Landmines

A very real problem that still exists around the world is that of landmines.  They're especially still a problem in Burma (among other places, I think Afghanistan is the worst), and at the Mae Tao clinic they have a Prosthetic Department where they create beautiful new limbs for people.  When you walk in to the prosthetic area you see a big chalk board with all the current projects.  What struck me, in addition to the fact that all except one was from a landmine (one was from "trauma"), they were almost all people my age - or 20s-30s. 

One of the interviews we did for our video project was with a woman who was out picking bamboo shoots in her hometown in Burma when she stepped on a mine, and is now a double-amputee.  She is now on her second set of legs that she received from the clinic (the first pair were too big for her, she's tiny) and can get around amazingly well with a set of crutches.  She's been at the clinic for years, and now lives there and helps out with odd jobs that need to be done.

One other person we interviewed was a 20 year old refugee from Burma who had been living in a nearby camp with his family.  He heard about the chance to learn to make prostheses at the Mae Tao Clinic and came here to be trained.  He said he loves the idea of being able to help people from his country who need these limbs.