Metalworker casting spoons made from recycled aluminium sourced from war debris and melted in an earthen kiln in a remote ethnic Lao Lum village,
Ban Naphia, the "War Spoon/Bracelet village" where, in cottage industries, war scrap (bomb and plane metal from Second Indochina War) is melted down and moulded into spoons - 150000/year - and bracelets to be sold in markets, motto: "Make Spoons/Bracelets not War"
Phaxay District, Xieng Khouang Province, Laos, Southeast Asia
Laos is the most bombed country in the world. From 1964-73, during what we call the Vietnam War (properly called the Second Indochina War, equally involving Laos and Cambodia), more than 2 million tons of bombs (6 million conventional bombs & 100 million cluster bombs) were dropped on Laos by the US, especially in Eastern provinces along the border with Vietnam, with the aim of destroying the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos. The rather abstract figure of "2 million tons" can be given perspective: It is equivalent to a fully loaded bomber flying a mission every 8 minutes, 24 hours every day for 9 years. Or: It is equivalent to 750kg of explosives for every man, woman and child in Laos.
In the first 25 years after the war, over 11,000 people were killed or injured by UXO (unexploded ordnance). 40% of UXO victims were killed outright and many of these victims were children.
Despite numerous ongoing bomb clearing projects, much of the area is still contaminated, many bombs remain and continue to maim and kill, especially in remote, rural areas, making it very dangerous for people to work and farm the land
Ban Naphia, the "War Spoon/Bracelet village" where, in cottage industries, war scrap (bomb and plane metal from Second Indochina War) is melted down and moulded into spoons - 150000/year - and bracelets to be sold in markets, motto: "Make Spoons/Bracelets not War"
Phaxay District, Xieng Khouang Province, Laos, Southeast Asia
Laos is the most bombed country in the world. From 1964-73, during what we call the Vietnam War (properly called the Second Indochina War, equally involving Laos and Cambodia), more than 2 million tons of bombs (6 million conventional bombs & 100 million cluster bombs) were dropped on Laos by the US, especially in Eastern provinces along the border with Vietnam, with the aim of destroying the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos. The rather abstract figure of "2 million tons" can be given perspective: It is equivalent to a fully loaded bomber flying a mission every 8 minutes, 24 hours every day for 9 years. Or: It is equivalent to 750kg of explosives for every man, woman and child in Laos.
In the first 25 years after the war, over 11,000 people were killed or injured by UXO (unexploded ordnance). 40% of UXO victims were killed outright and many of these victims were children.
Despite numerous ongoing bomb clearing projects, much of the area is still contaminated, many bombs remain and continue to maim and kill, especially in remote, rural areas, making it very dangerous for people to work and farm the land
Ref:
D103-4282
Date:
Location:
Photographer:
Metalworker casting spoons made from recycled aluminium sourced from war debris and melted in an earthen kiln in a remote ethnic Lao Lum village,
Ban Naphia, the "War Spoon/Bracelet village" where, in cottage industries, war scrap (bomb and plane metal from Second Indochina War) is melted down and moulded into spoons - 150000/year - and bracelets to be sold in markets, motto: "Make Spoons/Bracelets not War"
Phaxay District, Xieng Khouang Province, Laos, Southeast Asia
Laos is the most bombed country in the world. From 1964-73, during what we call the Vietnam War (properly called the Second Indochina War, equally involving Laos and Cambodia), more than 2 million tons of bombs (6 million conventional bombs & 100 million cluster bombs) were dropped on Laos by the US, especially in Eastern provinces along the border with Vietnam, with the aim of destroying the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos. The rather abstract figure of "2 million tons" can be given perspective: It is equivalent to a fully loaded bomber flying a mission every 8 minutes, 24 hours every day for 9 years. Or: It is equivalent to 750kg of explosives for every man, woman and child in Laos.
In the first 25 years after the war, over 11,000 people were killed or injured by UXO (unexploded ordnance). 40% of UXO victims were killed outright and many of these victims were children.
