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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
May 30, 2008
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| January 22, 2008 |
Striving for a Land Mine Free Cambodia: the Role of CMAC |
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| Communication Coordinator (CC) Satoshi Nakazawa interprets Japanese dialogue for Mr. Heng during one of his lectures. |
Land mines, constructed to maim or kill whoever steps upon them, are scattered prolifically throughout Cambodia, a land famous for its ancient temples but still devastated by the effects of over two decades of war. Mr. Ratana Heng, the Deputy Director General of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), has worked for over 15 years to rid his country of these mines. He joined Peace Boat’s 60th voyage to share Cambodia’s history and his experiences during work with CMAC. |
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| Angkor Wat, backlit by the rising sun |
Famous as the home of Angkor Wat, Cambodia’s population has quadrupled in size since the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, and now relies heavily on tourism to fuel its economy. Yet, although war ended in 1998, the remaining land mines and unexploded ordnance are hampering the growth of the tourism industry, since many temples remain unsafe, and the nation’s overall development. Mr. Heng shocked participants as he explained the scale of destruction suffered by Cambodia; CMAC estimates that between four to six million land mines were laid, with the country also enduring an aerial bombardment 3.5 times greater than that suffered by Japan in World War II, by the United States during the Viet Nam war. |
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Toshie Wada, a participant who has studied tea for over 12 years, volunteered to perform a Japanese tea ceremony for the onboard guest educators. |
CMAC’s goal is to create a land-mine free Cambodia by the year 2020. In its 14 years of fieldwork to date, the organization believes it has cleared about 20 percent of the remaining mines, yet a 2002 survey found that over five million people in almost half of the villages in rural Cambodia are still affected, since land cannot be used for agriculture or development.
Peace Boat’s Peace Mine Abolition Campaign (PMAC) is working to assist CMAC through fundraising, donations of prosthetic limbs to land mine victims and supporting the establishment of five primary schools in rural areas, the most recent of which opened in November 2007. Established in 1998, PMAC also runs land mine education programs at schools in Japan, and Peace Boat participants regularly visit the country to learn more about CMAC and see firsthand how land mines affect people on an individual level. |
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Mr. Heng’s powerful descriptions of the huge tasks that remain ahead of CMAC in rural Cambodia sent a strong message to participants of the importance of international solidarity in helping the Cambodian people overcome their tragedy, and building a future free from the fear of mines. While Angkor Wat was cleared of mines in 1992, Cambodia is working to have some of its other temples declared as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, hopefully increasing tourism and generating funding for de-mining in other parts of the country. |
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