Cambodia
In 1996 Heather visited Cambodia for the first time with Oxfam. She was shocked by what she saw. Few people realise that one in every 236 people have lost at least one limb in a landmine accident, it's not just soldiers, but civilian men, women and children. Long after the enemy has gone, these horrific mines are still laying in wait, able to explode and maim farm workers or children at play. This is happening worldwide - someone, somewhere, suffers a mine accident every 30 minutes.
In Cambodia, amputees are made to feel like the lowest of the low in society. They find it difficult to farm the land and earn a living, and all too often don’t have access to Prosthetic services. To lose a limb in Cambodia is also to lose your self-worth, your masculinity or femininity. The women no longer feel marriageable, though Heather commented that there were 20 girls among the limbless that were gorgeous enough to have become supermodels.
In the same military hospital Heather saw scenes which would not have been out of place in the days of Florence Nightingale. The smell of infection, pain and suffering literally hit you as you walked in. Heather said “the place was bursting at the seams with beds stacked in corridors”. Most of the 948 soldiers who were there were being cared for by their families who had to sell their land and homes to be able to afford the medical care that their loved ones needed. 
50% of the people who are hurt in landmine accidents never make it to the hospital. Just as Heather felt after her own accident, they feel lucky to be alive. Heather described her visit as emotional but not depressing. Everyone has the inner resources to over come the adversities of life, and the people of Cambodia have known nothing but adversity for a very long period of time. Their strength and resilience is to be admired.
Heather also visited a rural rehabilitation centre, called the Centre of the Dove, where amputees are taught new skills that can provide them with an income. Whilst getting acquainted with everyone at the centre, Heather pulled up her jeans to reveal her prosthetic leg. The boys making wheel chairs had quite a belly laugh as they patted Heather right up to the thigh. Obviously they do not have prosthetics as advanced as Heather’s but they found it very encouraging as at this point they had not realised Heather was also an amputee. A similar response came from the ladies learning crafts at the Wat Than Skill Training Centre.
Heather returned to launch an appeal to fund the desperately needed prosthetic parts, and the rehabilitation and retraining of the landmine amputees. She had the great pleasure of being able to revisit Cambodia in May 1999 with VSO, and the Duchess of Kent, who is a patron for VSO. Heather was delighted to see that the situation at the hospitals had improved, though there was still much work to be done. Heather was introduced to many amputees and her own injury helped her to find a rapport with them and she hoped dearly to be able to instill confidence and show that life can still go on after such a serious injury. Heather caught Dengue fever and was very sick for a while. Dengue fever is contracted from an insect bite. Due to this Heather was told she would have to be very careful where she could visit in the future, as another bite from the Dengue fly could be critical. Heather was not happy about this; as the places that needed help the most were the places that she wasn’t meant to go to.
No more landmines mine clearance operations, mine risk education programmes, mine clearance training and mine detection dog training programmes have been taken over by the Mines Awareness Trust.
To learn more about Mines Awareness Trust please visit www.minesawareness.org for more information.
