemed to have learned its lessons. Fourteen-year-old Lai says he now knows what to do if he sees a sign warning of landmines.

LAI: If I go to the countryside and see the landmine sign, then I will walk away from that place. I won't go near it, and I will walk a different way.

CARMICHAEL: Lai says that if he sees a landmine sign in the countryside he now knows to avoid that area and take a different route. And that is a valuable lesson that tens of thousands of children across the world will be learning in the coming months and years.

Computer Game Saves Children From Landmine Scourge

Allen Tan, a former US bomb disposal expert and now regional head of the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, helps one of the children at a Phnom Penh orphanage with the landmine game, June 2010 (Photo: VOA - R. Carmichael)
Professor Frank Biocca, one of the game's developers, holds a One Laptop Per Child Computer during his recent trip to assess the game's effect on learning about the dangers of landmines (File, VOA-R. Carmichael)

Robert Carmichael, VOA
Phnom Penh 24 June 2010

Decades of war have left Cambodia with millions of landmines and unexploded ordnance that kill and injure hundreds each year. A new approach to educating children about mines was tested last week in Phnom Penh, and is likely to be rolled out to other nations in the coming years.

There is nothing unusual about children clustered around a computer screen, one of them playing a game, the others giving suggestions.

But at this Phnom Penh orphanage, the game they are playing is unique.

This is what its developers call a "serious" game - one that is designed to educate. The children are having fun while learning how to recognize the danger signs for landmines and bombs in a typically Cambodian landscape.

In a country where last year nearly 250 people - one-third of them children - were killed or injured by mines and unexploded bombs, educating the next generation on how to avoid the detritus of war is vital.

Twelve-year-old Sin, who is helping to test the game, explains that he needs to find food for his on-screen dog while avoiding the red landmine warning signs that you see around Cambodia. They aren't always easy to spot.

He says, we walk straight and if we see the red sign then we turn around and come back. Or we can turn left or right to avoid the landmine.

Professor Frank Biocca is from Michigan State University, where the game was developed as part of one of the university's undergraduate programs. Why test it here?

"Cambodia is a very key and critical case. This is our first test area and so we're hoping to debug various aspects of the game in this environment, because I think it represents a good representative environment of the kinds of challenges we might have in other countries as well. So if it works here, hopefully similar versions of the game will work - at least definitely through southeast Asia possibly into Africa as well - once of course we adapt to local conditions as well," he said.

Biocca says the game works on most computer platforms: PCs, Macs, Linux, the Web - even on mobile phones, which he reckons will become the cheap computers for developing nations.

Assisting with the testing is Allen Tan, the country head of the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation. It's a U.S.-based charity that provides technical advice to demining organizations.

It was Golden West that approached Michigan State University two years ago and suggested that its students write a game to educate children about mines and unexploded ordnance.

Tan, a former bomb disposal expert with the U.S. Army, says the game has potential to benefit children in dozens of countries.

"Any of these post-conflict zones are going to be targets for this kind of education, especially with young populations that might not have been around when the conflict happened, and a lot of these hazards are legacy hazards. Certainly any post-conflict zone could be a target for this type of training," said Allen.

In short, the game, which received funding from the U.S. State Department, has a potentially vast audience.

The small Cambodian audience testing the game this month certainly enjoyed playing it. Quite how much they learned using this rather than traditional methods - such as leaflets and presentations - is something the developers will assess.

Like all of the children, 12-year-old Minea says he loved it. That is not too surprising, given that Cambodian children get very few chances to play a computer game.

Did he learn anything? If he was in the countryside and saw signposts warning of landmines, what would he do?

He says he would walk far away from that place and he wouldn't touch anything there, and wouldn't play near there.

If the game can succeed in transmitting that message to children in other post-conflict countries, then it should go some way to reducing the deaths and injuries suffered by children from this 20th century problem.

