New Zealand’s efforts bomb clearing in Laos


Southeast Asia’s Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita – 80 million unexploded bombs (UXO) are scattered across the country.

New Zealand has spent the last two decades helping to clear these hidden dangers. Writer Samantha Mythen has more. I sat in the make-shift movie theatre, chairs haphazardly organised across the floor. The French, Mandarin, English, and German chatter of the other tourists around me quietened down as the documentary began. We met young students on screen, warned to stay away from the baseball-sized and cylinder-shaped objects peeking out from the dusty land they ran across. The children were told that the metal objects were not toys to play with; they were unexploded bombs.

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Source: Asia Media Centre


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