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Cambodia Diary
12-18 November, 2003
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The last two-weeks had passed quickly but what we still remember is "The Water Festival and Full Moon Celebration" which Cambodian people always celebrate and regard as the national festival. It was great! However I did not forget the schedule of demining operation which began on 12th November despite the fact that the cycle normally starts on the first day of the month.
I am Chhuom Sokun, 31 years old and married with 2 children. I am a HALO Trust deminer living and working in Battambang province. Well, 10 days away from minefield things have changed a lot. Good! Today the sky is very blue with nice weather, no rain but gentle breezing that everybody is delighted and working smoothly. Farmers are very busy with harvesting their crops. The road to minefield is dried and accessible despite of some roughness. The HALO demining teams have been working so hard; obviously, the de-mining section in Ou Chambak village 1A. Each section has 7 deminers and 1 section commander to supervise and check land to be 100 % sure that area cleared is no mines or UXOs missed, even a small piece of metal.
Ou Chambak Village 1A minefield is funded by AAR/TBS (Zero Landmine Campaign) and the reasons for clearance are resettlement, safe acess to water source, safe land for agriculture and elimination of the risk of mine accident in the area where mines have been found close to villagers' houses. The speed of clearance is slow because of metalic soil; however, the HALO Trust has deployed ground compensated detector to speed up manual clearance.
Being employed by HALO I am very happy beyond comparison. I am delighted to see my children going to school and the royal government pays more attention to education. More importantly, my children are another motive to encourage me to determine to work hard until the end of HALO Cambodia program.
Cambodia always welcomes to donors that intend to provide humanitarian funds for mineclearance. I strongly hope The Zero Landmine Campaign will continue to add more funds for The HALO Trust Cambodia.
Thanks a lot for The HALO Trust and Donors.
Best regards,
Chhuom Sokun
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