Cambodian children game their way to life-saving skills

Wed, 23 Jun 2010
By Robert Carmichael
DPA

Phnom Penh - It is a familiar scene in many countries: Children huddled around a computer game, chipping in with instructions, competing and encouraging each other.

But this is no ordinary game. In a Phnom Penh orphanage, a dozen children are testing a unique US-designed program its inventors hope would reduce deaths and injuries by landmines and unexploded ordnance.

Four decades of conflict have left Cambodia with an unenviable legacy of millions of such explosives. Last year, 47 Cambodians were killed and 196 injured by them. Around a third were children, most of them boys.

It would take decades to rid the country of mines, so educating people on how to recognize the risks they pose is vital. But these efforts are typically passive, using presentations or leaflets.

The computer game requires active participation, says Professor Frank Biocca of Michigan State University, where the game was developed.

Biocca was in Phnom Penh in June overseeing testing ahead of the game's expected launch there later this year. He says active involvement in the game, which is targeted at 6- to 15-year-olds, means the children retain more information.

Twelve-year-old Sin explains the game's purpose: Find food for his electronic dog while keeping a sharp eye out for landmines.

"We walk straight, and if we see the red danger sign, then we turn around and come back," he says. "Or we can turn left or right to avoid the landmine."

The on-screen landscape is comprised of photographs of Cambodia's countryside, which makes it both realistic for the children and cost-effective. The warning signs are also local: red signs with a white skull, a red-and-white striped pole, an inverted red triangle.

When the player gets it wrong, an explosion fills the screen, accompanied by a loud boom. Both the dog and child avatars cower but are deliberately uninjured, and a man in a Cambodian demining uniform appears on-screen, blowing his whistle and explaining what happened.

The game began its life as a request two years ago to the university in East Lansing, Michigan, by the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, a charity that provides technical assistance for international demining operations.

The university's final-year project for one of its undergraduate programmes sees students building so-called "serious games" - games with a purpose beyond entertainment. The mine education game struck a chord.

"We decided this specific project was something to continue to pursue with a focus on making it work across different platforms and making sure it can be updated for different markets cheaply," Biocca says.

Allen Tan heads Golden West's regional office, which provided the developers with technical information and images for the game. Tan, a former bomb-disposal expert in the US Army, says the game has the potential to benefit dozens of countries.

"Certainly any post-conflict zone could be a target for this type of training and especially those with young populations that might not have been around when the conflict happened," he says.

The game runs on Windows, Mac OS and Linux operating systems, the last of which is the standard operating system for the One Laptop Per Child initiative, the effort to get computers into the hands of children across the world at a cost of 100 dollars per laptop.

But Biocca says developers started off assuming it had to work on other platforms too, including the internet and mobile phones.

"We think that, ultimately, the true 100-dollar laptop is the cellphone - some version of the cellphone is becoming the Third World computational device," he says. "And those are selling for underneath 100 dollars."

He says that once the game has been launched in Cambodia, it would be adapted for other countries to reflect their culture, landscape, languages and even their landmine signs - all for 1,000 to 10,000 dollars per country.

Biocca says the game could even be altered to educate people about other health issues that require learning, such as influencing sexual behaviour or diet.

So much for the brains behind the development - what did the kids think of the game? Fourteen-year-old Lai loved it.

"If I were to go to the countryside and saw a landmine sign, then I would walk away from that place," he says. "I wouldn't go near it. I would take a different path."

Twelve-year-old Minea echoes those sentiments.

"Walk far away from that place," he says of the lessons learned from his 15-minute session. "Don't touch anything, and don't play anywhere near there."

Impact of Cambodia Mines in UN Exhibit

(Photo: Robert Carmichael, VOA)

An exhibition on the effects of land mines and unexploded munitions in Cambodia wrapped up at the UN in New York Monday, having displayed some of the country’s achievements in both demining and art.

Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
New York Monday, 12 April 2010

“Ten years ago, Cambodia was known as one of the most affected countries in the world, and now people look to Cambodia as one of the global leaders in mine action.”

