CPI Launches Lao Microcredit and Vocational Training Programs

Last year, Clear Path International launched two major projects in Lao. CPI's microcredit project will improve the socioeconomic situation of 70 Lao families by providing assistance to female heads-of-household in districts that have been impacted by the presence of unexploded ordnance. CPI's second major program focuses on vocational training for disabled women as well as strengthening the organizational capacity of nonprofit organizations in Lao.

With these two programs, CPI hopes to improve the quality of life and socioeconomic situation for more than 1000 Lao people. These are the stories of some of the people whose lives have been impacted by the programs.

Nod's story
Tone village is located in Pack district approximately 16 kilometers west of Phonesavanh, the capital of Xieng Khouang Province. This village was among the many ravaged by the Vietnam-era war. High levels of unexploded ordnance (UXO) are still present across the landscape, effecting agricultural development within the community. In this small village there are 25 UXO survivors, three of whom are participating in Clear Path International's microcredit project in conjunction with the Lao Women's Union and Xieng Khouang Women's Union.

Nod is a 13-year-old boy who lives with his family of five in Tone Village. Both of his parents are farmers and for generations have relied on farming to support their families. In April 2011 Nod and a school friend were walking home across a rice paddy when one of the boys stepped on a UXO and it exploded, severely injuring Nod and killing his friend. Nod is now blind in one eye, suffers from organ trauma, and is psychologically distressed. Nod's school is far from the family's home, which makes it difficult to continue to send him to school.

Nod's family is using their microcredit loan to purchase and provide for a new cow that will help them generate more income from their farm. They will be able to use this additional income for Nod's school-related fees which will enable Nod to attend school every day and start to rebuild his life.

Ms. Khemphone's story
In 2011, CPI formed a partnership with the Laos Disabled Women's Development Center (LDWDC) to provide vocational and life skills training in sewing, weaving, paper making, language instruction (English and Lao), computer skills, small business management and administration. The project will also support successful trainees in designing and producing products to sell through the LDWDC's network. Training and professional development opportunities to LDWDC staff in the areas of project cycle management, strategic planning, and administration are also being provided.

Khempone was born in Nongbuek village of Sikottabong district, Vientiane Capital. Her family was very poor and her parents worked as laborers planting and harvesting rice, doing metal work, and making brooms from coconut leaves. Khemphone has six brothers and sisters, and she is the oldest daughter. The family's daily income was only enough to buy one kilogram of rice per day. Sometimes when family members were sick, they did not have food. At the age of 1 she grew very ill, her legs and arms became thin, and soon she was no longer able to walk. In 2000, her mother passed away. Since 2001, only her father has been able to provide for the family and when he was not able to earn enough money for food, he borrowed from neighbors.

In 2006, a local disabilities organization in their village learned about the Lao Disabled Women's Development Center and proposed that Khempone participate in their vocational training program. In 2007, Khemphone started a one-year training program at LDWDC. This was the first time she had ever attended any school due to her physical condition. Her desire was to develop professional skills at the Center, but due to health complications she had to pursue paper design and production which is much less physically demanding. LDWDC attended to Khemphone's health needs while she was a student at the Center and also supported her efforts to continue working once she graduated from the program.

Khemphone now produces handicrafts that she sells through LDWDC's network and uses the income on educational and food expenses for her younger brothers and sisters. She also does knitting and wraps cookies to supplement her income. In 2010, Khemphone married a construction worker and now has a daughter. Her dream is to one day open her own handicrafts shop where she can provide the same opportunities to other women that she received from LDWDC.


Ms. Khanthaly Xayaserth's story

Ms. Khanthaly is ethnic Lao Thaung and was born in Phonekham village of Lamarn district, Xekhong province. Growing up she lived in a very poor, rural village with her father, a soldier, her mother, a farmer, and four sisters and brothers. When she was 9 months old she became ill and malnourished and her legs stopped developing. Her father passed away when she was two and her mother passed away when she was 16. She was only able to attend 1 year of primary school before her family was no longer able to support her education. Khanthaly also worked in rice fields, despite her poor health.

