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 Chhin Boreak's story and a photograph of his artwork.
There are fourteen people in my family, including five brothers, seven sisters and my mother and father. I am the fourth oldest. We live in Samraong village in Otdar Meanchey. My parents are farmers and grow rice and vegetables.
My village was surrounded by landmines. My parents used to tell me not to go far from the house but I didn’t believe them because I didn’t understand how dangerous the mines were. My family was very poor, and sometimes we would only have enough food to eat breakfast. We were hungry a lot of the time.
I would sometimes go walking in the countryside looking for fruit. One day, I walked towards a big tree and saw this thing that looked like a pineapple. I almost picked it up as I didn’t know what it was but my mother was calling me in a very strong voice telling me to come home. I didn’t listen to my mother because I wanted to see what this thing was.
I started to play with the thing. My mother could see so she went to try and find someone else in the village to try and stop me. I tried to open the mine and without knowing what I was doing started flicking the detonator with my right finger. When the mine exploded I was thrown backwards about five meters. My right arm had been blown off and fragments of the mine had hit my left leg.
My mother was in a state of shock as I walked back to the house, but she quickly got her strength back and shouted for help. She ran to get me, not thinking about herself as she entered the same minefield.
Other people arrived quickly and two old men carried me for two hours to an army hospital. Halfway there I fainted. I was moved to a provincial emergency ward where I had 16 operations over three months.
After my accident I lived at home for five years helping my family grow morning glory and cutting grass for the cows. During that fifth year, CMAC came to clear the village of mines.
One day I went to talk to a deminer I had been watching, and told him I had had my accident there. He told me about his brother Aki Ra and the Cambodian Landmine Museum, and said it would be a good place for me to go and live because I would be looked after and get an education. My parents’ village is now free of mines but we lost many people and many cows before it was cleared.
At that time I could only say “Hello, hello!,” but now I can speak English well and I am in grade seven at school. I love to play football and am good at singing. Actually, I have found I am good at many things and am grateful for these opportunities to learn. My family says I am very lucky. It is my ambition to become a tour guide so I can teach tourists about my country’s history. I especially love the carvings on the temples and the stories they tell.
My village was surrounded by landmines. My parents used to tell me not to go far from the house but I didn’t believe them because I didn’t understand how dangerous the mines were. My family was very poor, and sometimes we would only have enough food to eat breakfast. We were hungry a lot of the time.
I would sometimes go walking in the countryside looking for fruit. One day, I walked towards a big tree and saw this thing that looked like a pineapple. I almost picked it up as I didn’t know what it was but my mother was calling me in a very strong voice telling me to come home. I didn’t listen to my mother because I wanted to see what this thing was.
I started to play with the thing. My mother could see so she went to try and find someone else in the village to try and stop me. I tried to open the mine and without knowing what I was doing started flicking the detonator with my right finger. When the mine exploded I was thrown backwards about five meters. My right arm had been blown off and fragments of the mine had hit my left leg.
My mother was in a state of shock as I walked back to the house, but she quickly got her strength back and shouted for help. She ran to get me, not thinking about herself as she entered the same minefield.
Other people arrived quickly and two old men carried me for two hours to an army hospital. Halfway there I fainted. I was moved to a provincial emergency ward where I had 16 operations over three months.
After my accident I lived at home for five years helping my family grow morning glory and cutting grass for the cows. During that fifth year, CMAC came to clear the village of mines.
One day I went to talk to a deminer I had been watching, and told him I had had my accident there. He told me about his brother Aki Ra and the Cambodian Landmine Museum, and said it would be a good place for me to go and live because I would be looked after and get an education. My parents’ village is now free of mines but we lost many people and many cows before it was cleared.
At that time I could only say “Hello, hello!,” but now I can speak English well and I am in grade seven at school. I love to play football and am good at singing. Actually, I have found I am good at many things and am grateful for these opportunities to learn. My family says I am very lucky. It is my ambition to become a tour guide so I can teach tourists about my country’s history. I especially love the carvings on the temples and the stories they tell.
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