An exhibition on the effects of land mines and unexploded munitions in Cambodia wrapped up at the UN in New York Monday, having displayed some of the country’s achievements in both demining and art.

The exhibit, “Impact,” was meant to raise mine awareness as well as highlight Cambodia’s achievements in dealing with the remnants of conflict.

“Ten years ago, Cambodia was known as one of the most affected countries in the world, and now people look to Cambodia as one of the global leaders in mine action,” Alex Hiniker, the main organizer of the exhibit, told VOA Khmer.

Cambodia was once littered with mines and ordnance from decades of war, where peace came only as recently as 1998. Clearance efforts have reduced the number of deaths dramatically, down for example from 450 in 2006 to 243 in 2009.

The country’s deminers now contribute to UN peacekeeping operations in places like Sudan.

“Impact” showcased the work of 10 Cambodian artists, including one woman, who met with villagers in mine-affected areas and places that had been cleared of mines and ordnance. They spoke to survivors of explosions, deminers and others, before creating paintings and sculptures for the exhibit.

One painting, “Aphorp,” depicts a wild cow with a broken leg standing amid barbed wire and mines.

“This painting is about the disaster caused by land mines, or the impact they have,” the creator, Srey Bandol, told VOA Khmer by phone from Phnom Penh. “The script on the mines, which says, ‘China,’ ‘US,’ and ‘USSR,’ represents countries from where [the mines] are imported.”

Srey Bandol also painted “Chhai You,” or “Success,” which depicts the work of demining agencies like the Cambodian Mine Action Center, the Mine Advisory Group and the government’s Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority.

Artist Chhon Dina contributed a sculpture called “This Shattered Life is Also Your Problem.”

“I made this sculpture from ceramics and iron,” he told VOA Khmer. “The bottom part is a defused mine. I made this sculpture to represent how it affects the mind of mankind—so landmine producers should stop producing them and peace should prevail.”

Suos Sodavy created a work featuring businesses that have arisen on land cleared of mines: a motorcycle repair shop, hair dresser, bakery furniture store and restaurant.

Hiniker said the exhibit was a chance for artists to share their work, “so that people know that Cambodia is not just a country affected by landmines, it’s a country with a thriving arts scene.”
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ពិព័រណ៍​ស្នា​ដៃ​សិល្បៈ​ខ្មែរ​នៅ​ក្រុង​ញូយ៉ក

ដោយ អ្នកប្រែសម្រួលលោក អ៊ូ ធូក
វ៉ាស៊ីនតោន ថ្ងៃច័ន្ទ, 12 ខែមេសា 2010

«ខ្ញុំ​គូរ​មាន​រូប​គោ​ព្រៃ​ ព្រោះ​ធម្មតា​នៅ​ស្រុក​ខ្មែរ​យើង​គេ​ដឹង​ថា​ គោ​ព្រៃ​គឺ​ជា​តំណាង​ឱ្យ​ស្រុក​ខ្មែរ​ដែរ»។

