mines have been removed by various demining organizations, but there are still millions still scattered
across the countryside. Landmines and UXO will continue to be a blight on development until they are all removed. Tragically, discovery often means an innocent civilian, often a child, losing a leg.
The Landmine Museum displays a large collection of weapons of war, including guns, rifles, rocket launchers, mortars, bombs and landmines. The site includes a mocked-up minefield where visitors can attempt to locate the deactivated mines. The museum is a rich resource of information about landmines and UXO with many educational displays detailing how certain mines are used, and in what situations. There is also a DVD available telling the story of landmines and UXO in Cambodia and the disastrous impact they have had on the population. Not only a weapon during war, mines kill in times of peace. Aki Ra is the founder of the Cambodia Landmine Museum and National Project Manager for the Cambodia Landmine Museum Relief Fund (CLMMRF), the NGO behind the museum. His mother and father were killed during the Pol Pot regime and he was forced to live in a Khmer Rouge camp for children. At just ten, he was given his first rifle and spent the next two decades involved in the civil war. During that time, landmines became
his best friend; they protected him, helped him to catch food and even helped to save his life on a number of occasions when the war was at its fiercest.
In the early 1990s Aki Ra received training as a deminer. He had already learnt much about landmines and ordnance having laid hundreds of mines and booby traps as a soldier. He began receiving requests from villagers around the country, and has been working to help clear mines ever since.
Aki Ra purchased some land along the river just outside Siem Reap in 1997. He built a series of shacks to store his growing collection of shell casings and decommissioned mines.
In 1998, Aki Ra opened his doors to show the collection to the hundreds of tourists who were flocking to visit the temples of Angkor. His home quickly evolved to become the Cambodia Landmine Museum. The museum soon began to serve as a rescue centre for a number of amputee children. As the museum grew, so did the number of children that came to live at the museum. Soon journalists, filmmakers and TV crews were
coming from all over the world to document his work as news spread about the museum. Time Magazine, CNN, BBC, NTV (Japan), CBC (Canada), have all featured the Cambodia Landmine Museum.
The new Cambodia Landmine Museum is located in a purpose-built centre near Banteay Srei. It is located about 6 km south of Banteay Srei on the right-hand side of the road. Admission is US$1 and it is open from 0700 to 1800 daily. How it helps: The CLMMRF is registered as a NGO with both the Canadian and Cambodian governments and serves to provide financial legitimacy for the Landmine Museum. The goals of
the CLMMRF are to maintain the Landmine Museum in Cambodia for the purpose of promoting landmine accident prevention awareness and public education, and to provide educational facilities, programming and rehabilitation facilities for survivors of landmine injuries. The CLMMRF is able to fund projects with grants from organizations such as The Cottonwood Foundation (USA) and The Tides Foundation (USA), as well as from online donations.
The new Landmine Museum contains a school, an orphanage for up to 30 at-risk children, a medical clinic that serves as a rehabilitation centre, and a training facility for landmine accident prevention and safety. It also provides employment opportunities for several teachers and local Khmers who play an important part in the Landmine Museum family. Moreover, it is a place for action, serving as a launch pad for humanitarian and landmine relief initiatives.
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