Cambodian resurrection: Land-mine victims forge a new pride in an unforgiving atmosphere

From Straight.com of Vancouver, British Columbia Cambodian resurrection: Land-mine victims forge a new pride in an unforgiving atmosphere By roberta staley Publish Date: 7-Sep-2006 San Suo hops down the rough wood ladder leading from the doorway of his one-room house,...

New Department of State - Newsweek Wall Map Charts Global Landmine Problem

The Newsweek Education Program has published the Second Edition of their popular wall map, "Landmines: Eliminating the Threat." Limited copies of this edition are available at no cost from the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which commissioned it.

CLEAR PATH SPONSORS LANDMINE SURVIVORS TO ATTEND SPORT EVENTS

Started on September 3rd, 2006, 40 qualified people with disabilities (PWD) athletes entered their 28 days intensive training period in Dong Ha town. After the training, a short list of 30 athletes will be finalized for National round of qualification which will be held in Ho Chi Minh City in late September. Then the chance of being a member of the National team is open for everyone, who would have the best scores, to compete at the Asian Sport Event for PWD called FESPIC games 15 in Malaysia late this year.

Thailand: Care Villa at the Mae La Refugee Camp

Of all the projects we visit and the people we see, my personal highlight of our yearly trip to Southeast Asia is the Care Villa at the Mae La refugee camp in Thailand. Here at this sprawling "city" of huts...

YouTube: Princess Diana in Angola Raising Landmine Awareness

Whenever I tell people about Clear Path International's work with landmine and bomb accident survivors, invariably Princess Diana's name comes up and they ask me if I ever met her! No... sadly, the princess died about 6 months after my...

US Munitions Still Deadly in Vietnam

On Aug. 13, in the Hoai An district of the central province of Binh Dinh, four 13- to 15-year-old boys died after they found a U.S.-made M79 rifle grenade and broke it open to get the gunpowder. The grenade exploded,...

Four Children Killed by Explosive In Vietnam

Last week, on August 13th, while looking after their families' cows, four children (ages 12, 13 and two at 15 years old) living in Hoai An district of Binh Dinh province, Vietnam picked up an explosive left over from the...

Clear Path International's First Study Trip to Laos

Ever since James, Martha, Kristen and I started Clear Path International nearly six years ago, I have wanted to go to Laos. Now I finally had a chance to do so, as we sandwiched three days in between our project...

Phuong: Bomb Survivor - Track Star

I recognized her as soon as i saw her. At the first instant, i was slightly confused because i thought that we were visiting a different Clear Path beneficiary. My mind had decided that we were going to visit a...

Soldier Killed by Soviet-Era Landmine in Afghanistan

Landmines and unexploded bombs remain active for decades after wars end. The story below is a sad reminder of the potency of the explosive remnants of war: Afghanistan: Soldier killed in mine blast KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- A...

Visiting with Survivors, Kids First Village, and the Cam Lo Blind Association

Our initial beneficiary contact yesterday came with arriving at the Clear Path offices first thing in the morning. Ok, actually our first activity was having banh mi om let pho ma ~ Vina for scrambled eggs with cheese on...

Mines Advisory Group Makes Emergency Appeal for Lebanon

Please note the following emergency appeal for assistance from Mines Advisory Group for their live saving work in Lebanon EMERGENCY APPEAL – LEBANON Of the estimated 4,000 bombs dropped daily during the current conflict, around 10 per cent of them...

US Department of State to MATCH Donations To Clear Path!

The U.S. State Department has announced it will match up to $60,000 in contributions made by any grassroots and private-sector donors to Clear Path International’s landmine accident survivor assistance work in central Vietnam. The matching period will last at least...

Martha, Executive Director of CPI on Vermont Public Radio

Vermont Public Radio interviewed our executive Director, Martha Hathaway, on her upcoming trip to Afghanistan and the work of Clear Path International in Asia. You can hear the interview here. The text of the article is below (source VERMONT PUBLIC...

Looking for Land Mines Photo Gallery

The link below leads to photo gallery highlighting different landmine (land mine) detection methods. http://news.com.com/2300-11395_3-6092294-1.html?tag=ne.gall.pg...

Yakima Herald: Help the World, Bit by Byte

A Washington state-based organization, World Neighborhood Fund has found a creative way to help Clear Path International. A big thanks from Clear Path to Mikelle Charlebois and Troy Haines! From the Yakima Herald: A click saves the world. It's a...

Family Catastrophe: Three Children Killed, Three Wounded

On May 30th, 2006, a terrible UXO related accident happened in central highland of Vietnam. Six children from 2 to 11 years old were killed and injured by a cluster bomb explosion. The accident happened in Kong Chro district, Gia...

Every Year 25000 People Are Maimed or Killed by Landmines...

Six Tourists and Guide Killed by Landmine in Sri Lanka

Top Businessman and award winning writer among the dead....

Our Friends at Polus and the US Department of State Brew Up a Great Idea

I am thrilled today to read that our friends at The Polus Center, in partnership with the US Department of State have made good on their plans to develop the Coffeelands Landmine Survivors' Trust. From their website: "The Coffeelands...

A Song From Vietnam: Video on YouTube

A couple years ago a gourp of friends and I were travelling to a meeting in Vietnam after a long day of visiting with Clear Path beneficiaries. One of the women in the van started singing a beautiful song I...

Ten Years Later, The U.S. Is No Closer to Mine Ban

Source: US Campaign to Ban Landmines May 16, 2006 On May 16, 1996, President Clinton committed the United States to "aggressively pursue an international agreement to ban the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines." Many people concerned with...

THREE YEARS OLD BOY INJURED IN A UXO ACCIDENT IN QUANG TRI, VIET NAM

When I first received the brief information over the phone about the accident, I couldn’t imagine how a three years old boy could involve in a UXO accident. For he is too small to cause anything that lead to a...