ពិព័រណ៍​ស្នា​ដៃ​សិល្បៈ​របស់​សិល្បករ​ខ្មែរ​ ស្តី​ពី​ការ​រស់​នៅ​លើ​ដី​ដែល​មាន​គ្រាប់​មីន​ និង​គ្រាប់​បែក​ចង្កោម​ ត្រូវ​បាន​យក​មក​ដាក់​តាំង​បង្ហាញ​នៅ​ស្នាក់​ការ​អង្គការ​សហ​ប្រជា​ជាតិ​ក្នុង​ទីក្រុង​ញូយ៉ក​ រយៈ​ពេល​១០​ថ្ងៃ​រហូត​ដល់​ថ្ងៃ​ទី​១២ ​ខែ​មេសា​នេះ។
ការ​ដាក់​តាំង​នេះ​គឺ​ដើម្បី​បង្ហាញ​ពី​សមិទ្ធិ​ផល​នៃ​កិច្ច​ខិត​ខំ​ប្រឹង​ប្រែង​ដោះ​មីន​នៅ​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា​ដែល​មាន​តាំង​ពីឆ្នាំ​១៩៩២​មក​ ហើយ​​ក្រុម​អ្នក​រៀប​ចំ​ពិព័រណ៍​ដែល​មាន​ឈ្មោះ​ថា «Impact» ឬ​ «ផល​ប៉ះ​ពាល់​»​នេះ​ សង្ឃឹម​ថា ​នឹង​​ទាក់​ទាញ​​បាន​​នូវ​ការ​គាំទ្រ​អន្តរ​ជាតិ​ឱ្យ​យល់​ដឹង​ថែម​ទៀត​ពី​តម្រូវ​កា​រ​​ដែល​នៅ​តែ​មាន​នៅ​ឡើយ​ក្នុង​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា​ទាក់​ទង​នឹង​ការ​បោស​សម្អាត​មីន។
កញ្ញា​ អាឡិច ​ហ៊ីនីគឺ​ ដែល​ជា​អ្នក​រៀប​ចំ​ឱ្យ​មាន​ការ​តាំង​ពិព័រពណ៍​នេះ​បាន​បញ្ជាក់​ថា៖
«គោល​បំណង​នៃ​ការ​តាំង​ពិព័រណ៍​នេះ​គឺ​ដើម្បី​បង្ហាញ​ថា ​តើ​កម្ពុជា​បាន​បោះ​ជំហាន​មក​ដល់​ណា​ហើយ​ក្នុង​រយៈ​ពេល​១០​ឆ្នាំ​កន្លង​មក​នេះ​ ព្រោះអី​ កាល​ពី​១០​ឆ្នាំ​មុន ​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា​ត្រូវ​បាន​​គេ​ស្គាល់​ថា ​ជា​ប្រទេស​មួយ​ដែល​ទទួល​រង​ការ​ប៉ះ​ពាល់​ដោយ​សារ​មីន​ខ្លាំង​ជាង​គេ​នៅ​លើ​ពិភព​លោក​ ប៉ុន្តែ​នៅ​ពេល​ឥឡូវ​នេះ​ គេ​ក្រឡេក​មើល​មក​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា​ថា ​ជា​អ្នក​នាំ​មុខ​គេ​​ក្នុង​ពិភព​លោក​​ខាង​សកម្ម​ភាព​ដោះ​មីន»។
