Sot Visai's artwork

Sasha and Sovann worked with four young landmine survivors to create artwork representing their past experiences and their ambitions for the future. Each artist created one box. Inside each box, the artist painted the story of how his accident happened. On the outside of the box, the artist painted their ambitions for the future. The boxes are hung and people can stick their head inside to see the paintings.

Below is Sot Visai's story and a photo of his artwork.

I was born in Sompov Loun. I am 21 years old and the second of four brothers. My parents are farmers who grow rice, vegetables and some fruit. When I was young I took care of the cows and buffalo with the neighboring children, and I became a victim of an exploding landmine at the age of eight.

One morning, after I had tethered the cows and buffalos, four friends and I went for a walk to hunt for birds and crabs. We were very young and didn’t know about the danger of mines as there were not so many in our area and our parents had not told us about this danger.

My friends found a mine and picked it up because they thought it looked like a pineapple and wanted to play with it. I was quite a long way away from them, perhaps 20 meters. I didn’t know what they were playing with but a moment afterwards the mine exploded. Pieces of the mine hit my left leg and I fell unconscious. When I woke up I was in the hospital.

My mother told me three of my friends had died and one had lost her left arm. When I heard about my friends dying I cried a lot, and I cried even more because I had lost my left leg. I was in the hospital for about one and a half months and had nine operations. About six months later an organization helped my family by buying pigs and chickens for us to look after and sell in the market. After a year back home, my family moved to a different district called Ou Chrov in Banteay Meanchey province.

One day I was walking near my village and I met Aki Ra, who was with a Japanese journalist. Aki Ra was asking me about my accident and where I lived. I told him the story behind my accident and then he had to leave. That evening he came back to my see me at my house and all of my family was very surprised because they had never met him before. Then Aki Ra asked about the situation of my family and he suggested I came to live with him at the Cambodian Landmine Museum (CLMM) so I could get an education.

My parents thought this was a good idea and asked if I wanted to go, but it was only after a few days of thinking about it that I decided to do it. My parents were happy that I was going to get an education but were also very sad that I was leaving. I had never been away from my parents before.

A few days later Aki Ra came back and took me to Siem Reap. When I arrived in Siem Reap I felt very strange because it was full of foreigners and also because the landmine museum was full of lots of landmines on display, most of which I had never seen before. A few months later I started school. It was surprising for me because I had never studied before, and it was so different from life with my family. Now I have lived at the CLMM for nearly ten years and it has changed my life.

In the future I want to train to be an accountant in an office so I can learn more about how to keep finances and start my own business. My idea is to then start a small business as a tailor as I want to design fashionable clothes.