Clear Path's Humanitarian Work Recognized

On January 23, 2006, leaders of the Quang Binh Committee for Population, Family and Children (CPFC) paid a visit to Clear Path's Vietname Office in Dong Ha town, Quang Tri province. Mr. Le Thanh Tan, CPFC chairman, was authorized to...

14-Year-Old Boy Lost Hand in War-Era Munition Accident

It was Sunday, January 8, 2006, a day off school and Nguyen The Thang was busy in the backyard moving some bonsai trees to plant in the front entrance. Tet, the Vietnamese traditional Newyear festival is coming in two weeks,...

Clear Path's Outreach Worker - Medal Winner in PARAGAMES

Returning home from the 3rd regional PARAGAMES in Philippine, Le Thi Hoai Phuong, an UXO Survivor/a CPI’s Outreach Worker/a Class F44 Female Athlete had brought home 4 Gold medals and a Silver one, bringing her medal collection up to 24...

Father of Five Killed in Vietnam

This just in from our office in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam: (Truong Quoc Dung-aged 40) A horrible accident happened to a 40-year-old man in Gio Linh district of Quang Tri province at 16h on Dec 27th 2005. Unknown ordnance suddenly...

CPI Raises Substantial Funding in 4th Quarter

Good news in our most recent press release: During the fourth quarter of 2005, Clear Path International raised more than $275,000 for landmine accident survivors in Southeast Asia through major grants, special events and grassroots contributions, the organization said this week. In October, Clear Path’s fifth anniversary benefit dinner at the Columbia Tower Club in Seattle, attended by many of its island supporters, raised nearly $30,000. This included a $5,000 underwriting grant from the Seattle-based law firm Marler Clark, LLC. In December, the humanitarian mine action group received word from the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis of $180,000 in grants for Clear Path’s survivor assistance projects in Vietnam and Cambodia during the next two years. The largest two-year grant from McKnight, for $105,000, will support a joint project of CPI and Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development in Phnom Penh to build a rice mill in Battambang Province, western Cambodia. The proposed rice mill and adjoining facility in Battambang will accommodate the training of landmine accident survivors and their families in hands-on agricultural and technical vocational skills. The total budget for the mill, whose production is expected to make the training program self-sustaining within three years, is $327,000. The other two-year McKnight grant for $75,000 will support Clear Path International’s survivor assistance program in central Vietnam, where the organization provides medical and socioeconomic assistance to hundreds of families in three districts north and south of the former Demilitarized Zone that once split the country in two. From the Mark D. Johnson Charitable Trust in California, Clear Path received a $50,000 gift, with $30,000 for survivor assistance in all three program countries �“ Vietnam, Cambodia and the Thai-Burma border area �“ and $20,000 for a media project to raise awareness of the landmine problem in Southeast Asia. In addition, Clear Path received a $5,000 grant for its survivor assistance and mine action work from the Olive Higgins Prouty Foundation and $4,000 from John and Hazel Griffith of San Jose. The remainder of the $275,000 came from individual donations. Since it was founded on Bainbridge Island in 2000, Clear Path has provided assistance to more than 2,300 landmine accident survivors and their families in Southeast Asia, and sent 60 containers with $4 million worth of medical equipment and supplies to dozens of hospitals in 20 countries affected by the presence of landmines.

Sally Taylor & John Curley to Host CPI’s 5th Anniversary on Oct. 16

SEATTLE -- Clear Path International will celebrate its fifth anniversary at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 16 with a benefit dinner high above Seattle at the Columbia Tower Club. The event, “An Evening of Hope for Landmine Survivors,” will be...

August 25: One man killed, house down to ashes

The phone rang just as we enter the office after lunch break. Another UXO accident had just happened in Vinh Lam commune, Vinh Linh district. The informant just briefed that it was a serious accident involved a man killed...

Father of Five Killed by Bomb in Vietnam

Sounds of lament could be heard from a distance. Neighbors were quietly preparing for the funeral. An altar was set up right at the main entrance to the living room. A green curtain separates the altar from a bed...

Journal of Mine Action Article on Clear Path

An article written by CPI Co-founder Imbert Matthee is appearing in this month's online version of the Journal of Mine Action. Survivor Assistance Profile: Clear Path International Rebuilding Shattered Lives in Southeast Asia You can read the article here. Imbert,...

Boy, 14, Found Dead from US-Vietnam War Era Explosive

Quang Tri Province, Vietnam- A young boy was found dead by his mother last week after he failed to return home from farming peanuts early in the morning on July 8, 2005.

Man Injured By Explosive in Vietnam

(Vo The Vinh, aged 46) An accident happened to a 46 year-old man in Gio Linh district of Quang Tri province at 10h a.m on Saturday, June 25^th . A piece of ordnance detonated while he was gardening outside his...

Landmine Kills Father and Injures Daughter in Vietnam

Due to economic hardhip, many people in former war zones in SE Asia tamper with unexploded ordnance (UXO) tampering to sell the metal and the TNT. Below is the most recent story involving tampering that resulted in death and injury...

Video: Mother of two is lost to Bomb

This accident was reported here last month, but Chi from the Vietnam ofice just put together a video of the visit with the family. Click the button below to see the video. He has also sent in a report which...

Boy, 12, Killed by Cluster Bomb in Vietnam

Quang Binh Province, Vietnam- A boy has lost his life after discovering a piece of unexploded ordnance in Central Vietnam. Nguyen Si Phu, 12, had found a cluster bomb while playing near his aunt's home on May 29, 2005....

Johnson State Trip Slideshow

The Johnson State College pictures can be viewed as a slideshow here. As new photos are sent in they will be added to the presentation....