The Most Bombed Country per Capita in the World
Today I visited COPE Visitors Centre. COPE is a non-profit organization in Vientiane that provides prosthetic limbs, mobility assistance and rehabilitation for Lao people who can’t afford it. I had read about the Visitors Centre (it’s rated the #1 thing to see in Vientiane) and I wanted to understand what made this a “must see” attraction. What I found was an incredible place that helped me learn more about this country, the Laos people, and the devastating impact of war.
Laos is a peaceful country — there is no war and no conflict here — but sadly the country still suffers from the aftereffects of the Vietnam War that ended over 4 decades ago. From 1964 to 1973 the US dropped over 2 million tons of ordinance over Laos, in an attempt to block the Ho Chi Minh Trail (a network of roads built from North Vietnam to South Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia). The massive quantity of bombs dropped was equivalent to one planeload every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day for 9 years. In my mind, this is essentially unfathomable. Of these bombs, over 80 million of them were unexploded (UXO). Since the war ended, over 20,000 people have been killed or injured by this UXO explosions.
Today, people living in villages still die and are horrifically injured regularly. The unexploded bombs (the size of oranges as shown in this picture) have been lying in the ground for decades. They detonate when they are touched, hit or heated.
Children die when they find the bombs and play games with them. Men die while gardening, or tilling the rice fields often hitting bombs with their tools. Some people die searching for scrap metal to sell (the money they make is somehow deemed worth the risk). Women die cooking dinner over an area where an unexploded bomb lies when the ground around the fire gets hot and triggers the bombs. All of these deaths and injuries are devastatingly common.
A few things at the Visitors Centre really hit home for me. One was seeing what its like inside a typical village hut. Families living in areas along the Ho Chi Minh Trail often search for scrap metal to use as homemade tools. You can see here a knife sheath made from a cluster bomb casing and a table and pot made from parachute flare casings. You can only imagine the people who were killed or injured searching for metal among the bombs.
Another impactful area was the “Wall of Legs”. This is a collection of roughly constructed homemade prosthetic legs that rural villagers made to survive. Today the COPE Centre creates prosthetic legs and offers mobile services to remote villagers to help the many people who have lost arms of legs.
Today 3000 people are working every day to identify and clear the land from these “bombies”. Only a few years ago with old techniques they estimated it would take 100 years to clear the country. But with some advancements in approach and technology they have learned new ways to locate cluster bomb areas and hope to be able to clear the country much more quickly. They have also invested in educating children on how to identify bombs and that they should never search for bombs to sell metal.
I am thrilled that DDD, the organization I am working with is one of the companies that employs disabled students who may not be able to do physical work. 10% of DDD’s staff that are youth with disabilities.
Overall, this visit was the most impactful of my time here. I have a new understanding of the history of this country and a new appreciation for their perseverance. If ever you find yourself in Laos please make a stop here. And if you don’t then please consider donating to this amazing organization.
