Helping the Victims of Landmines

Tran Anh and his family live in Phong Dien District, Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam. This 49 year-old man lost one leg because of a shell explosion almost 30 years ago.

Since his accident Anh has found it difficult to earn an income; that was until the Australian-funded Unexploded Ordnance Clearance and Community Development Project helped him set up a fish breeding cage.

Anh now cares for the fish breeding cage as if it were his own home. The fish cage is one of several aquaculture and agriculture models supported by the project that provide income for poor and invalid farmers like Anh.

There are many people in Phong Dien of working age invalided because of unexploded ordnance* (UXO) explosions.

The district used to be a hot spot in the American war and has a history of low levels of economic growth. Local households are mainly small subsistence level farmers, whose soil is poor and subject to frequent drought and floods.

This has made the district a logical choice for the $3.6 million project set up by Australian Volunteers International (AVI) in partnership with Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and province and district staff.

As well as supporting fish breeding models, the project is setting up a pig and cow breeding program. 'The project provides poor households with breeding pigs. When the pigs give birth the household gives some of the baby pigs to other poor households', explained Mr Nguyen Dzung Tien, program officer working for the project. 'In this way other poor people also benefit.'

UXO clearance is the other main part of the project. There have been 830 victims of unexploded ordnance in the Phong Dien District. Many of them have died or become invalided because of using homemade equipment to undertake clearance.

Households with UXO victims face added problems with the loss of a family member or the burden of caring for a disabled member of the family.

'Removing the threat of UXO contamination from farming communities and expanding their access to sustainable agricultural production technologies is at the heart of this project', said Mr Brendan Cantlon, AVI, Coordinator of the project. 'Through these activities we're reducing the need to continue with the dangerous practice of UXO collection and making a real difference to the lives of hundreds of households.'

* Uexploded ordnance is often reffered to as UXO and means military weapons, including landmines, bombs and ammunition.