In 2007 a disabilities organization in Xekong province referred Khanthaly to LDWDC and shorly thereafter she joined a vocational training course. She learned how to design paper, and for the first time in her life she learned to read and write. Once she completed training, Khanthaly stayed at LDWDC as an employee. In spite of the fact that she wanted to return home, her family was not able to support her. In 2008 she became an officer of LDWDC, further developed her professional skills, and has since then been promoted based on her specializations. She is now a vocational trainer and earns a livable wage. Khanthaly's colleagues describe her as patient and extremely attentive to her work. Her long-term dream is to continue receiving an education, to maintain a permanent job, and to live a life that is integrated into mainstream society. LDWDC is continuing to support Khanthaly's educational and professional pursuits.

Clear Path Spark program featured on ABC News

Employees at CPI's Spark program in Afghanistan know the dangers posed by landmines and other explosive devices all too well. In this news video produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, a CPI employee and landmine accident survivor explains that his mission is broader than just making his country safer.

View the video at:
http://www.abc.net.au/news

Clear Path and US Department of State provide innovative programs for Afghan survivors

Clear Path International has received significant support for our Afghanistan Victim Assistance program from the US Department of State Bureau of Weapons Removal and Abatement since 2009. Together with our 10 Afghan implementing partners, we have made significant headway in the breaking down barriers in Afghanistan -- both physical barriers as well as perceived barriers about disabled persons' capabilities.

The following article details how the United States Department of State, as the world's leading provider of aid for humanitarian mine action and conventional weapons destruction, and Clear Path International provide innovative programs that are changing peoples' lives and helping them on their paths to self-sufficiency.

The full article can be found at:
http://blogs.state.gov

Glimmer of Hope for Burma

Although Secretary of State Clinton's visit offered a glimmer of hope that international donors will increase aid to Burma, as it stands today, Burma receives very little help for landmine accident survivors even though it had the 5th highest recorded landmine casualties in 2010. It has been our experience as well that the need for assistance for landmine accident survivors and other conflict survivors is multitudes greater than the aid available. Clear Path International continues to provide medical assistance, vocational training and microcredit for small business loans to Burmese people living in camps near the Thai-Burma border. To learn more, click here to visit http://www.irinnews.org.

CPI joins Global Action Day

11-1-11 is the auspicious date chosen to launch Global Action Day, the kickoff for a month-long celebration of the contributions of Washington-based international nonprofits.

Global Action Day is an opportunity for Washingtonians to learn about, support and join the more than 300 nonprofits who are working to create jobs at home and impact lives abroad by reducing disease, providing educational opportunities, and strengthening communities and economies around the world.

Clear Path Executive Director Kiman Lucas joins the kickoff at Global Washington's annual conference. Lucas will present an overview of one of CPI's key programs in Afghanistan, Spark. Spark employs disabled deminers and other landmine accident survivors to produce equipment for active deminers to carry out their essential work with increased safety. Spark employees make the safest, highest quality tools found anywhere in the industry.

Global Action Day allows us to shine a light upon so many organizations that are not only vital to our own economy, but also doing critical work in every corner of the globe. To learn more, click here to visit www.globalwaday.org.

Landmines Threaten Livelihoods in Burma

Myanmar, not a signatory to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, has one of the highest rates of antipersonnel mine deaths and injuries in the world, surpassed only by Afghanistan and Colombia, according to ICBL, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

Anti-personnel mines have caused at least 2,800 injuries and fatalities in the past 10 years in Myanmar, ICBL reports.

Clear Pathhas been working with ethnic refugee committees along the Thai/Burma border since 2002 to provide prosthetic and rehabilitation care, psycho-social services, vocational training, and socio-economic support to these refugees and internally displaced landmine accident survivors. Since then CPI has provided assistance to approximately 6,000 direct and indirect Burmese beneficiaries.

IRIN reports today about Burma's landmine dilemma and how one man lost not only a leg to a landmine but also the ability to provide for his family by gathering ginko nuts in the hilly forests of Shwe Kyin.

