Pic of the Day: Schoolchildren in Bolomo village, Democratic Republic of the Congo 

These children had just attended a Risk Education session (tailored safety messages to those most under threat from landmines and explosive weapons) given by MAG’s Community Liaison staff.

MAG works with conflict-affected communities to make them aware of the dangers presented by landmines and unexploded ordnance.

Watch this Risk Education session from South Sudan:
www.maginternational.org/riskeducation

Pic of the Day: A 250kg general-purpose High Explosives bomb is destroyed in northern Iraq 

Yesterday’s demolition involved an electric initiation, using two VS1.6 anti-tank mines as donor charges to destroy the bomb.

The FAB-250 bomb was dropped in 1963 by the Iraqi regime in response to the Kurdish revolution.

It was discovered in the village of Shirta in Akre District, Duhok Governorate, by a local man who uncovered it while looking for food. Around 300 people live in the village and were at risk from an accidental detonation.

www.maginternational.org/iraq

Pic of the Day: MAG removed a 250lb bomb from close to this family’s house in the Democratic Republic of Congo 

“It was very frightening for our children,” said Gille. “The women were very afraid too, because they go there to collect firewood. “

[North Equateur, DRC, 2012. www.maginternational.org]

Pic of the Day: Deminers getting ready for work in northern Sri Lanka

The majority of the women in this all-female team are the main income-earners for their families. Many are widows and suffered greatly in the country’s civil war.

[Sri Lanka, 2012. www.maginternational.org]

Pic of the Day: A MAG Community Liaison team prepares to mark a dispenser full of cluster submunitions in Laos, 2009 

There were another five tubes nearby.

In the first three months of 2013, MAG removed and destroyed 1,958 of these ‘bombies’ that affect a quarter of all Lao villages.

www.maginternational.org/laos-stats

Pic of the Day: The Chouf Mountains region of Lebanon, May 2013 

MAG cleared Em Saoud Mashmoushi’s land, removing five landmines and enabling her to earn a living from the olive and fruit trees.

She thanks everyone who supports MAG: “The donors who made this work possible certainly gave their money to the right place, as I can’t imagine anything sadder than losing a family member, especially a small child, to these landmines.”

www.maginternational.org

Pic of the Day: A Syrian refugee clears clears the ground around olive trees in the Chouf region of Lebanon, May 2013 

This area had been contaminated by landmines and unexploded ordnance.

The landowner, Simain Eid, said: “Before MAG came here we could not use the land. Now you see we can work. We have no restricted areas. Many thanks to MAG.”

www.maginternational.org

Congratulations to MAG Cambodia’s Mine Action Manager Soth Diep, whose outstanding contribution to saving and improving lives in the country has been officially recognised.

On 2nd April, Diep was awarded the “Moni Saraphorn Thnak Sena” award by His Excellency Prum Sophakmonkol, Deputy Secretary General of the Cambodian Mine Action Authority, following 13 years of service to the development of mine action in Cambodia.

“We have a valuable mission here in Cambodia,” said Diep, shortly after receiving his award, “and I anticipate that MAG, and I, will need to keep working on this mission for a long time to come. We are doing things right, responding to the need of communities to give people safer lives and building their futures.

“This work will continue to reduce poverty and improve living conditions, and will continue to be important and lifesaving as the country develops and changes into the future.”

Well done, Diep!

www.maginternational.org

Soth Diep (right) after receiving his medal from His Excellency Prum Sophakmonkol, Deputy Secretary General of the Cambodian Mine Action Authority (left).

Read the full article here:

On 2nd April, 2013 MAG Cambodia’s Mine Action Manager Soth Diep was awarded the “Moni Saraphorn Thnak Sena” award by His Excellency Prum Sophakmonkol, Deputy Secretary General, in recognition of his long period of service and outstanding contribution to the development of mine action in Cambodia.

After 13 years, Diep reflects on a career marked by a distinctive rise through the organisation, international experience, and a continued commitment to saving and improving the lives of people in the communities in which MAG works.

In the summer of 1986, aged 19, Diep graduated from Build Bright University and was just beginning a long career with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery. Cambodia was still at war, with the Khmer Rouge in power fighting Vietnamese troops, and multiple casualties reported all over the country often as result of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) being used by all parties.

Three years later Vietnamese troops withdrew, and by 1992 a major UN peacekeeping mission entered Cambodia and took over administration of the country to try to bring an end to the bloody, decades-long conflict. But the explosive legacy of war remained in the ground.

