Cambodian Land Mine Museum

Posted by Mike Richard on January 17, 2008
Filed under: Cambodia, Sidelines

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Cambodian Land Mine Museum

The founder of the Cambodian Land Mine Museum, Aki Ra, was an orphan and a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge. Receiving his first rifle at the age of ten, he himself laid hundreds of mines. He joined the United Nations Transitional Authority of Cambodia in 1994, where he was trained to disarm the countless mines still spread throughout the country.

Land mines are designed more for suffering than for death. The point is to maim, not kill - a dead soldier can simply be buried and left behind, but a wounded one can slow down a whole team. They are one of the cheapest and most cost-effective instruments of war in the world - they can be made for as little as a dollar, using little more than gunpowder and some nails.

In 1997, Aki Ra bought a parcel of land outside Siam Reap, where he housed his decommissioned weaponry. The government of Cambodia didn’t care for the place, and often accused Aki Ra of running a market in illegal weaponry. At the same time, his de facto museum became a safe haven for most common Cambodian land mine victims: children, with missing limbs.

His museum’s continued survival is thanks in part to international attention, and its unexpected success as a tourist destination. The museum has recently undergone renovations, and exhibits rounded by chicken wire have made way for plexiglass. The new facilities enjoyed their grand opening in April, 2007.

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This article was reprinted with permission of the author.

Vagabondish editor Mike Richard lives in Rhode Island - a small patch of land in the northeastern U.S. He is a professional web designer and travel junkie with an unhealthy addiction to backpacking, camping, hiking and seeing the world. He enjoys knit hats and speaking in the third person.



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Comments

Mark Schoneveld
January 17th, 2008 - 11:18 am

Hey Mike, thanks for writing about this on your blog. I know one of the co-founders of this project, the photojournalist Richard Fitoussi, and have known about it since it’s inception. They are doing great work there. When in Siam Riep, be sure to stop in and have a look! They need all the support they can get.