Click on this link to read the full report.

Posted Monday the 10th | Karen Matthee

Clear Path Celebrates National Disability Employment Awareness Month

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy has announced the official theme for October's National Disability Employment Awareness Month: “Profit by Investing in Workers with Disabilities.”

The theme honors the contributions of workers with disabilities and serves to inform the public that they represent a highly skilled talent pool that can help employers compete in today's global economy.

For more than a decade, Clear Path has been investing in people who have been disabled as a result of armed conflict. Our programs in Afghanistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and along the Thai-Burma border offer emergency medical care, rehabilitation and prosthetic support, social services and vocational training. We also provide low-interest loans to start small farms or businesses and educational scholarships for children of survivors.

In Afghanistan, Clear Path and local partner organizations are constructing wheelchair ramps at schools, hospitals, government offices and places of worship. And we are raising awareness about physical accessibility for the disabled. A particularly innovative CPI endeavor called Spark employs disabled deminers to fabricate high-end tools for the demining industry.

We get a high rate of return on our investment in people with disabilities when our beneficiaries once again become productive members of society; when they can support themselves and their families.

When they regain the dignity that was lost due to violence.

Visiting Clear Path Partners in Hue, Vietnam

CPI Executive Director Kiman Lucas and Vietnam staff visited with members of the Hue Friendship Union

It's always good to be in Vietnam, and with our staff in Dong Ha, where Clear Path International began in 2000, first clearing land of unexploded ordnance and then assisting the victims of encounters with them, as well as their families and communities.

Today we met in the beautiful city of Hue, the home of the last Vietnamese emperor, with members of the Hue Friendship Union, our partner organization in providing Accident Survivor Assistance Programs or ASAP.

I was hosted by Mr. Anh, director of the Hue Friendship Union and former mayor of Hue. Clear Path International has assisted 945 explosive ordinance survivors in the three years in which we have operated ASAP in central Vietnam's Hue Province. We plan to complete our projects here in the next year.

Karen Woman Counters Violence with Care and Compassion

Cresa at far right with children at Mrs. Nana's Farm

Recently, I traveled with Mr. Murakami of the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW), south of Mae Sot, Thailand, to a small, rural village just outside of Umphang along the Thai-Burma border. This is the location of the home and farmland of Mrs. Nana, a woman from Karen State in Burma who has long been critical to the Karen struggle for freedom, independence and basic human rights. Mrs. Nana is originally from a Karen village just across the border within short walking distance from her current location, but the situation between the two areas could not be more disparate.

History
Several years ago Mrs. Nana operated a clinic in the Karen village that provided basic healthcare to the entire surrounding community. Perceived as a threat to the stability of their regime, and seeking to undermine the capacity of local leaders, the SPDC, Burma's military regime, burned her clinic to the ground. Since then, the government has allowed her to rebuild her operation, but only after she agreed to certain concessions, including a realignment of her political alliances. In the meantime, the government continued to plant landmines in the surrounding areas and insurgents, in defense, did as well.

The result is a dangerous, unstable warzone where parents are afraid to let their children leave their homes, thus disabling them from receiving a proper education and access to other community based necessities. Additionally, countless members of the community have suffered landmine casualties and are now unable to not only receive adequate medical treatment and support, but unable to work in such a way that they are able to support themselves and their families.

During his visits to the region conducting mine risk education workshops, Mr. Murakami identified the need for these survivors to have opportunities to break their cycle of poverty, to stop borrowing money from local lenders at interest rates of up to 100 percent, and to begin making their way toward economic stability and self-sufficiency.

The Project
Mrs. Nana identified 10 landmine survivors and amputees who would participate in a farming initiative that would provide them with comprehensive training in construction, animal husbandry and harvesting, and ultimately provide them with opportunities to launch their own income-generating projects. Specifically, the group, under the instruction of Mr. Murakami, will build and operate a fish pond, raise pigs and chickens, and grow mushrooms.

