Suk Ratha's Story

The first warning is the last. A deafening explosion and a life, if not taken, is changed forever. Amputations, long hospital stays, and extensive rehabilitation are what await landmine victims who survive. Landmines are silent soldiers that lie in wait long after fighting has ended, killing and maiming up to 20,000 people every year.

Cambodia is among the most mine infested countries in the world. Three decades of war and civil strife have left millions of mines scattered throughout the impoverished country. Since 1979, more than 57,000 Cambodians have suffered amputations, many of them innocent children. One of them is Suk Ratha.

Suk Ratha's Story
"My mom asked me to go to the market with my sister to buy medicine for my sick father. So we went along a path I've used many times before," remembers 15-year old Suk Ratha. The soft-spoken teenager is remarkably composed as she recounts the day that life, as she knew it, ended forever.

There was a loud explosion and Suk Ratha was flung to the ground. In the terrible silence that followed the blast, the horror on her sister's face was what struck her most. Then she looked down and saw the bloody stump where her leg had been.

During the difficult weeks while Suk Ratha waited for her leg to heal in an emergency hospital, she was alone. The hospital was too far for her mother to travel by bicycle and the family was too poor to take a taxi. The young girl had plenty of time to think about the challenges, both physical and social that she now faced.

How would she scramble up the small ladder to her house, which is built on sticks? How would she get around her village where there are no sidewalks or paved pathways? Equally devastating, Suk Ratha would no longer be able to help her impoverished parents. The future looked bleak indeed. Suk Ratha is a pretty, intelligent young girl but as an amputee, her had little chance of finding a husband.

When she finally returned from hospital, Suk Ratha's mother was overcome by grief on seeing her daughter for the first time since the accident. She wailed uncontrollably as the young girl was helped out of the car and surrounded by villagers. As the enormity of her circumstances hit home, Suk Ratha finally gave into her own feelings and wept quietly.

Yet even amid the tears there is hope. When her stump has healed Suk Ratha—like all landmine casualties in Cambodia—will be eligible for a prosthetic device, thanks to organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Like Mon Man, she will once again learn walk. With every step, she will come closer to regaining a very small part of her independence.

What's Next for Suk Ratha?
Suk Ratha leg is healing and waiting for her prosthesis. In the meantime, she attends school and does what she can to help her family around the house. Emotionally, Suk Ratha has also improved. She no longer cries all the time.

Like many child victims of landmines in the province of Battambang, she receives help and support from Operations Enfants de Battambang (OEB), a local grass roots organization dedicated to children's health. It gave Suk Ratha school supplies and a uniform. She will also receive a bicycle and her family will get a cow, to help increase their income.

Since Suk Ratha's parents could only afford to farm on marginal land that had not been completely cleared of mines, the OEB and the ICRC are working with the family on relocating to a less dangerous area-where Suk Ratha will be safer.

Despite this assistance, Suk Ratha will never regain her old carefree life. She will remain haunted by the specter of millions of landmines that still litter the countryside, waiting to be set off by ordinary people, including children who run a terrible risk every day just walking to school, playing outside or running errands for their parents.

How You Can Help
Begin by learning more about landmines and the organizations that are working to eradicate them. According to the Landmine Monitor Report 2003 by the the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), a total of 355,258 antipersonnel landmines were destroyed in Cambodia between 1992 and 2002. This is only a fraction of what still remains, putting millions at risk. The only solution is to clear landmines, destroy existing stockpiles, and ban the production of new mines.

The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), supports efforts to promote and implement the Mine Ban Treaty, which has been ratified by 136 countries and signed by 148. UNMAS also coordinates the work of UN agencies such as UNICEF and UNDP, in collaboration with non-governmental organizations, including the ICRC, the Mine Advisory Group (MAG) and government agencies like the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC).

These organizations work together to clear landmines, educate people and assist victims. As a result, casualty rates in Cambodia have decreased from 360 a month in 1996 to an average of 60 casualties a month in 2002—a figure that unfortunately has remained constant since then.