Cambodian landmine devastation caught on film

BY JOSHUA MAULE

A free photographic exhibition revealing the stories of landmine victims in Cambodia was launched last week at the Red Cross House in Sydney.
The photographs were taken by Somira Sao who fled Cambodia at age three with her parents, after she lost her legs from a landmine explosion while planting soy beans with her father.
She recently returned home with the Red Cross to document the plight of landmine survivors for this exhibition.
“When I told people my story, they expressed genuine happiness that I had returned to understand their lives and my native country,” Somira said.
The images show the suffering caused by war and the pain endured by Cambodian people of all ages as a result of landmine explosions.
The exhibition also highlights the work of the Landmine Survivor Assistance Program (LSAP), which is funded by AusAID and managed by Australian Red Cross.
For the decade following 1978, around six million landmines were placed mostly around the Thai-Cambodia border.
Landmine casualties have had a devastating effect on the lives of Cambodian people, many of whom have been thrown deeper into poverty by crippling injuries.
However, casualty rates have decreased in recent times from 900 a year in 2005 to just 347 last year.
The LSAP aims to ‘reduce the vulnerability of survivors of landmines and unexploded ordnance, their families and affected communities in Cambodia.’
The photographic exhibition will move to the central coast next week.