Learning to Avoid Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) in Laos!

reprinted with permission of World Education (www.worlded.org)

Vanpheng, Bounelop, Baothong, Pin and Bounechan, front row, knew to not touch the "bombie" they found after learning about unexploded ordnance in school.

Like many children in Xam Neua village, Bounelop loves spending his weekends hunting small animals in the rice fields. For village children, these fields after the harvest are big playgrounds with a plentiful food supply; they can gather wild vegetables, hunt field rats or look for crabs which live in the ground all over the rice fields.

On December 10th, 2003 Bounelop and his friends went to look for crabs in the fields next to their village on the outskirts of Xam Neua. After digging and poking in several holes, they found a metal object.

"It was round and full of dirt so we could not see its color. We saw part of the rusty metal," said Bounelop. "One of my friends had seen these in school and said it was a bombie. We were all terrified. We left the object where we found it and ran to tell the adults in the village. The first man we saw did not believe us. We continued to tell another person. He told us to inform the village headman, who then informed the UXO Laos team. They came and inspected it. It was a bombie. The UXO team then exploded it at the spot where we found it."

"Bombies" are cluster bomb units which are scattered from a canister in mid-air. Such unexploded ordnance are still plentiful in Laos.

The boys had learned about the dangers of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in their school. The Thatmouang primary school was selected as a target school for the UXO education program as part of the War Victims Assistance project. In 1998, the Lao Ministry of Education approved the use of the UXO Education and Awareness Curriculum, developed by the UNICEF and U.S. Agency for International Development-funded War Victims Assistance Project, as a supplemental curriculum in provinces which have severe problems with UXO. World Education, in collaboration with World Learning (through The Consortium), helped to implement the curriculum. The UXO in-school program teaches children about unexploded ordnance and how to avoid accidents. The lessons are taught during the school year in all five primary grades, reinforcing other community awareness messages, as well as providing a base for UXO accident-preventing messages in the community. Currently used in 1,110 schools in nine war-affected provinces in Laos, this curriculum provides life-saving information to 110,000 students.

Vansee tells stories of UXO danger, using educational material and participatory teaching methods.

Vansee has been a 2nd grade teacher at the Thatmouang primary school for 12 years. "It's important that the children learn the danger of UXO and especially to know what to do when they see one," she says. "There are UXOs in our province and we often hear about the accidents. I'm glad my children learn about UXO in school now. The knowledge could save their lives."

Like the 3,700 teachers participating in the project, Vansee received training from World Education in child-centered, activity-based teaching techniques, and learned how to develop educational materials, including the use of puppets and other visual aids. She is responsible for the UXO education in her school and provides technical advice to other teachers on issues related to UXO education. Although she has only two years of formal teacher training, Vansee is now knowledgeable in modern teaching techniques that stimulate participatory learning.

"Children who learn from watching the puppet shows are more enthusiastic learners. The fact that they can answer the questions correctly at the end means that they understand the content of the teaching. I wish that all the teachers could use this technique in their teaching."

For more information or to make a donation, please contact Connie Woodbury at cwoodbury@worlded.org.

To learn more about World Education, please visit www.worlded.org

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