Today, we grabbed a tuk tuk and headed out to the landmine museum. It is about 25km outside Siem Reap along a road which runs past lots of beautiful countryside.
The museum was started by a Cambodian, Aki Ra, who was a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge (baddies!) He spent his childhood laying landmines!
After the Vietnamese invaded, he then began to use his knowledge of landmines to clear mined areas of Cambodia. He collected thousands of different mines, deactivated them and started the museum. Since then he has continued to clear areas of Cambodia and was awarded the CNN hero award in 2010. A pretty amazing man!
The number of people we have seen that have lost a limb through landmine explosions is truly unbelievable! Many countries have stopped producing and laying mines but there a few that continue to produce and use this horrific weapon. We were told that a landmine's job is not to kill you but to severely injure you. That way more than one person is taken out from the battle zone, as it would take 2 others to carry you off with your terrible injuries.
The small fee paid to enter the museum goes directly to a school set up by the same man. Whilst visiting small villages to deactivate mines he came across a number of innocent children who had been injured by one of the millions of live mines still hidden in Cambodia. It is estimated that at the current rate of deactivation and funding levels it will take until at least 2020 to do them all, but some people believe it will take much longer than this.
The museum was started by a Cambodian, Aki Ra, who was a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge (baddies!) He spent his childhood laying landmines!
After the Vietnamese invaded, he then began to use his knowledge of landmines to clear mined areas of Cambodia. He collected thousands of different mines, deactivated them and started the museum. Since then he has continued to clear areas of Cambodia and was awarded the CNN hero award in 2010. A pretty amazing man!
The number of people we have seen that have lost a limb through landmine explosions is truly unbelievable! Many countries have stopped producing and laying mines but there a few that continue to produce and use this horrific weapon. We were told that a landmine's job is not to kill you but to severely injure you. That way more than one person is taken out from the battle zone, as it would take 2 others to carry you off with your terrible injuries.
The small fee paid to enter the museum goes directly to a school set up by the same man. Whilst visiting small villages to deactivate mines he came across a number of innocent children who had been injured by one of the millions of live mines still hidden in Cambodia. It is estimated that at the current rate of deactivation and funding levels it will take until at least 2020 to do them all, but some people believe it will take much longer than this.
