MINE ACTION CAMBODIA – LAY LOUN & CHAN SARET
“I’ve worked on this land for the last 3 years and I always worried that landmines lay hidden here – there have been so many accidents nearby. But I had no choice, I had to feed my family and send my daughter to school. She works with me sometimes on weekends for extra pocket money.
Last month, APOPO and their partner the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), arrived to search the fields for old explosives. They bought with them some rats that they said could find the landmines, and we laughed. But why not, as long as they worked? And they did! They ran right up to where they thought a landmine was buried and they scratched on the ground. When the men with the metal detector came and checked, there really were landmines or something else like an old bullet.
We have watched CMAC, APOPO and these rats make their way up into all the fields around us and they work very fast. In our fields they found six landmines in total, one was where I have worked many times. I am so sorry that I put my own daughter at risk, I can’t forgive myself. But now we can continue to work without fear. At least that is some comfort.”