from sweating more than i have ever sweated in my life it has now cooled remarkably... probably something to do with the enormous storms which are now a daily occurence! I have seen more thunder and lightning in the last week than I probably have in the previous ten years... ironically I have also been watching repeats of Twister - the joys of HBO!
Driving from the Landmine Museum, Thy (promounced Tee) and I were hit by a catastrophic storm which had me cackling manically in the back of the tuk tuk wondering if it would not perhaps be better to find somewhere to hide...
It took my mind off the sorrows of the Landmine Museum however. It is an amazing place though, set up by a Mr Akira- a man who was forced to be a child soldier in the Khmer Rouge Army when he was very young. He eventually switched sides and joined the Vietnamese and eventually the Cambodian National Army, and for the last 20 years has been clearing his country of landmines, mainly on his own. With his wife he supports and cares for up to 30 children who have either been injured by landmines or whose families have been killed by them. Thousands of people have been killed by landmines in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos...many dropped by the yanks during the Vietnam War. People are still being injured and killed in Cambodia, usually it is farmers and peasants who are trying to work on their land. It will be a long long time before this country is free of the landmine.
Which is why it makes me extremely angry to hear that the largest countries of the world- America, China and Russia, are all still actively making landmines. So angry!!
No comments:
Post a Comment