| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (26 min. 50 sec.) ; 161934312 bytes |
| Summary |
The locals call them 'bombies' - small bombs only about the size of a tennis ball. But, these tiny munitions have left a deadly legacy in Laos. The United States dropped a staggering 260-million bombies on Laos during the Vietnam War - the equivalent of a bombing mission every eight minutes for nine years. Many didn't explode on impact, leaving Laos contaminated with millions of unexploded ordnance. Forty years after the end of the war, the 'bombies' are still taking lives and limbs - many of the victims are children. Now, a brave band of women is going where others fear to tread, to find and destroy the explosives that litter their precious land.The women walk slowly through the undergrowth, scanning the ground with metal detectors - hunting for cluster bombs in the Lao province of Xieng Khouang.The bomb clearing teams are doing a job that will take more than a lifetime to complete - to find and destroy up to 80-million unexploded munitions. 46 year-old Phou Vong remembers the first time she found a 'bombie'.'I was excited as well as frightened. I hesitated a bit but I thought I should be glad to see it, because in a sense I was helping my people.' - Phou Vong, de-miner, Mines Advisory Group.Even though it was American pilots who dropped the bombs, it's Lao civilians who are risking their lives to clean them up. The de-miners want the U.S to provide more help.'If the funding is no longer there, oh, I am afraid that we won't be able to clear them all, there are just so many of them.' - Phou Vong, de-miner, Mines Advisory Group.More than four decades after the bombing ended, the danger continues. The unexploded 'bombies' contaminate forests and fields. They can detonate at anytime. Children at Chomthong School in Xieng Khouang, learn about 'bombies' before they can even read and write. They sing along to a tune that sounds like a nursery rhyme, but it's a lesson that could save their lives.'Be careful before you go out and play. If you see a bombie do not touch it. If you see a bombie do not touch it.' Australian aid worker Colette McInerney is working with the victims of cluster bomb blasts. She says few people outside Laos know about the terror that so many civilians endured here during the war.'It is extraordinary. I can't imagine living in that. I can't imagine living through that.' - Colette McInerney, World Education Laos.Colette visits 33-year old Tier Keomanyseng, who lost his hands and his sight, when a cluster bomb blew up in the fields. The accident has devastated his family.'I didn't remember anything at all I didn't feel anything.' - Tier Keomanyseng, cluster bomb victim.Up to twenty thousand people have been killed or injured by cluster bombs in Laos, since the bombing stopped. Many, like Tier were born years after the conflict ended, but they have to live with its devastating consequences.'I just had to fight with brave heart. I just took it day by day.' - Tier Keomanyseng, cluster bomb victim.The people of Laos are trying to rebuild their country and their lives. It could take decades to clear the land of cluster bombs, but there is hope for a better future.'What's really remarkable about the people of Laos and what gives me so much hope is their own sense of optimism, and endurance and spirit. And perseverance to be able to survive such devastating history and past and to overcome it with such an amazing sense of spirit, of good hearted spirit.' - Channapha Khamvongsa, Executive Director, 'Legacies of War' |
| Event |
Broadcast 2014-07-15 at 20:00:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
Artificial legs.
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Bomb reconnaissance.
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War victims -- Employment.
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War victims -- Psychology.
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Vietnam War (1961-1975)
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Washington (D.C.)
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Vietnam.
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Laos.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Sara, Sally, host
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Chanthasomboune, Phoukhieo, contributor
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Khamvongsa, Channapha, contributor
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Manipakone, Sengthavy, contributor
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McInerney, Colette, contributor
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