Day 313: Land Mine Museum

Promise this is the last depressing military history post (we swear). Also link to donate: https://www.cambodianselfhelpdemining.org/

At a very young age, Cambodian boy Aki Ra’s parents were murdered by the Khmer Rouge; he was forced to join the regime as a child soldier. During this time he would lay thousands of mines across Cambodia in addition to mines laid by Soviet Forces, US Forces, and Vietnamese forces. When his unit was captured by Vietnamese forces, he switched sides and laid mines along the Cambodian and Thailand border.

After Cambodian independence and support from the UN, Aki Ra found employment demining the various land mines and UXOs (unexploded ordinances) across Cambodia. He felt it was his obligation to clear these weapons after laying so many.

Overtime, as guilt ate away at him, he opened an orphanage for children who were accidentally maimed by unexploded land mines left over from the war. Aki Ra would return to the locations where he personally laid mines and worked with villages/farmers who called him if they found one. He kept all these unexploded mines.

In 1999, he started charging people to see his collection and opened the Cambodian Land Mine Museum to generate income for his operations, help children and families with injuries associated with landlines, and educate people on the dangers of land mines. He has personally defused 50,000 land mines alone and was selected as a CNN Hero.

We drove an hour out of Siem Reap to visit the museum and learn about his amazing work. He keeps his collection there and it was extensive. He includes a fake land mine field to show you how hidden these devices are and how thickly they were laid in Cambodian forests.

Today, he runs an NGO called Cambodian Self Help Demining, which goes after lower priority villages and spots compared to the high priority zones tackled by larger NGOs. He receives grants and donations from US and Australian partners, and we left a link at the top of the post if you are interested in donating. They estimate 4-6 million land mines still need to be defused across Cambodia.

Food:
Snake
Khmer curry
Spicy beef

Spots:
Cambodian Land Mine MuseumLeggi altro