By February 2000, Diep had made the decision that his fourteen year career in agriculture was at an end but that mine action awaited him. He wanted to put his knowledge of agriculture to use in helping people overcome the previous long hard years. Even now poverty in Cambodia is overwhelmingly rural with over 80 per cent of the population relying on subsistence agriculture, and 4.8 million people defined as below the poverty line.

Thirteen years ago, Diep saw that people were facing food shortages and taking great risks; putting themselves and others in danger, by using land which was suspected or known to be contaminated by landmines and UXO.

At night time, Diep and his colleagues at the Ministry were required to keep watch over the machines and equipment in nearby forests and mountainous areas where fighting would sometimes occur.

As Diep remembers, “Many of my colleagues were also sent to join the Government troops defending the Cambodia-Thai border during this time, and sometimes they stood on landmines and were killed.”

Starting out as the National Project Manager of a Survival Demining Tractor and Tools project with MAG, Diep comfortably put his previous experience into practice, helping in the research and development of former farming machinery which could be used to survey or clear contaminated land.

Focusing on the rural poor, offering communities the opportunity to revitalise their economic opportunities and ensure the safety of people living and working on land which was once a battleground, helped Diep to make his transition into mine action and work closely with MAG’s beneficiaries, the primary stakeholders of its activities, to ensure that their needs and their priorities were met during clearance.

His new position also allowed him “to gain experience with an international organisation, and an international working environment. I wanted to develop myself personally, to learn new things, and to gain support for my development.”

As Diep has risen through the ranks at MAG Cambodia, he has worked as Mechanical Unit Coordinator, and in a number of positions in the programme’s Mine Action Quality Assurance Unit.

Diep received his MAG-sponsored MBA degree from Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2008

Since August 2010, he has been Mine Action Manager, the most senior national technical position in MAG Cambodia. Diep is understandably proud of his position and what he has helped to achieve through his hard work:

“MAG’s working environment is all about fairness and being reasonable, patient and building yourself to be better. All national staff are encouraged to improve and upgrade their skills, and job sustainability is important. MAG has been able to create many jobs for Cambodian people across the country, allowing them to generate a monthly income to support their families both in urban and rural areas.

“This is very important in helping to build the economy, support people’s growth, and giving people the opportunity to learn.”

Over the years Diep’s life has changed alongside his career, marrying his wife Pol Srey March in February 1994, and having two daughters now aged 10 and 18. As he teaches his children to always strive to learn, he too has continued to do so:

“I have always been supported this way at MAG, for all my thirteen years here. They even helped put me through university again when I was 41, helping me get my Masters degree in Business Administration!”

Having worked under a number of managers, Diep has learned much from different styles of leadership and been given the opportunity to see different working environments in MAG’s Sri Lanka, Lebanon and Thailand programmes, while attending conferences on mine action in the US, Sweden and Laos.

“I always hope that staff in MAG will recognise my good work, and that I am trustworthy and patient. I try hard every day to achieve good results to ensure MAG always meets its requirements in the best way possible. I work actively to coordinate with the Cambodian Mine Action Authority (CMAA) and MAG’s stakeholders and I work positively to solve any problems. Doing this work makes me proud, so I wish to do it to the best of my ability,” he said.

After thirteen years with MAG Cambodia, Diep’s receipt of the “Moni Saraphorn Thnak Sena” Award was a great acknowledgement of his hard work for both MAG and his country’s mine action efforts. “We have a valuable mission here in Cambodia” said Diep, shortly after receiving his award, “and I anticipate that MAG, and I, will need to keep working on this mission for a long time to come.

We are doing things right; responding to the need of communities to give people safer lives and building their futures. This work will continue to reduce poverty and improve living conditions, and will continue to be important and lifesaving as the country develops and changes into the future.”

by Clare O’Reilly, Programme Officer, MAG Cambodia

Pic of the Day: Children in an Angolan village cleared by MAG of landmines and explosive weapons

[Moxico province, 2011]

After decades of civil war, Angola is one of the most mine-affected countries in the world. MAG is removing the risk of death and injury in communities like this one, enabling safe access to services such as health and education.

www.maginternational.org

Pic of the Day: A MAG demining team, working in villages around Torit in South Sudan 

The area is contaminated by landmines that were laid during the Second Sudanese Civil War, but soon it will be safe again.

“The people here are grateful - I can say that we all feel joy at seeing MAG,” says Alfred Ohuda, community leader of Kimodonge village. “Now, we have to restrict our children[’s movements], but when you have cleared here, we will be able to move freely.

“We will be able to collect water, firewood and stones for building. We will be able to walk with no fear.”

www.maginternational.org