- Other than working with your foundation A Mine Free World, and writing your book Vanna’s dance, what else have you been doing to promote landmine awareness?
I have spoken in schools, churches, corporate
groups, Rotary, Kiwanis both in Canada and the US to help promote awareness of
the landmine situation.
2. How did your Organization, A Mine Free World get started?
In 1997 I
was living in Geneva, Switzerland and working at the United Nations. I heard about a 5 year old Cambodian girl,
named Vanna, who had recently stepped on a landmine while feeding her father’s
chickens. As a result, she lost the
lower part of her right leg. I wrote the
book Vanna’s Dance, inspired by these facts.
www.vannasdance.com When I moved back to Canada in 2002, the book
was published and turned into a fundraiser.
To
continue efforts to bring awareness to the landmine situation and to raise
funds I started A Mine Free World Foundation
www.aminefreeworld.org
The Foundation has as its mandate the
assistance of landmine survivors and landmine affected families with
self-sufficient living including education and micro-businesses. In other words, we give them the tools that
they need in order to be able to support themselves and have a better future.
I have also worked on programs with the
Canadian Landmine Foundation.
3. What are some of the recent and past works you have been doing
with your campaign A Mine Free World?
In
2009, Lisa McCoy, Gravenhurst, Ontario, was appointed as Executive
Director. She had several years
experience in raising funds to help students in Southeast Asia achieve their
goal of obtaining an education and a future.
Lisa spends 6 months every year in Cambodia working hands-on for AMFW
projects.
Our work is
concentrated on the rural areas where the most assistance is needed and poverty
is at extremely high levels. Some of our
projects include:
n Vanna’s Dance Fund - Educational
support
n
a bicycle - $50
n
a bicycle… and a year at
elementary school… $125
n
a meal a day for a student
$45/month
n
a year at elementary school -
$50 - $75
n
Vanna’s Dance Scholarship –
high school or university - $400-600/yr
n Small Business Support – Provide
income for a family
n
Chicken, duck or pig rearing -
$150
n
Small shop or bicycle repair
busines - $150
n
Seamstress business - $250
n
Moto repair business - $600
n
Breeding calf - $500
n Vocational Courses
n
Sewing course - $250
n
Seamstress or hairstyling
course - $250
n
Moto repair course - $200
We also provide assistance to build a new
home, lessons in dental hygiene, a meal program and a bicycle program.
In the bicycle program, a student will be
given a bicycle so that they can get to school.
They must sign a form saying that they promise to get good grades and
take good care of the bicycle. When they
are finished school, the bicycle is given to another child. The parents can also use the bicycle to get
to market. Often, the bicycle will be
the family’s only means of transportation.
4. How long have you been involved with making a change in
relation to land mines?
I started learning about the situation in
1997 and Vanna’s Dance was published in 2005.
That was when my involvement in the landmine issue really increased.
5. What are some of the challenges you face when taking action
upon this issue?
I
think one of the main challenges is that many people do not realize how bad the
situation is and how much work there is to be done. Because we do not have landmines in Canada
and do not have to worry about the path we take to school or to work or just
going for a walk, it can be difficult to imagine the dangers that millions of
people in other countries live with every day.
Landmines are mostly in the poorer countries, although there are still
some in Europe left over from the wars.
I also think that people are not aware of
how devastating it is for a family to either lose a member or have someone be
maimed. If the father is killed or
injured, for example, and the family farms for a living, then they have just
lost their main means of support. Also,
here in Canada, if somebody loses a leg they have medical help and they will be
given a prosthetic limb and help that they need. In Cambodia, the person may not be able to
get a new limb or any help at all, either medical or financial. As a result, the whole family will suffer and
may never be able to recover.
6. Why do you think problems with landmines exist?
Landmines have been around for centuries. The first ones were designed for the Battle
of Agincourt in France in 1415 when underground tunnels were dug and filled
with explosives. In the 1800’s during
the American Civil War, land torpedoes were developed. This eventually led to anti-tank mines being
used in World War I. Because anti-tank
mines needed 300 pounds of pressure to be set off and so would not work on
individual soliders, anti-personnel landmines were designed in World War II.
The problem still exists because when the
soldiers left whatever country they were fighting in, they did not take the
landmines with them. They left them in
the ground and landmines can remain active for decades.
In many cases, they did not map out where
they planted the landmines so nobody knows where they are. Weather conditions can also change the
location of landmines. For example, in
the tsunami of 2004, many landmines were washed up and moved by the water.
It is also very expensive to remove a
landmine. It can cost up to $1000 per
landmine. It is also very dangerous so
people have to be carefully trained.
7. What are some way’s in which a regular person can take action amongst this issue? What can we do to help?
People can help in many ways. They can talk about landmines to others to make them aware of the situation. They can post information on landmines on places like Facebook or Twitter. The more people that know about the situation, the easier it would be to raise funds. They can also ask their schools or churches if they can give a presentation.
People can help in many ways. They can talk about landmines to others to make them aware of the situation. They can post information on landmines on places like Facebook or Twitter. The more people that know about the situation, the easier it would be to raise funds. They can also ask their schools or churches if they can give a presentation.
People can also hold fundraisers. They can also start petitions to raise more
awareness.
Advocacy
o
Join or support campaigns
o
Speak out against landmines
o
Make other people aware of the landmine issue
Send a child to
school
o
$50-70 a year for primary/elementary school student
o
$30 / month for a high school student
Speak out
o
Talk to your friends, youth group,
sports group, etc.
o
Write to your local politicians
Fundraise
o
Help organize a school dance
o
BBQ
o
Garage Sales
8. What role do you think students can play in the type of work
your organization does?
Students have a lot of voice and power.
There are organizations that will have groups of students travel to
these countries to help out. For
example, Round Square International www.roundsquare.org
has sent groups to Cambodia to help out with A Mine Free World Projects.
Students can also get together and decide
on a specific project they want to help with.
They may decide, for example, that they want to send a number of
children to school or build a school or a library. They may want to help a landmine survivor
start a business or build a decent home.
Students can also learn more about the
issue of landmines and ask to speak in other classrooms or in other
schools. They can also ask their
teachers to talk about it in class.
The more people that know about the
terrible situation that millions of people live in because of landmines, the
more we will be able to help.
Every little bit helps. We hope to have a landmine free world some
day. We also have to help the survivors
NOW.
No child should ever have to worry that because they
are playing in a field or taking a different path to school or helping outside
with the family chores that they might lose a limb or even their life.
Donate to a specific program or where most needed:
¨ PayPal: aminefreeworld@yahoo.com
¨ Cheque: A Mine Free World Foundation
906 Fung Place
Kitchener, ON
N2A 4M3
Thank you very much Maria for this interview!
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