ពិព័រណ៍​នេះ​ជា​ស្នា​ដៃ​របស់​សិល្បករ​ចំនួន​១០​នាក់​ក្នុង​នោះ​ មាន​ស្រី​មួយ​នាក់។​ វិចិត្រ​ករ​ទាំង​១០​នាក់​បាន​ជួប​ជា​មួយ​ប្រជា​ពល​រដ្ឋ​ដែល​រស់​នៅ​លើ​តំបន់​ដែល​នៅ​មាន​គ្រាប់​មីននិង​តំបន់​​ដែល​បាន​ដោះ​មីន​រួច​ ជួប​ជា​មួយ​ជន​រង​គ្រោះ​ដោយ​សារ​គ្រាប់​មីន និង​ក្រុម​អ្នក​ដោះ​មីន​ដើម្បី​​ស្វែង​យល់​​ឱ្យ​បាន​ស៊ី​ជម្រៅ​អំពី​ស្ថាន​ភាព​របស់​ពួក​គេ​ ហើយ​រូបស្នា​ដៃ​សិល្បៈ​ទាំងនេះ​គឺ​ជា​ការ​បក​ស្រាយ​ពីការ​យល់​ឃើញ​របស់​ពួក​គេ​អំពី​សកម្ម​ភាព​មីន​នៅ​កម្ពុជា។
លោក​ស្រី ​បណ្តូល​ វិចិត្រករ​វ័យ​ ៣៧​ឆ្នាំ​ មក​ពី​​អង្គការ​ហ្វា​ ពន្លឺ​សិល្បៈ​ បាន​​គូស​គំនូស​មួយ​ដែល​​ដាក់​ឈ្មោះ​ថា ​«អភ័ព្វ» ។ ​វា​គឺ​ជា​គំនូរ​​រូប​សត្វ​គោ​ព្រៃ​មួយ​កំបុត​ជើង​ក្រោយ​ខាង​ឆ្វេង​ មាន​ទឹក​មុខ​ក្រៀម​​ក្រំ ឈរក្បែ​រក្បាល​គ្រាប់​ផ្លោង​ចាស់ៗ​ជាច្រើន​ និង​ឈរ​នៅ​ចំពី​លើ​ដី​ដែល​មាន​បង្កប់​គ្រាប់​មីន​ជា​ច្រើន។​ ពាស​ពេញ​លើ​ផ្ទាំង​គំនូរ​មាន​ព័ទ្ធ​ទៅ​ដោយ​រូប​បន្លា​លួស​ខ្វាត់​ខ្វែង។
លោក​បណ្តូល ​បាន​ធ្វើ​ការ​បក​ស្រាយ​ពី​រូប​ភាព​នេះ​ថា៖
«ខ្ញុំ​គូរ​មាន​រូប​គោ​ព្រៃ​ ព្រោះ​ធម្មតា​នៅ​ស្រុក​ខ្មែរ​យើង​គេ​ដឹង​ថា​ គោ​ព្រៃ​គឺ​ជា​តំណាង​ឱ្យ​ស្រុក​ខ្មែរ​ដែរ​ អញ្ចឹង​ខ្ញុំ​គូរ​គោ​ព្រៃ​បាក់​ជើង​មួយ​ហើយ​នៅ​ខាង​លើ​គោ​ព្រៃ​មាន​ ដូច​ជា​បន្លា​លួស​ហើយ​មាន​ដូច​ជា​មីន​ធ្លាក់​ចុះ​មក​ ហើយ​នៅ​ខាង​ក្រោម​មាន​មីន​កប់​នៅ​ក្នុង​ដី​មាន​បន្លា​លួស​ដែរ។​ រូប​នេះ​ខ្ញុំ​និយាយ​អំពី​មហន្ត​រាយ​ដោយ​សារ​មីន​ឬ​ក៏​ផល​ប៉ះ​ពាល់​ដោយ​សារ​មីន​ ហើយ​ក្នុង​ហ្នឹង​មាន​អក្សរ​ដូច​ជា​ចិន សហ​រដ្ឋ​អាមេរិក​ និង​មក​ពី​សូវៀត​ អីអញ្ចឹង​ ពីព្រោះ​ តាម​ខ្ញុំ​សិក្សា​ទៅ​ មីន​ភាគ​ច្រើន​មក​ពី​ប្រទេស​ពីរ​បី​ហ្នឹង​​ ...​គោ​កំបុត​ជើង​ចង់​មាន​ន័យ​ថា​ ​មហន្ត​រាយ​បាន​កើត​ឡើង​ដល់​ពល​រដ្ឋ​ដល់​ប្រទេស​ជាតិ​យើង​ដែល​មាន​មនុស្ស​ពិការ​ឬ​ក៏​ មិន​ត្រឹម​តែ​ពិការ​ទេ ​ចង់​និយាយថា​ វា​បាត់​បង់​អ្វី​ម្យ៉ាង»។
