Communication Sessions Shine Light on UXO Dangers for Ethnic Children in Quang Tri

The “Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of the War” (RENEW) project is using soccer to educate children living in Quang Tri province about the dangers of landmines and other explosive remnants of war.
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Over the last 2 weeks, Project RENEW and Quang Tri province's Huong Hoa district Youth Union successfully organized an educational program on mine and explosive safety through community soccer activities in communes such as Tan Lien, Huong Loc, Tan Long, and several others.

With the participation of about 265 boys and 202 girls, all of whom belong to the Bru - Van Kieu and Pacoh ethnic groups, the non-competitive soccer activities themed "Playing soccer without playing with landmines," are being implemented in communes like Tan Lien, Huong Loc, Tan Long, Xy, Huc, and more within the community.

Communication To Prevent Mine Accidents for Ethnic Children in Quang Tri
In the training, the children have learned a lot about landmines, what to do when they come across explosive ordnance and that we should call emergency numbers. Source: Huong Hoa district Youth Union

The community soccer program not only provides a healthy playground but also raises awareness about the dangers, impacts, and safety behaviors related to unexploded ordnance (UXO) left behind by the war.

The education program is implemented by Project RENEW and district unions with funding from the Irish Aid Agency through the Irish Embassy in Vietnam since 2015.

Through the power and popularity of soccer, the programme provides mine awareness training to children and their families living in UXO-polluted areas in several areas of Vietnam to protect them from landmines and unexploded ordnance.

Quang Tri is the most polluted locality in Vietnam in terms of UXO, which are scattered over 81% of its land area. It will take years to remove all landmines and make areas safe for children and residents. However, children and adults can be safe if they are educated about UXO risks and provided with guidance on what to do when they encounter explosive remnants of war around their homes and gardens, roadsides and school yards.

That’s where Mine Risk Education plays an integral role – by educating children and adults, who must continue to live with the threat of UXO, about how they can live safely, how they can avoid accident and injury, how they can be part of the day-to-day solution to this problem.

With persistent exposure to explosive ordnance safety messages, children, as well as adults in Quang Tri, have become the “eyes and ears” of the mobile teams, by providing lifesaving, accurate information about locations of UXO for timely and safe removal.

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Hannah Nguyen
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