And now back to our regular programming

To continue on my tour of UXO-affected areas of Laos formerly known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, we went to a remote village called Baan Phonope, in eastern Khammouane about 7 miles from the Vietnam border, and smack dab in the middle of the entrance of the HCM Trail from Vietnam. Men and Materiel poured over the border just north of the 17th parallel and headed shouth through Laos. As such, the area was heavily bombed.

The village is off the electricity grid, and is poor, even by Lao rural standards. MAG was there doing survey and community awareness work in advance of a general clearance of the village and surrounding rice fields. We didn't actually get to the village, which was across a small river, but instead visited the school. All the kids take boats across the river every day to get to school, where they sit in semi-darkness, at handmade wooden desks and listen to the teacher, who has no chalkboard, nor any teaching materials that I saw.

But they were energetic, especially when singing songs.

Outside the school, we got a briefing on the team's work from the survey team leader (the woman on the left). Note the map. She made a point to say it was not to scale.

The village chief came to speak with us as well, and he apologized repeatedly that more villagers couldn't come to meet us, as they were all out harvesting their rice. He spoke in front of the class and to us about the hardships his village faces, made worse by the ever-present danger of UXO. Particularly dangerous are the bombies that are buried, but can be struck when a farmer is turning his soil with a hoe prior to planting.

He spoke quite passionately about the needs of his village, not least of which was the clearance that was about to take place. When he talked about the affects of UXO on his village and the soon-to-be realized benefits that clearance would bring, I detected a slight stammer in his speech and quiver on his lips. He was a very proud man, and he thanked us repeatedly for visiting. I told him he had no reason to thank us, and I was glad we were able to be there.

He confided in me that I was the first American he had ever met. He could have just been being nice.