Cambodia’s landmine problem

Flipping through my Lonely Planet about Cambodia, I came across a section about what to do when you find yourself in a landmine field. I had never thought I would ever need such information, but in Cambodia, this is reality. Millions of landmines and unexploded bombs are estimated to still be in the country, laid in the Khmer Rouge period or dropped by American planes that wanted to destroy Vietnamese supply lines during the Vietnam war.

These mines and so-called UXOs (unexploded ordnance) still kill and wound people on a daily basis. Cambodia is among the countries with the highest rates of amputees in the world. In a landmine museum in Siem Reap, I learned that most mines in Cambodia are of a type that are specifically created to not kill but just wound someone. A dead soldier is left behind; a wounded one slows down the enemy.

The landmine museum was founded by a man who, as a child soldier in the Khmer Rouge army, had laid thousands of landmines and, later in life, founded an organization to clear landmines and care for landmine victims. Eventually, he collected so many weapons and shells that he created the museum. At present, he estimates to have cleared about 50,000 mines and UXOs.

It is incredible to think that this child soldier who didn’t know his parents, date of birth, or name, who learned to kill at a young age and knew nothing but war, grew up to become a humanitarian, a husband and father, and a kind human being. At the end of my visit I walked into him and I felt a little starstruck, not really knowing what to say or ask.

I got to meet a very different kind of landmine heroes in another museum, the visitor’s center of a Belgian NGO called APOPO (“Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Productontwikkeling”). This organization trains gigantic African rats to detect landmines. Their great sense of smell allows them to point out only unexploded mines, which makes them work a lot faster than metal detectors that go off with every piece of metal.

These so-called ‘hero rats’ learn how to do their important work through clicker training, just like dogs. Food-motivated, they receive a treat when they show the right behavior: they dig in the earth to indicate the location of a mine, after which a human can clear it. A visit to the APOPO center includes a live demonstration as well as the opportunity to pet the rats (the food-motivated hero I got to hold loved my deliciously sweaty skin).

Clearing explosives poses an ongoing challenge to Cambodia. Just last month, I read in the newspaper, a 340 kg American bomb was found and defused. The time, effort and money it takes to make Cambodia safe cannot be underestimated – it costs 5 dollars to purchase a mine but 500 to find and destroy one, and 6000 to train a single rat.

It is through the hard work of these organizations and people that Cambodia becomes a safer place, avoiding more human suffering, clearing up land that can be used for agriculture and housing, and making sure that on-the-beaten-path tourists like me do not really need to worry about knowing what to do when in a minefield (walk back only if you can trace your footsteps, otherwise stay put and call for help).

In the landmine museum, I remember being drawn to a photo of the former child soldier receiving a CNN award from the hands of actress Renee Zellweger for “everyday people changing the world”. The contrast between these two persons was so great that I couldn’t help but wonder why it is her, and not him, who is rich and famous and venerated. Who are the real heroes of this world?