Land Mine Survivors

By Hélèna Katz

Nobody wanted them after they’d had a limb blown off by a land mine. They begged in markets and along roadways. Rumours abounded that people with disabilities were thieves and couldn’t be trusted. They must have done something in a previous life to deserve this fate.

Until recently, these were the attitudes that land mine survivors faced in Cambodia, says David Aston. He’s the program director of the Cambodian War Amputees Rehabilitation Society (CWARS) and one of a number of Canadians who are helping land mine survivors in Cambodia and Bosnia take back control of their lives.

Local initiatives organized by and for land mine survivors in Cambodia, Bosnia and Mozambique will be highlighted in a Canadian documentary being produced by the Foundation on Independent Living.

About 20 years of almost continuous fighting has turned half of the arable land in Cambodia into minefields. And not all are marked. Hundreds of thousands of land mines lie hidden beneath roads and woodland paths, under orchards and paddy-fields, around hills and on approaches to bridges.

The International Committee of the Red Cross reports an average of 300 land mine casualties a month throughout the country. Cambodia has the highest rate of people who are amputees in the world, numbering 40,000. That translates to someone in nearly every family.

The issue of people injured by land mines was overwhelming, and Aston knew he had to do more than build prostheses.

He enlisted the help of the United Church and the Canadian Friends Service Committee back in Canada for financial assistance. The Cambodian government donated an abandoned building in Pursat, a colonial town 200 kilometres north of Phnom Penh.

Aston turned the building into a residential school where land mine survivors could learn skills like sewing and tailoring, bicycle and motorcycle repair, radio repair and hairdressing.

Since it opened its doors in March, 1995, 42 people have graduated; another 21 will finish in the coming months. About 95 per cent of graduates find a job in local workshops or set up their own business, some returning to their villages.

CWARS chairperson Lorna Watson says the program is already seeing positive results. "They’re economically self-supporting, and their morale is good because they can support themselves and contribute to their families, she says.

It isn’t just skills that bloom in the CWARS workshops, Watson adds. A man from the radio repair program is now married to a young woman in the sewing class.

With assistance from the Cambodia Support Group in Kimberley, British Columbia, Handicap International runs the Programme de Rehabilitation Economique et Sociale (PRES) in Cambodia. PRES provides training, equipment, counselling and business planning to people with disabilities, including those who are amputees. But unlike CWARS, the organization works with people in their own communities.

"The fabulous focus of this program is that it goes where people are, says Arne Sahlen, president of the Cambodia Support Group. "If that’s 50 miles down a dirt road, you take a motorbike down there -- which I’ve done.

The Cambodian staff, many of whom are people with disabilities, work with participants individually to support them in developing their own chosen areas of interest and setting up their own businesses. This allows the person with a disability to earn a living, contribute to society and improve their status within their community.

"The long-term goal isn’t just rehabilitation -- it’s integration, Sahlen emphasizes. Integration and Independent Living are the goals of another project, this one being launched by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, Disabled Persons’ International and the international committee of the Manitoba League of People with Disabilities.

Steve Estey, who is heading the 16-month project in Cambodia, wants to set up strong links between land mine survivors and those who have been recently injured.

Cambodia currently has basic medical services, including the fitting of prostheses. But successful community reintegration requires more than a properly fitting prosthesis, Estey notes. People who have recently acquired disabilities tend to have concerns about self-image, independence and regaining the ability to contribute to society.

Land mine injuries prompt some concerns that are obvious -- and others that are less obvious, like how to deal with role reversal. "If, for example, you were the head of the family with four kids and you’re injured by a land mine, you may not be able to do that anymore, Estey explains. "What may happen is that your wife or an older child may become the economic head of the family. How do you deal with that?

These are issues that he hopes will be addressed through peer support, Independent Living, assistive devices and income-generating activities. "We’re not suggesting peer support and Independent Living are a replacement for medical aid, he told a conference on land mine survivors in Winnipeg at the end of January. "These things are very necessary. Rather, they are an extension to medical aid.

Cambodians have begun to deal with the realities of a war that invaded their lives for nearly two decades. Now, Bosnians are beginning to face the legacy that are the land mines. The number of survivors has been increasing since the conflict here ended a year ago.

During the war, most of the injuries were from shelling and sniping.

"Although the area was very heavily mined, the mines were along the confrontation lines. So people didn’t go there, explains Dr. Malcolm Peat. He’s the executive director of the International Centre for the Advancement of Community-Based Rehabilitation. Based at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, the organization is helping to set up community-based rehabilitation centres around Bosnia.

"If you stayed in your own community, you didn’t have to worry about land mines. During the war, the civilian population didn’t walk around. But if they tried to escape to the hills, that’s when they hit mines. Peace enhances injuries from land mines because people can walk around freely, Peat says. "Now it’s a time of great vulnerability.

Regardless of the cause of the disability, worldwide attention to the land mines issue is beginning to focus attention on the public’s attitudes towards people with disabilities. And that is forcing some ways to change. With the move away from a passive approach towards disability in Cambodia and Bosnia, land mine survivors and other people with disabilities are becoming actively involved in reclaiming their lives.

(Helena Katz is a freelance writer and communications consultant, currently working on the land mines documentary. She lives in in Montreal, Quebec.)

The Foundation on Independent Living is producing a documentary about people in Cambodia, Bosnia and Mozambique who have disabilities as a result of land mine explosions. Hosted and narrated by renowned journalist Patrick Watson, this film will highlight local initiatives to support land mine survivors’ efforts to rebuild their lives and re-integrate into society.

If you know of such initiatives or would like to learn more about the project, please contact us at:

FOUNDATION ON INDEPENDENT LIVING
C/O MOVING ON
CBC BROADCASTING CENTRE
205 WELLINGTON STREET WEST
TORONTO, ON M5V 3G7
TEL: (416) 593-5409
FAX: (416) 205-3399
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