Hero(s)

Perfect soldiers, they never sleep, they never eat, you don’t have to pay them and they are always ready to fight.
Pol Pot on landmines

A hero. Aki Ra. A boy, like many. A child soldier who had many names. One who doesn’t know exactly when he was born. One who knew nothing but killing as a child. One whose father was killed.

A hero. One who wanted to survive. One who survived. One who changed sides. One who realized. One who was horrified - about himself. One who transformed. One who sought forgiveness and forgave. One who seeks reconciliation. One who finds reconciliation. Who, tirelessly, did not give up, kept going, until today. Tirelessly, keeps his story, his work alive.

Aki Ra, who lived as a child soldier, first for the Khmer, then for the Vietnamese. Because he was small and light, he distributed mines. Mines that injured and killed. Because he knew the villagers, he buried the mines in a safe place.

One who recognized the injustice that exploited him as a child. One who wanted to make amends, dedicated himself to locating and defusing landmines. One who took in children injured by mines, gave orphans a home and hope for a future. One who collects and displays everything he finds. To warn, to remember. One who, with passionate dedication and fearless love, gave himself and the injured children a chance to heal.

His displayed soldiers have heads made of paper mache, crafted by the children. Faces are painted on, the enemy is given a face.

Every defused mine or bomb is collected.

From the inside to the outside. Images of the injury, how it happened, the pain, life afterward, hope and the future, the wishes for and the strength for one’s own life. Depicted in a square; inside what was. Outside, the strength and confidence, the life that will be...

Meticulously, everything is displayed, not just every honors as a hero. Australia, Korea, Germany, America, France, ..., even his own country cannot avoid acknowledging its impact, its actions. One who does not want to forget. In the meantime, he works closely with the Cambodian government, and in 2008, his project 'Cambodian Self Help Demining' was licensed.

So cluttered it all seems at first. QR codes in the individual rooms explain the exhibits, the connections, the meaningfulness of the children's pictures, prosthetics, mines as art objects, the different types of mines, their effects.

A mine clearer invites us to see the search and find of a mine. Different types, different effects. AP mines: Anti-personnel mines. Activated with a weight starting at 5 kilograms. 1-year-old children, children who have just learned to walk.
AT mines: Anti-tank mines. They are larger and explode with a weight of 400 kilograms. The target is vehicles.

First, the metal detector locates metal, then the terrain is marked off tightly, must be cleared of plants. The earth is carefully lifted, brushed with a hand broom, and the shape is palpated with a lightweight stick. The whole process, of course, only with a protective suit. A laborious, time-consuming task. The detector indicates 'only' metal. Whether it is a mine is only revealed upon closer examination. Much time, meticulousness, and endurance are needed for every square meter.

Towards the end, we buy a self-designed spiral notebook. The life of Aki Ra, his life project. On the side sits a shy man on a simple chair at a simple table with a laptop. He signs the book, it is Aki Ra. A chill runs over me, the humility, the shyness deeply touch me, and I bow.

We later meet other heroes. Mine rats. A project that causes a stir, as the rats are trained to sniff TNT. They are light enough to avoid an explosion, and fewer people are endangered when searching for mines. It's no less laborious; two trainers lead the rat back and forth on a leash, and it scratches when it smells TNT and claims its reward. The terrain must be free of tall plants.

Dogs are also trained. They are on a leash and run into densely overgrown areas. When they smell a mine, they sit in front of it, they are too heavy to step on it, as it would trigger an explosion.

Whatever happens, it always moves forward only inch by inch. It is always a success to have detected a mine. All in all, I am stunned by how many mines have been scattered and how often.

The USA dropped at least 26 million explosive munitions in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. To torpedo the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which ran along the Mekong, at the border with Cambodia. Cambodia declared its neutrality during the Vietnam War.

This has left me stunned and very reflective.

To this day, there is no discussion of compensation....