នៅ​លើ​ផ្ទាំង​មួយ​ទៀត​វិចិត្រករ​រូប​នេះ​បាន​ដាក់​ឈ្មោះ​ឱ្យ​ថា​​ «ជ័យោ» ដែល​ជា​ការ​រៀប​រាប់​ពី​កិច្ច​ខិត​ខំ​ប្រឹង​ប្រែង​របស់​ទី​ភ្នាក់​ងារ​ដោះ​មីន​មួយ​ចំនួន​ដែល​មាន​ដូច​ជា​ស៊ីម៉ាក់​ អាជ្ញា​ធរ​មីន​កម្ពុជា​ និង​អង្គការ​MAG ជា​ដើម​។
ចំណែក​សិល្បករ​ ឈុន​ ឌីណា​ បាន​ចូល​រួម​ការ​ជួយ​លើក​កម្ពស់​ពី​សមិទ្ធិ​ផល​នៃ​សកម្ម​ភាព​បោស​សម្អាត​មីន​បាន​រៀប​រាប់​ពី​ចម្លាក់​របស់​នាង​ថា៖
«នៅ​ខាង​ក្រោម​គឺ​មាន​គ្រាប់​មីន​ប៉ុន្តែ​គ្រាប់​មីន​ងាប់​ហើយ​ ហើយ​ខ្ញុំធ្វើ​ឡើង​ដោយ​បី​ចំណែក​។ ចំណែក​ទី​មួយ​មាន​ក្បាល​ហើយ​នឹង​ចំណែក​ទី​ពីរ​ដង​ខ្លួន​ ចំណែក​ទីបី​ជើង គឺ​ពាក់​ព័ន្ធ​ទៅ​នឹង​គ្រោះ​ថ្នាក់​ដោយ​សារ​គ្រាប់​មីន ​ពីព្រោះ​ចំណែកៗ​ហ្នឹង​ ពេល​គេ​គ្រោះថ្នាក់ ​ ពេល​ខ្លះ​គេ​អាច​ប៉ះ​ពាល់​ទៅ​ដល់​រាង​កាយ​គេ​គ្រប់​កន្លែង។​ ដូច្នេះ​រូប​ចម្លាក់​ដែល​ខ្ញុំ​ធ្វើឡើង​គឺ​តំណាង​ឱ្យ​ការ​ប៉ះ​ពាល់​ដល់​ទឹក​ចិត្ត​មនុស្ស​ដែល​គេធ្វើគ្រាប់​បែក​ហ្នឹង។ ​សូម​កុំ​ឱ្យ​ធ្វើ​គ្រាប់​បែក​ហ្នឹង​ សូម​ឱ្យ​មាន​សន្តិភាព»។
ក្នុង​ចំណោម​ផ្ទាំង​សិល្បៈ​ដែល​ដាក់​បង្ហាញ​ក៏​មាន​ផ្ទាំង​ស្នា​ដៃ​មួយ​ដែល​រចនា​ឡើង​ដោយ​រូបថត​ជា​ច្រើន​បង្ហាញ​ពីសមិទ្ធិ​ផល​ដែល​កើត​ឡើង​ក្រោយ​ពី​ត្រូវ​បាន​ដោះ​មីន​រួច​រាល់​ ក្នុង​នោះ​មាន​ដូច​ជា​ កន្លែង​ជួស​ជុល​ម៉ូតូ ​កន្លែង​អ៊ុត​សក់ ​ហាង​លក់​នំ ​ហាង​គ្រឿង​សង្ហា​រឹម និង​ អាហារ​ដ្ឋាន​ជា​ដើម។​ នេះ​ជា​ស្នា​ដៃ​របស់​វិចិត្រ​ករ​ឈ្មោះ​ សួស ​សុដាវី។