Despite numerous ongoing bomb clearing projects, much of the area is still contaminated, many bombs remain and continue to maim and kill, especially in remote, rural areas, making it very dangerous for people to work and farm the land
Ban Naphia, the "War Spoon/Bracelet village" where, in cottage industries, war scrap (bomb and plane metal from Second Indochina War) is melted down and moulded into spoons - 150000/year - and bracelets to be sold in markets, motto: "Make Spoons/Bracelets not War"
Phaxay District, Xieng Khouang Province, Laos, Southeast Asia
Laos is the most bombed country in the world. From 1964-73, during what we call the Vietnam War (properly called the Second Indochina War, equally involving Laos and Cambodia), more than 2 million tons of bombs (6 million conventional bombs & 100 million cluster bombs) were dropped on Laos by the US, especially in Eastern provinces along the border with Vietnam, with the aim of destroying the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos. The rather abstract figure of "2 million tons" can be given perspective: It is equivalent to a fully loaded bomber flying a mission every 8 minutes, 24 hours every day for 9 years. Or: It is equivalent to 750kg of explosives for every man, woman and child in Laos.
In the first 25 years after the war, over 11,000 people were killed or injured by UXO (unexploded ordnance). 40% of UXO victims were killed outright and many of these victims were children.
Despite numerous ongoing bomb clearing projects, much of the area is still contaminated, many bombs remain and continue to maim and kill, especially in remote, rural areas, making it very dangerous for people to work and farm the land
Ref:
D103-4282
Date:
Location:
Photographer:
ENVIRONMENT
Metalworker casting spoons made from recycled aluminium sourced from war debris and melted in an earthen kiln in a remote ethnic Lao Lum village,
Ban Naphia, the "War Spoon/Bracelet village" where, in cottage industries, war scrap (bomb and plane metal from Second Indochina War) is melted down and moulded into spoons - 150000/year - and bracelets to be sold in markets, motto: "Make Spoons/Bracelets not War"
Phaxay District, Xieng Khouang Province, Laos, Southeast Asia
Laos is the most bombed country in the world. From 1964-73, during what we call the Vietnam War (properly called the Second Indochina War, equally involving Laos and Cambodia), more than 2 million tons of bombs (6 million conventional bombs & 100 million cluster bombs) were dropped on Laos by the US, especially in Eastern provinces along the border with Vietnam, with the aim of destroying the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos. The rather abstract figure of "2 million tons" can be given perspective: It is equivalent to a fully loaded bomber flying a mission every 8 minutes, 24 hours every day for 9 years. Or: It is equivalent to 750kg of explosives for every man, woman and child in Laos.
In the first 25 years after the war, over 11,000 people were killed or injured by UXO (unexploded ordnance). 40% of UXO victims were killed outright and many of these victims were children.
Despite numerous ongoing bomb clearing projects, much of the area is still contaminated, many bombs remain and continue to maim and kill, especially in remote, rural areas, making it very dangerous for people to work and farm the land
Ban Naphia, the "War Spoon/Bracelet village" where, in cottage industries, war scrap (bomb and plane metal from Second Indochina War) is melted down and moulded into spoons - 150000/year - and bracelets to be sold in markets, motto: "Make Spoons/Bracelets not War"
Phaxay District, Xieng Khouang Province, Laos, Southeast Asia
Laos is the most bombed country in the world. From 1964-73, during what we call the Vietnam War (properly called the Second Indochina War, equally involving Laos and Cambodia), more than 2 million tons of bombs (6 million conventional bombs & 100 million cluster bombs) were dropped on Laos by the US, especially in Eastern provinces along the border with Vietnam, with the aim of destroying the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos. The rather abstract figure of "2 million tons" can be given perspective: It is equivalent to a fully loaded bomber flying a mission every 8 minutes, 24 hours every day for 9 years. Or: It is equivalent to 750kg of explosives for every man, woman and child in Laos.
In the first 25 years after the war, over 11,000 people were killed or injured by UXO (unexploded ordnance). 40% of UXO victims were killed outright and many of these victims were children.
Despite numerous ongoing bomb clearing projects, much of the area is still contaminated, many bombs remain and continue to maim and kill, especially in remote, rural areas, making it very dangerous for people to work and farm the land
Ref:
D103-4282
Date:
Location:
Photographer:
