LocationsWritten by Gidam Kim and Patrick Mathews, Programme and Partnership Specialists, UNDP Lao PDR
A Tale of Two Women – UXO and Resilience
November 25, 2024
In Xiengkhouang province, the quiet village of Bie bears witness to many untold stories of suffering and resilience, shaped by war and the lingering dangers of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Two women from the village in Pek district, Mrs. Thoumma Syshomphan, and Mrs. Phie Phengvongkham shared their stories, recounting the heavy toll that UXO contamination continues to exact on families.
During the second Indochina war (1964-1975), Thoumma and her family fled to Vietnam for safety, only to return to their village later, while aerial bombing raids were ongoing. In one tragic instance around 1970, a single bomb killed eleven people from the village while Thoumma herself was pulled alive from a ditch by children.
Ms. Thoumma Syshomphan playing with her grandchild in 2024
After surviving the bomb raids, another personal tragedy hit her. In 1989, her husband Tong Si Sou and his brother Daa Si Sou were killed by a UXO explosion when digging drainage. Thoumma and her two children then had to give her husband’s land to his relatives and return to her own family. The following five years were bitter ones; with no meaningful assistance provided to her family, they survived on a small vegetable patch. Thoumma later remarried.
The period after the war was difficult for people in the province, as many fields were contaminated with UXOs. Xiengkhouang Province remains the second most heavily contaminated province in Lao PDR, accounting for 59% of the nation’s total Confirmed Hazardous Areas (CHA). Thoumma wants to see all the land cleared so she can feel safe beyond her home. She points to a neighboring field where a UXO still lays; it has been reported to UXO Lao, which has noted the location and is expected to return within 48 hours to clear it. Until all the land is cleared, villagers must be extremely cautious when working on their plots, as the potential for explosion is dramatically increased when a UXO is disturbed.
Ms. Phie Phengvongkham was born in 1988 and is another resident of Bie village. She had no experience of the war until a UXO exploded during a family gathering in Wanpan village in 1994. The explosion killed her father and a relative, while her bother was severely injured. The effect on her family was devastating - they lost not only loved ones but also the manpower for their farm.
With no one left to work in the fields, Phie, her mother, her injured brother and her two-month-old sibling had to leave their home and went to live with their grandparents who supported them until Phie’s mother remarried. It was only thanks to the support of her caring grandparents that she was able to continue her studies. Today she is a teacher in Bie village. Her brother has found work in Vientiane but still suffers from the shrapnel embedded in his stomach and leg and cannot perform hard labor.
“No child should have to suffer what we went through”, she says, encouraged that in her school, UXO Lao’s Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) team educates children about the dangers of UXO and the proper actions to take if they encounter one.
Fifty years after the end of the war, Laotians continue to suffer from its impacts. The story of Phie and Thoumma is a testimony to the impoverishing effects of UXO accidents and the long-lasting impact of cluster bombs contamination on communities. It also highlights how gender inequalities make women and children particularly vulnerable. When land ownership is patrilineal, the loss of a husband or father can quickly reduce a family to poverty. Women return with their children to extended families who are often unable to support them. From that perspective, UXO accidents scar many more than their direct victims, delivering a socioeconomic shockwave to the community.
UXO accident victims need comprehensive immediate and long-term medical, economic, social and psychological assistance to enable them to cope with their trauma and continue to contribute to their communities. While Lao PDR has extended the national social welfare safety net for UXO victims to include access to free essential services, educational support, livelihood assistance and welfare programmes, there remain large gaps in provision. Like Thoumma’s and Phie’s families, many UXO victims are unaware of state support or do not know how to access the assistance they are entitled to.
Ms. Phie Phengvongkham is now a teacher at a school in Bie village
Given the magnitude of contamination, prevention of accidents remains a key focus of Lao PDR’s efforts to free lives from UXOs, the country’s objective as stated in Sustainable Development Goal 18 (SDG 18). The importance of EORE cannot be overstated, especially in Xiengkhouang, which accounts for 29% of all UXO-related accidents in Lao PDR, with nearly half involving children[1].
The ongoing presence of thirteen Area Clearance teams and one EORE teams funded by the Government of New Zealand has brought relief to the people of Bie village. Since 2005, UXO Lao has cleared over 44 km2 of land in the province which has benefited over 400,000 beneficiaries[2]. This work is vital not only in reclaiming the land but also in ensuring that children grow up safely, without the constant threat of UXO overshadowing their future.
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors alone and not the United Nations Development Programme.
[1] Since 2008, when the NRA started recording on Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA).
[2] As of NRA Dashboard 14th November 2024
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