Laos – 2019 – We went to the COPE Center in Vientiane and learned about the dangers of unexploded bombs that America dropped along the along the Ho Chi Min Trail during the Vietnam war in Laos. We watched a movie there that explained all that the center does and it explained the terrible cost to the Lao people from these bombs even today.

These bombs are still injuring farmers in their fields and young children who dig them up for recycling as scrap metal. The children are too young to know what they are dealing with or how dangerous these unexploded bombs can be.

The center makes artificial limbs and wheel chairs for the victims of these bombs from America. War is awful and full of unintended victims and consequences. The Lao people are doing their best to help their own, but it is a poor nation and its resources are very limited.

There are groups of brave men and women from Australia who come to find these bombs and defuse them. They also train the locals on how to find these bombs and disarm them also. It is expensive for supplies and travel costs as well as for the training.

If you have a few dollars to donate to a good cause, this is one. I think donations are tax deductible, but even if  they aren’t you might be saving someone’s life with just a few dollars sent to this very special organization.