The below is an excerpt from a very well-written and researched piece by Brady Delander who interviewed Martha, Imbert and me. He would have talked to Kristen too, but she is pretty busy over in Afghanistan at the moment!
CPI: Clearing the Way for a Safer Future
By Brady Delander
Will and determination help expand worldly mission of Clear Path International.
James Hathaway was late for his flight—"of course," he says—when he saw his opportunity. Imbert Matthee was deep in the jungles of Vietnam when the purpose of his efforts crystallized. Such is the world of humanitarianism. Anything can happen at anytime? it usually does.
Hathaway and Matthee, along with Martha Hathaway and Kristen Leadem, are the co-founders of Clear Path International (CPI), an organization established in 2000 originally dedicated to the removal of unexploded ordnance—landmines, clusters bombs, etc.—in war-torn locations around the globe that now focuses on helping the victims of such explosions. "There is certainly no shortage of work," says Martha Hathaway, CPI's executive director and co-founder.
The bulk of that work is deadly serious. With programs in Vietnam, Cambodia, along the Thai-Burma border, and now Afghanistan, the realities of war—even wars that ended more than 30 years ago—could not be any more dramatic. Dealing with the everyday horror can be overwhelming, but Matthee recalls a moment that makes even the most trying days seem worthwhile.