កញ្ញា​ អាឡិច​ ហ៊ីនីគឺ​ ក៏​បាន​ផ្តល់​ការ​ពន្យល់​ថា​ ការ​ជ្រើស​រើស​យក​សិល្បៈ​ ធ្វើជា​យាន្ត​សម្រាប់​ការ​ផ្សព្វ​ផ្សាយ​នេះ​ ក៏​ដើម្បី​​ចង់​បង្ហាញ​ថា​ ​​ទន្ទឹម​ហ្នឹង​ពេល​ដែល​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា​បាន​ងើប​ឡើង​វិញ ពី​ស្នាក​ស្នាម​សង្គ្រាម ​ហើយ​សិល្បៈ​ក៏បាន​រស់​ឡើង​វិញ​ដែរ ហើយ​វា​ជា​ឱកាស​មួយ​សម្រាប់​​ឱ្យ​​សិល្បករ​បាន​បង្ហាញ​ស្នាដៃ​របស់​ពួក​គេ។
«វា​គឺជា​ឱកាស​មួយ​សម្រាប់​សិល្បៈ​ករ​ចែក​រំលែក​ស្នាដៃ​សិល្បៈ​របស់​ពួក​គេ​នៅ​ជុំវិញ​ពិភព​លោក​ដើម្បី​ឱ្យ​គេ​បាន​ដឹង​ថា​ ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា​គឺ​មិន​គ្រាន់​តែ​ជា​ប្រទេស​ដែល​បាន​រង​ផល​ប៉ះ​ពាល់​ដោយ​សារ​គ្រាប់​មីន​ទេ​ តែ​វា​ក៏​ជា​ប្រទេស​មួយ​ដែល​មាន​សិល្បៈ​កំពុង​រីក​ចម្រើន​​ផង​ដែរ»។
ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា​បាន​រង​ផល​ប៉ះ​ពាល់​ដោយ​សារ​គ្រាប់​មីន​និង​យុទ្ធភ័ណ្ឌ​មិន​ទាន់​ផ្ទុះ​ បន្ទាប់​ពី​សង្គ្រាម​ក្នុង​ស្រុក​ដែល​បាន​អូស​បន្លាយ​ពេល​អស់​ជា​ច្រើន​ទស​វត្សរ៍​ ប៉ុន្តែ​បាន​ប្រែ​ក្លាយ​បទ​ពិសោធន៍​នៃ​ការ​ឈឺ​ចាប់​នេះ​ទៅ​ជា​ជំនាញ​នៃ​ការ​ដោះ​មីន​ដែល​ប្រទេស​នេះ​ចែក​រំលែក​ក្នុង​បេសក​កម្ម​របស់​អង្គការ​សហ​ប្រជា​ជាតិ។
ក្នុង​សន្ទរ​កថា​បើក​សម្រាប់​ពិព័រណ៍​​នេះ លោក Alain Le Roy​ អគ្គ​លេខា​ធិការ​រង​នៃ​អង្គការ​សហ​ប្រជា​ជាតិ​ទទួល​បន្ទុក​ប្រតិ​បត្តិ​ការ​រក្សា​សន្តិភាព​បាន​សរសើរ​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា​ដែល​បាន​ចូល​រួម​ចំណែក​ក្នុង​ប្រតិ​បត្តិ​ការ​រក្សា​សន្តិ​ភាព​របស់​អង្គ​ការ​សហ​ប្រជា​ជាតិ​ ដោយ​បាន​ផ្តល់​កង​ដោះ​មីន​ទៅ​ប្រទេស​មួយ​ចំនួន​ដូច​ជា​ស៊ូដង់។
ក្រៅ​ពី​ទី​ក្រុង​ញូយ៉ក​ពិព័រណ៍​នេះ​ក៏​ធ្លាប់​បាន​ដាក់​បង្ហាញ​នៅ​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា​និង​ប្រទេស​កូឡំប៊ី​ផង​ដែរ៕