The project will provide food for the local community as well as the opportunity to sell the products in local markets and make additional money that will provide revenue for the farmers and ultimately can be reinvested into the project to purchase more capital. There is also a well on the farm that will be enhanced to provide access to clean water for some in the surrounding village.

Currently Mrs. Nana has 36 children, a number which fluctuates daily - ages 4 to 14 - living in her home whose parents feel the situation in Karen state is too unstable for them to endure. The children are all receiving a formal education at a local migrant school in her Thai village, but sadly, Thai authorities are planning to close most of the migrant schools along the border. Mrs. Nana plans to open her own migrant school on her farm in the coming months; 29 more children from the Karen village will join her once that happens.

Reflection
With the imminent repatriation of hundreds of thousands of migrants from Burma - mainly Karen - at the hand of the Thai government, the situation along this area of the border is unlikely to change anytime soon. It's easy to feel helpless, hopeless, angry, frustrated, defrauded, sad and the whole host of emotions that accompany senseless conflict, but all is not lost. As long as there are militaries and counterinsurgents and generals and juntas, there will also always be people like Mrs. Nana and countless other individuals who counter the terror and violence, the landmines and rape, with healthcare, education, food, shelter, and love.

I am humbled by the privilege to engage in her efforts, and by the opportunity to work with an organization, Clear Path International, that recognizes the importance of this struggle. CPI provides support for the farming initiative itself, Mr. Murakami's mine risk education train-the-trainer and direct training workshops, and to cover the logistics of Mrs. Nana transporting victims from Karen state to a Thai hospital when a landmine accident occurs.

Young Cluster Munition Survivor Needs Your Help

Ves Chiveng on his release from the hospital, walking for the first time in six years.

When filmmaker Cathy MacDonald met 15-year-old Ves Chiveng in Phnom Penh, he was in severe pain from a leg swollen and infected with shrapnel that doctors had missed while treating him for cluster munitions injuries six years earlier.

MacDonald, who was in Cambodia making a documentary on cluster munitions clearance, recalls that Chiveng "was in a very bad way" when she first spoke with him.

After his injury near his home in Sre Traeng Village, Cambodian Red Cross took him to Kratie Provincial Hospital for emergency care. But doctors there failed to remove all the shrapnel from the blast. Chiveng's family is Pnong, an ethnic minority, and could not afford the medicines or plasma required for his treatment at state-run hospitals. Although Chiveng and his 20-year-old sister, Phua, live with their uncle and his family of seven Phua is her brother's sole provider. She works in her village a few months a year planting rice and vegetables for about $3 a day.

While Chiveng apparently was eligible for free medical care, his family was not informed of this; nor did they know how to access the treatment required from their small village. As a result, Chiveng was unable to walk or attend school, or receive any effective pain relief for many years following the accident

In February, MacDonald and some of her colleagues at the nonprofit organization, Handicap International, gave Chiveng and his sister money to pay for necessities while he underwent extensive surgical procedures at Kantha Bopha Hospital in Phnom Penh. Chiveng was in the hospital more than two months. Shrapnel also was removed from his right leg and stomach and he was treated for a heart condition. He is now able to walk for the first time since the accident.

Doctors at the Calmette free hospital in Phnom Penh pooled money to pay for Chiveng and his sister to return by taxi to their home. And Cambodian Mine Action Group also raised money to help them.

While Chiveng was in the hospital, MacDonald and Nick Boedicker, program manager of Handicap International, contacted Clear Path International to inquire about the possibility of providing ongoing assistance for Chiveng and his sister Phua during his recovery. HI's victim assistance program in Cambodia focuses on prosthetics and rehabilitation which does not extend to cases such as Chiveng's. Clear Path's work in the country is centered on socio-economic and agricultural support in mine-saturated Battambang Province. Essentially, Chiveng fell through the cracks.

Nevertheless, Samea Vin from Clear Path's partner organization Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development (CVCD) visited Chiveng in the hospital to see how they might help. CVCD helped Phua purchase school clothes and supplies with money from Boedicker, MacDonald and friends while all concerned continued to look for a longer-term solution to the family's troubles.

