Phonsavan; the MAG Center

The next morning we were woken up by the roosters at 6am. Last night's conversation was still fresh on our minds, and we had intended to get up early--but not that early. So, as soon as the roosters stopped their announcement of the sunrise, we all closed our eyes and tried to get a little more sleep. We had about 30 minutes of peace and quiet before they started up again...then it was quiet...then roosters... quiet, roosters...quiet...roosters! It took about two hours before we were all wide awake, hating chickens and vowing never to keep a coop with 100m of our house. By 10am we were ready, had eaten breakfast and were on our way to the MAG Center.

We weren't exactly sure where it was located, but we knew that it was east and on the main strip of town, so we headed in that direction. Thankfully, it was only a short walk (2 blocks down the main road from our guesthouse), which we were all extremely happy about. Since arriving in Phonsavan, the weather had been hot... like Cambodia hot. In the afternoons the temperature soared to 34ºC (97º-99ºF) and we were pleased to stumble upon the MAG office without too much effort.

What we found was a tiny museum/info gallery where, for the first time, we were able to see all of the information we had heard about, in writing. The walls were covered in huge full-color posters with pictures, maps and diagrams. Most of the information we already knew, but seeing it for the first time in print made a life-time impression in our brains. As we walked around the room we were able to read about the secret war, the impact of UXO's on the Laotian people and MAG International's current clean-up effort in Laos.

In the middle of the room there were large display cases, filled with the different types of bombs that MAG finds and destroys in Laos every day. Each bomb casing was laid out with a description of the bomb and its country of origin. Surprisingly, not all were American. Many of the casings were Chinese or Russian, as well as some from other countries. For a moment, we felt a sense of relief “It wasn't just us that dropped bombs on Laos... it's not all our fault”. Then we realized what that meant-- America dropped two million metric tons of bombs on Laos, then on top of that, nearly every country in the area had bombed them as well.

A hand-grenade dating back to WWII  made by the USSR and the notorious bombie; a yellow tennis ball sized ordinance deployed by cluster bombs manufactured by the U.S.A

A BLU 45 anti-vehicle submunition. Deployed in groups of 30, would bury themselves into the ground and detonate when triggered by the vibration of a car or a magnetic field-- U.S.A

A number of different munitions from the U.S and China

The thought was staggering. This tiny little landlocked country with its kind and generous people had done nothing to incite war, but because of its strategic location, it was caught in the middle of the global war for world or regional dominance.

It was then that we saw the truth; war creates problems, it doesn't solve them.

We struggled to find a silver lining in the terrible mess of facts and realizations we were having. We hadn't even seen the documentaries yet and we were already starting to agree with the 'you're only one person' mentality. How could we change foreign policy? How could we make a difference?

That's when we then saw the posters describing MAG Internationals clean-up efforts. They explained that, in an effort to stimulate the local economies, MAG only hires local people and that they don't even accept foreigners as volunteers. Instead, they take local volunteers, provide them with training and hire them on as employees. MAG pays good wages and offers full-time, reliable work, to any citizen willing to volunteer for the job. They empower members of the community and make them local heroes who save lives and build futures.

Women in particular play a huge role within MAG Laos as bomb detonation specialists. The organization makes an effort to encourage women to take leadership roles within this highly dangerous, male dominated field. Though many of the women receive criticism from their friends and family saying “That is a man's job”. Their response is always “Yes, I am scared. And yes, it is dangerous. But I am always gentle, meticulous and aware of what I am doing. Saving lives is important and I am good at it”. There were also international news articles praising the all-female teams of bomb detonator specialists that are pioneering the clean-up effort in Laos.

After reading over everything, there was one thing that was very clear; the only road block to cleaning up Laos is the funding. MAG has the man power and the expertise, but they lack the money to buy necessary supplies and pay their employees.

The other countries they work in like Somalia, Libya, Iraq and Cambodia receive direct funding from governmental and institutional donors to complete those specific projects. Though, because the war on Laos was one done in secret, with no international coverage, the funding is minimal and sporadic at best.

We made the cumulative decision to empty our wallets and donate every penny we had on us, even donating the Vietnamese Dong that we had saved as a memento from our travels there. And when we came back in the evening to watch 'Bombies' and 'The Most Secret Place on Earth', we brought with us a significant percentage of the money we had left for our trip and made a larger donation.

It felt good knowing that our relatively small donation could at least pay for two weeks salary of a UXO technician. And now we were well informed and on our way to making a difference.

***We're in the process of becoming an official MAG fund raiser. If you haven't already, please donate on their website  or watch for our link and help us support this great cause!***