Ponsavan, Laos is a place where the importance of life really comes into perspective.
Between 1964 and 1973 the United states held a secret war in Laos, spending 2.2 million dollars each day bombing small villages throughout the country. In an attempt to cut of what it believed to be a supply route for North Vietnamese to the the South, the U.S. flew over 580,000 missions dropping 2 million tons of bombs over the nine years.
An estimated 30% of them failed to detonate.
A bomb crater. Like acne scars, they cover the land all over northeastern Laos.
During my four day stay in Ponsavan - one of the areas most dramatically affecet by the bombings that took place three decades ago - three more casualties were claimed.
Three children were playing in a field when they came across a small metal ball about the size of an apple. Like any eight-year-old would do, one of them picked it up and began to toss it to his friends. By the time it reached the hands of the third child, the fuse ignited - exploding the dynamite inside. Wrapped around the dynamite were several small metal ball bearings that tore through each child ripping them apart to the point that only one could be identified for his funeral.
An unexploded cluster bomb in the middle of a field 300 meters away from the village.
Three days later the villagers where the three children lived invited us to take part in the memorial service. A heartfelt celebration of life accompanied intense feelings of sorrow as seven "tourists" took part in the service. Lao Lao, the local grain alcohol was passed around unrelentingly to drown the pain. And towards the end of the feast - in which we were served everything from cow intestines, to brains and every other part - the locals passed around a tape recorder for us to offer our opinions on how to help solve the problem of the thousands upon thousands of unexploded bombs that litter the country: Their hope was that if they had the recorded voices of informed Westerners, it would scare the Laos government into action.
(You all are going to have to check back for pictures from the memorial service as I can't seem to upload them right now. Lo siento.)
The incident is not unusual. About 100 people each year are killed by unexploded ordnances or UXOs in Laos, left over from the secret war. Farmers plowing rice patties walk over them, people building the foundations to their houses hammer into them, and worst of all, kids always end up seeing them as toys. Yet cluster bombs are still used in warfare today - even in Iraq. It makes you seriously question the repercussion of war; as if they weren't in question enough.
For a really interesting read, check out the USA Today article on UXOs in Laos at
Children and schoolmates of the three kids who were killed. Like Math or Science, part of these kids formal education is the danger posed by bombs scattered throughout their village. The "Bombie" song is sung ritually in an attempt to create a mantra for the children to stay away. Unfortunately, kids will be kids and reality will be reality.
There were so many bombs dropped throughout the war that their remains are now put to use in every day life. In the top picture, bomb shells are used as the foundation to a house. In the bottom, the shells are used as a fence for cattle and chickens.
