At 41 years of age, Nhim, a mother of 4, has been working tirelessly to educate her local community in Toul Lvea commune, Pailin Municipality, on Land Mine Awareness, Health Education and the Red Cross Message.

Working as a Red Cross Volunteer since 2001, Nhim first started after she saw the importance of Land Mine Awareness (LMA) Education and how newcomers to her community were especially at risk. ‘LMA is very important for helping people avoid Mine and UXO dangers. Many people are very poor and move to Pailin to find work. They do not know about Mines.’ said Nhim.

With many newcomers arriving each day, the risk of injuries or death from landmines is a rising problem. Pailin is one of the most heavily mined areas in Cambodia. Located in western Cambodia and nestled against the Thai border, the area was the last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge. Mines and unexploded ordinances (UXOs) still remain a daily threat to locals. According to the statistics from Cambodia Mine/UXO Victim Information System (CMVIS) the number of mine victims increased from 2003 to 2004, with 41 mine victims reported from January - June 2003 and an increase nearly 30% a year later with 71 mine victims reported for the same period in 2004.

‘’Newcomers to Pailin are a big problem.’’ says Phireak Mom, CRC Landmine Awareness Coordinator. ‘’People are arriving every day and are not interested in land mines. Instead they come to the area for work and to earn a living.”

Chhun Chrep, 32, is a farmer who has recently moved to Pailin from Battambang Province with his wife and 5 children to look for work. Like thousands of families moving to Pailin each year to find jobs, Chhun’s family moved in temporarily with their relatives who are living on mine fields. “I did not want to move from my village’’ says Chrep. ‘’Because of the drought we were forced to come to Pailin to find a job. As my family is very poor, I could not grow or farm on my land in Battambang. Because of the drought, there were no jobs. I know this area is very dangerous but I needed food to feed my family”, said Chhun.

Recognizing the need to address this problem, especially in areas like Pailin, the Cambodian Red Cross has been working on a community-based landmine awareness project with support from both the Finnish Red Cross and the Finnish government since 2000.

As with many newcomers, Chhun was not aware about the risks of living and working in a Mined area. “Before the Red Cross Volunteers came to see us we were really scared. Because we just moved to here we didn’t know about Mines or UXO’s or where they were. Now we feel safer after the Red Cross volunteer showed us and explained how to safely live in the area’’, said Chhun’s family.

Nhim Srey Yuth is one of over 500 Red Cross Volunteers and 1050 Red Cross Youth working in 6 Target Provinces along the Thai/Cambodia Boarder; including 45 Red Cross Youth Advisors disseminating Land Mine Awareness throughout the community- in schools, in the field, at home, in groups - through media, especially targeting newcomers to the high-risk areas.

Starting as a pilot project in 5 high risk land mine districts in 5 provinces, including the city of Pailin, the LMA Project has been expanded to three districts in the O-Dormeanchey Province – Samrong District, Banteay Ampil District and Chong Kal District.

The main aim of the Cambodian Red Cross landmine awareness program is to change the behavior and attitudes of the community - not just give information. The fundamental purpose of programme is to assist high-risk community groups in learning how to deal with daily life in mine-affected areas and developing safe behaviors towards the threat of anti-personnel landmines and UXOs.

This is done through training the communities about issues including: mine recognition, UXO recognition, what to do if they find a land mine the consequence of mine and UXO injury, superstition and bravery, how to travel in unknown areas, areas likely to be mined, mine warning signs, how to evacuate from a mined field and how to report a mine or UXO.

Despite successful implementation, the Community Based Landmine Awareness Projects funding is due to end in 2004. The Cambodian Red Cross is seeking further funding to continue landmine awareness training for thousands of vulnerable people and emergency assistance for victims. “I would also suggest to people in the world please looking in to Cambodian people and helping red cross in order to help our people by protect and promote humanitarian value in our community”, said Srey Yuth.