This is an excerpt from a leaflet given to me by a street vendor, Tok Vanna, in Siem Reap when I bought a guide book from him. 'Tok Vanna is a 41 year old Cambodian with a wife, two children and a job as a street seller- but like thousands of other Cambodians, he has been badly disabled by one of the many landmines littering the country. He told the BBC's Kate McGeown his story. It happened in 1998. I was a government soldier in command of three or four men near Bauon Village, in the western province of Battambang. It was a mad time. There were three separate resistance groups- the Khmer Rouge, supporters of King Sihanouk and those following (former premier) Son Sann. I didn't actually want to be a soldier. In fact only about half of us wanted to do the job- many people were forced to fight against their will. On the morning of the accident, I'd been training new recruits on jungle warfare techniques and survival skills. I was taking a break from training when it happened. I went to get some food, but there was thick foliage all around us, and I had to clear a path to get through. I bent over to pick something up in the way- how was I to know it would go off? I don't remember much else after that. When I woke up, I looked down and saw that both my hands had gone. I wanted to kill myself- take away my own life. There was no future for me. What could I do? How could I get a job, get married, support my family? How could I even eat? There was a grenade in a bag attached to my waist. It was there from the training exercise earlier. I arched my body round and tried to reach it. I wanted to pull out the pin, but my friend saw me just in time and took the grenade away. I was taken to a government hospital in Phnom Penh, where the authorities paid for my treatment because I was a soldier. I didn't have enough to eat though, and my family had to send me food parcels. Gradually, after the pain subsided, I stopped wanting to kill myself and dared to think about having a future. I was in that hospital for nine months. When I eventually left I was too embarassed to go back to my family and let them feed me and pay for me. So I stayed in Phnom Penh and became a beggar for over a year. I was very unhappy during that time. My mother eventually came to the city to find me and she took me home and looked after me. But I had to go back to Phnom Penh for more treatment on my arms, and I used up all my money on hospital bills and ended up back on the streets. This time an aid worker found me and brought me to Siem Reap. I was given a job working with Rehab Craft Cambodia (run by and for Cambodians with disabilities), selling local crafts and gifts to tourists visiting the temples at Angkor. Life was beginning to get better- I got married and now have two children. But I really wanted my own business, so in 2000 I gave up my job with the charity to set up my own stall selling books on the streets of Siem Reap. I'm very happy now I have this job. Life is worth living again. But there are many others who are still suffering as a result of the landmines, both here in Siem Reap and throughout Cambodia.'
We learned that there are still approximately three million landmines scattered across the Cambodian countryside. When they were laid there was no map made to show their whereabouts so they could be anywhere from the side of the road to someone's back garden or farmland. This has resulted in countless accidents with the local people being critically injured, having limbs blown off or, worst case, killed. We visit a Landmine Museum set up by Aki Ra, a former Khmer Rouge soldier who now works tirelessly to deactivate the mines and clear the land so that it's safe for people to use. He knows how to disarm the devices by gently clearing the land around it and performing a controlled explosion. He's notified of potential dangerous areas by locals who have suspicions or, have unfortunately had a run in with one. On display at the museum are a multitude of different kinds of devices he's uncovered and disarmed, including, worryingly some huge rockets, five feet long, which have most likely been dropped by the Americans and failed to go off. Some of the landmines are very small, the size of a can of coke, and some have target areas that can reach up to 250m with a 25m radius proving fatal to the victim. In the museum there's information on the Ottawa Agreement which requires countries, when they sign up, to cease all use and manufacture of landmines. Horrifyingly the US, China and Russia are among a few who haven't signed up. The US insist that their offensive strategies in Korea require the continued use of landmines. We come to the conclusion they must be a very effective way of preventing the enemy from sneaking up on you. Aki Ra has been through a lot, soldiering for both sides and himself laying a lot of the landmines he now attempts to clear. He doesn't want to dwell anymore on the horrors of the recent past and instead wants to look to the future of a safer, more prosperous Cambodia. This is a characteristic common to the current population who must've witnessed much tragedy and loss. The country is up and coming now, and although it's still very dangerous to stray off the road in case of landmines, there's a growing wealth surrounding tourism and the majority of people seem to be getting back on their feet. There's still a large deficit in the numbers of children attending school, it's not compulsory, and we see a lot of young ones involved in street selling to tourists mainly. And the social care system is non existent so people with disabilities have no help. There's a lot of evidence of humanitarian projects funded from outside the country, including clean water pumps installed in villagers houses and orphanages being set up and paid for mostly by generous benefactors. It's a completely different country to the one we've just come from- Thailand, it's bigger and better neighbour, as the Thais like to think. Cambodia, as a nation, has been historically bullied for centuries, by the Siamese on one side and the Vietnamese on the other. They fight each other for control of Cambodia's lands and the native people suffered endlessly as the armies of the two countries raped and pillaged their way through the kingdom. It was only really when the Cambodian royalty called on the French empire, who'd previously shown interest in the country, to protect them from being overthrown and losing their lands, that they managed to retain their sovereignty and hold on to the country. However, the fact that the French heavily taxed the population and introduced harsh regimes of punishment for criminals and other human rights abuses cannot be forgotten.