Landmines are NOT toys

Game aims to teach Cambodian kids about real-life danger

Joe McNeilly
GamesRadar US

It is heartbreaking to walk the broken, muddy streets of Phnom Pehn, Cambodia’s capital city, and see limbless orphans scratching out an existence amidst piles of trash and wreckage. Because of the devastating civil war and subsequent reign of terror imposed by the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian countryside is to this day strewn with UXO, or unexploded ordinance. It’s just one of many horrific legacies still plaguing the impoverished Southeast Asian nation. Now a new videogame being developed at the University of Michigan wants to help. Funded by the US State Department and the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, Undercover UXO is designed to run on the “One Laptop Per Child XO laptop.” The game will provide a consequence-free learning environment that teaches kids how to identify UXOs and report them to inspectors. The project’s heart is certainly in the right place, but whether it can actually help remains to be seen.

Rap music fights Cambodia landmines

Landmine rap and hip-hop competition in Battambang, Cambodia. (Photo: Sok Savy, Radio Australia)

Tue, 13 Oct 2009
Sonja Heydeman
Radio Australia News

Young people at risk from landmines in Cambodia are to be targeted by hip-hop and rap music carrying the message of risks from the abandoned munitions.

Many different ways have been tried to alert young Cambodians to the danger of landmines.

But the message is not getting through.

Kristin Rasmussen, of the Integrated Mine Action project, told Radio Australia's Connect Asia up to 80 percent of victims hurt in accidents have attended mine risk education sessions.

Identity

In particular, "we believe that young men tamper (with mines) as a way of forming their gender identity as young men," she says.

How to get through to them that landmines are potentially lethal?

Music is the latest education trend in three heavily mined villages that have experienced the highest fatality rates in the country. Of the victims, 38 percent are children.

Cambodia has 40,000 landmine amputees in a population of nearly 14 million - or one person in every 300.

Statistics show young males have the highest incidence of injuries related to tampering with the armaments.

Young people from the three villages in north-western Battambang province are part of a pilot program to create hip-hop and rap music carrying the mine risk message.

Agencies

The Integrated Mine Action project is working with the International Women's Development Agency and World Vision Cambodia, with funding from AusAid, the Australian aid agency.

Ms Rasmussen, IMA project coordinator, says a song competition has just been held bringing young people together. It featured original songs they composed.

Here are some of the themes from competing songs:

"Don't use the explosive devices to modify and play around as a game.
It's dangerous and fatal, destroying arms, legs and make you blind.
It turns you to be disabled at very young age.
If you have explosives and ordinance go away as far as you can.
Don't ever make contact with them . . . "

Ms Rasmussen says: "The reason that we decided to do this through rap and hip-hop messaging is because we wanted to reach out to one of the highest risk of tampering, which is young boys between the ages of 12 and 22."

She hopes the winning song from the competition will become an anthem for the cause.

Rotary Clubs Taste Wine for Mine Awareness

By Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
15 May 2008

A crowd of business professionals, students and others in the Washington, DC, area gathered last week for an evening of wine, delicacies and Cambodian entertainment—as well as landmine awareness.

The wine tasting event, sponsored by nine Rotary Club branches with partners Halo Trust and the US State Department’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, brought everyone together at the Cambodian Embassy in Washington.

“I hope other people realize the impact that this kind of project will have to help the people in Cambodia,” said Poonam Chhunchha, a recent university graduate and Rotary Club vice president. “This is the first time the young professionals and students have ever done an event such as this one, and all the money we raise tonight through silent and live auctions and through ticket sales will go directly to Cambodia.”

Cambodia remains peppered with landmines, despite many years of efforts by deminers such as Halo Trust.

Rotary organizer Brendan Adams said the May 9 event raised $13,000, with twice as much in matching funds coming from the State Department, for Halo Trust.

Jim Lawrence, an official at the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, said removing landmines from Cambodia remains an important activity.

“The biggest area of effort is three-fold,” he said. “One, you tackle the problem directly by clearance on the ground, removing landmines, saving lives. At the same time, you know that you can’t clear the whole country overnight, so you try through risk education programs on TV, in print media and puppet shows and cartoons, to educate the population, particularly children, about how to live safely and stay smart in the contaminated areas. And unfortunately, the third part of our program is to treat victims of the accidents who need medical attention and a prosthetic limb and so forth.”

The demining effort was “an extraordinary opportunity to connect the American people with the world at large, outside our borders,” he said, “and get them to think and focus a little more broadly that just their local community.”

Chhunchha said some of the Rotarians will be going to Cambodia in August and November to see how far the project is coming along.