Chiveng will need ongoing care and transportation for any future checkups or treatment. Phua would like to continue her education, which costs about $10 per month and to train as a hairdresser or seamstress. A bicycle has been bought for Phua to take Chiveng to school, where he will begin again at the second-grade level.

Despite the best efforts of humanitarian organizations, there will always be those who fall through the cracks. Thanks to some caring individuals, Chiveng now has a chance for a much brighter future. Clear Path International wants to make sure that he continues to receive help and that other young Cambodians who find themselves in similar straits also get the assistance they need.

Cambodian Villagers Benefit from CPI Savings Program

It was a historic moment for the members of a unique savings program in Cambodia's Phum Seam Village. At a May 25 meeting held at the farmer's cooperative, they received their first savings account books which will allow them to track their contributions and shared savings.

Cresa Pugh, Southeast Asia resident manager for Clear Path International, was on hand as the heads of 38 households proudly accepted their orange savings booklets. CPI and its partner organization, Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development (CVCD), initiated the program two years ago in this small village in the Bovel District of Battambang Province.

Loan programs are quite prevalent in SE Asia countries. Savings schemes are more rare. They require a significant conceptual change. Does a family borrow money to be able to spend money? Or does a family save its money and then spend its own money? A community savings pool allows families to jointly deposit their funds in a financial institution to earn interest and prepare for the future. It is a more sustainable approach in the long term, as compared to loan programs.

This program was designed to teach the landmine survivors the value of saving money for future needs. Each family contributes a few dollars per year to the community savings pool and, in the event of an emergency, can apply to borrow money from the fund at no charge. Since the savings program began, seven families have borrowed money, which was used primarily to cover medical and burial expenses.

Clear Path and CVCD established the Phum Seam Farmers' Cooperative and Rice Mill in 2006 to provide socio-economic and agricultural support to landmine and bomb survivors in three districts in Battambang. The cooperative is located in the K-5 mine belt, a 1,046-kilometer stretch of land along Cambodia's western and northern border with Thailand, where approximately six million landmines were laid between 1979 and 1989. As a result, the region is home to many landmine survivors. Since 2007, CPI has served over 3,000 beneficiaries through the activities of the rice mill, vocational training and micro-credit lending programs.

Launched with contributions amounting to two tons of rice and 580,000 Riel (about $145), the pool now totals 2,466,900 Riel ($616.72), which includes a $325 donation from CVCD made at the May meeting, and 6,000 kilograms of rice.

CVCD hosts meetings frequently throughout the year to provide financial management training and to give participants a forum in which to discuss issues related to the program and raise questions.

Libraries for Myanmar's Monastic Schools

Myanmar has always had a thriving literary community. Books and magazines were available to rent for a few cents in every small township from stalls and public libraries. But access to reading materials, especially for poor children, has become severely limited.

Clear Path International aims to reignite the love of books and reading in Myanmar, and to extend children's learning beyond the boundaries of the national curriculum. By partnering with a local nonprofit organization that promotes literacy and access to children's books, CPI will create libraries in nine monastic schools within three years, and provide materials and support activities that encourage both children and parents to read at community-based libraries in suburbs of Yangon.

Clear Path is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that assists landmine survivors and others disabled or displaced by armed conflict in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan. The $20,000 monastic school project is an extension of CPI's work along the border between Thailand and Myanmar, where CPI has provided prosthetic and rehabilitation care, psycho-social services, vocational training and socio-economic support to refugees and internally displaced landmine accident survivors since 2002.

The monastic school system once taught everyone from royal princes to unskilled workers and helped to give Burma a literacy rate above those of other Far Eastern countries in early 1900s. Nowadays, in Yangon and Mon State, monastic schools are limited to providing a free but basic education for orphans and children from the poorest families. Many of the parents are themselves illiterate.

CPI has found that these schools lack basic teaching materials and skills to instill a love of reading. The six schools in Yangon included in the project do not have libraries. The three schools in Mon State have areas designated for libraries but do not have appropriate, good-quality books or the skilled personnel to manage the libraries. In general, public access to reading materials, especially for children, is almost non-existent in present-day Myanmar. Bookshops charge about 5,000 Kyats per children's book ($5.50 US), putting them out of the reach of most parents.

Only good quality books, some in Myanmar and some in English, will be donated to the monastic schools located in several townships. Each school will receive 300 new books and will allow students to enjoy dedicated library time. Teachers or volunteer librarians will be taught each term to catalogue and maintain the books, and to manage the libraries. Additionally, representatives from CPI's partner organization will work with teachers and parents to improve their ability to read effectively to children. Children will be encouraged to perform simple comprehension exercises through school and library-based competitions.

The project begins June 1, 2011 and is estimated to benefit 3,461 children and more than 100 teachers, as well as the families of the students.

Clear Path Launches Large-Scale Ramp Project in Afghanistan

When more than 800,000 Afghans are severely disabled, it's easy to see why there's a drastic need for schools, hospitals, government buildings and places of worship to be made accessible to them.

But people with disabilities in Afghanistan have suffered from a nearly universal lack of access to these and other important buildings and facilities. The Afghanistan Central Office of Statistics has estimated that 98 percent of all buildings cannot be entered by wheelchair.

This past year, Clear Path International launched a pilot project to alter this situation by constructing high-quality ramps at key locations throughout the country applying best practices established in the industry. Clear Path is a nonprofit organization that assists victims of landmines and other explosives, and others disabled or displaced by armed conflict in Southeast Asia and Afghanistan.

Not only are the projects performing a critical service for this vulnerable segment of Afghanistan's population, they also are helping to establish good will between the United States and Afghan leaders at a time when that relationship has been severely stressed. CPI programs in Afghanistan are funded by the U.S. Department of State Weapons Removal and Abatement (WRA).

"We've had two different reports that the Ulema (Council of Mullahs and Imams in Afghanistan) has specifically mentioned the work of CPI at the Eid Gah Mosque, as well as commented positively in general on the role of Americans bringing accessibility changes at this very high-profile religious site," said CPI Program Manager Matthew Rodieck. "One of the leaders of the Ulema, a double-amputee martyr and former Mujahedin commander, was especially complimentary."

Eid Gah Mosque in Kabul (shown here) is one of the highest profile mosques in Afghanistan and is where VIPs regularly worship and hold funeral prayers of martyrs. CPI through its Afghan partner organization, Accessibility Organization for Afghan Disabled (AOAD), built three ramps complete with handrails. In Kabul, CPI and AOAD also constructed three ramps at the Antoni Infectious Disease Hospital, an important referral site for tertiary care and the only facility of its kind in the country.

In Kapisa Province, north of Kabul, Afghan Amputee Bicyclists for Rehabilitation and Recreation (AABRAR) developed and implemented access ramps at several diverse sites. These included the main mosque of the capital city, which became the only physically accessible mosque in the entire province, the Ministry of Information and Culture, and the Ministry of Education. Several public schools throughout the rural community were also ramp sites in the AABRAR project, each selected based on feedback from local authorities about their priorities.

In Balkh Province, in the north of Afghanistan, Afghan Landmine Survivor Organization (ALSO) constructed access ramps at several educational settings across Mazar-i Sharif, the main city of Balkh. The sites selected included co-educational elementary schools, boys' high schools, girls' high schools, and the Balkh University making it one of the few institutions of higher learning in the entire country with accessible buildings.

Going forward, CPI hopes to build nearly 600 ramps at 350 sites throughout Afghanistan. The $660,000 project funded by WRA will involve the same three partner organizations. A key component of the ramp project is to raise awareness of the rights of people with disabilities, said Rodieck. "Awareness is quite low; there's not much sensitivity."

That awareness campaign also will make its way into the classroom at Kabul Technical University's Engineering School where CPI hopes it will result in some practical solutions. "We want to engage the entire faculty on physical accessibility design," Rodieck said. "We want to advocate on a more institutional level that the curriculum become more realistic."