00:00:40.248 --> 00:00:42.250
[ brooding music ]

00:02:29.899 --> 00:02:31.901
[ temple bells ]

00:02:33.987 --> 00:02:36.823
The security of all Southeast Asia

00:02:37.073 --> 00:02:41.661
will be endangered if Laos loses its neutral independence.

00:02:42.495 --> 00:02:44.831
I want to make it clear to the American people

00:02:45.999 --> 00:02:49.460
that all we want in Laos is peace, not war.

00:02:51.045 --> 00:02:53.047
In the words of the Old Testament:

00:02:54.174 --> 00:02:56.092
[ jet engine ]

00:02:56.092 --> 00:02:59.721
"Nation shall not lift up sword against nation."

00:03:00.430 --> 00:03:02.348
[ jet engine ]

00:03:03.266 --> 00:03:06.352
There are no American combat forces in Laos.

00:03:06.978 --> 00:03:08.980
We do have aerial reconnaissance.

00:03:11.649 --> 00:03:12.275
Uh...

00:03:12.275 --> 00:03:14.277
We do have, perhaps, some other activities.

00:03:14.402 --> 00:03:15.945
[ jet engine ]

00:03:16.321 --> 00:03:18.615
I won't discuss those other activities at this time.

00:03:20.658 --> 00:03:22.827
(TV presenter) The United States is said to be flying

00:03:22.827 --> 00:03:25.330
an average of 500 air sorties a day

00:03:25.371 --> 00:03:26.664
sometimes

00:03:26.664 --> 00:03:28.499
as many as 20,000 a month

00:03:28.499 --> 00:03:30.001
against targets in Laos.

00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:32.962
[ dark music ]

00:04:33.731 --> 00:04:35.733
[ gurgling water ]

00:04:48.746 --> 00:04:50.748
[ traditional Lao music ]

00:06:41.943 --> 00:06:43.945
[ temple bells ]

00:06:44.862 --> 00:06:47.490
Six decades ago, this country fell into civil war.

00:06:48.157 --> 00:06:50.493
And as the fighting raged next door in Vietnam,

00:06:51.077 --> 00:06:54.372
your neighbors and foreign powers, including the United States,

00:06:54.372 --> 00:06:55.665
intervened here.

00:06:56.374 --> 00:06:59.335
At the time, the US government did not acknowledge America's role.

00:07:00.002 --> 00:07:02.004
It was a secret war.

00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:04.841
[ dark music ]

00:07:07.593 --> 00:07:11.222
Even now, many Americans are not fully aware of this chapter in our history

00:07:11.222 --> 00:07:13.474
and it's important that we remember it today.

00:07:14.767 --> 00:07:16.310
Over nine years,

00:07:16.435 --> 00:07:17.979
from 1964

00:07:18.354 --> 00:07:19.772
to 1973

00:07:20.606 --> 00:07:23.568
The United States dropped more than two million tons of bombs

00:07:23.568 --> 00:07:24.944
here in Laos.

00:07:25.570 --> 00:07:28.698
More than we dropped on Germany and Japan combined

00:07:28.698 --> 00:07:30.992
during all of World War II.

00:07:31.701 --> 00:07:35.580
It made Laos, per person, the most heavily bombed country in history.

00:07:36.998 --> 00:07:38.624
As one Laotian said,

00:07:38.791 --> 00:07:41.377
"The bombs fell like rain."

00:07:41.919 --> 00:07:43.921
Villages and entire valleys were

00:07:44.714 --> 00:07:46.632
obliterated.

00:07:47.884 --> 00:07:50.094
Countless civilians were killed.

00:07:51.637 --> 00:07:54.098
That conflict was another reminder that,

00:07:54.265 --> 00:07:57.518
whatever the cause, whatever our intentions,

00:07:58.227 --> 00:08:00.980
war inflicts a terrible toll.

00:08:01.189 --> 00:08:03.774
Especially on innocent men, women, and children.

00:11:24.308 --> 00:11:26.310
[ temple bells ]

00:11:31.899 --> 00:11:33.901
[ crickets and cowbells ]

00:11:36.529 --> 00:11:38.531
[ jaunty music ]

00:12:05.182 --> 00:12:07.184
[ loud tractor noise ]

00:12:53.814 --> 00:12:55.816
[ wind and water sounds ]

00:13:00.696 --> 00:13:03.699
[ transplanting rice ]
plop plop plop plop

00:13:31.185 --> 00:13:33.187
[ cowbells and crickets ]

00:13:39.944 --> 00:13:41.946
[ indistinct talking in Lao ]

00:13:45.157 --> 00:13:47.159
[ background talking, dishes clattering ]

00:13:59.338 --> 00:14:01.340
[ crickets ]

00:14:13.269 --> 00:14:15.271
[ crickets and cow mooing ]

00:14:21.694 --> 00:14:23.696
[ pot clattering ]

00:14:28.993 --> 00:14:30.995
[ blowing on crackling fire ]

00:14:38.127 --> 00:14:40.129
[ pot bubbling, spoon scraping ]

00:15:06.447 --> 00:15:08.449
[ birds chirping ]

00:16:13.472 --> 00:16:15.474
[ crickets ]

00:16:23.899 --> 00:16:25.901
[ temple bells ]

00:16:30.197 --> 00:16:32.199
[ slow, plucked string instrument ]

00:16:43.752 --> 00:16:45.254
You know,

00:16:45.254 --> 00:16:48.632
one of the things that we try really hard to do at the Embassy,

00:16:48.716 --> 00:16:50.384
and that many of my predecessors

00:16:50.384 --> 00:16:52.386
and all of our predecessors have done,

00:16:52.594 --> 00:16:55.389
is to give people who come here

00:16:55.889 --> 00:16:59.143
a sense of the

00:16:59.143 --> 00:17:03.230
magnitude of the problem and also our efforts to address it.

00:17:04.398 --> 00:17:06.400
[ unsettled string music ]

00:17:19.872 --> 00:17:21.874
[ building drums ]

00:17:23.083 --> 00:17:25.461
You know, you can know about it, but you don't really know about it

00:17:25.461 --> 00:17:27.046
until you...

00:17:27.046 --> 00:17:28.213
see it.

00:17:28.213 --> 00:17:29.673
One!

00:17:32.551 --> 00:17:34.303
Two!

00:17:36.555 --> 00:17:37.639
Three!

00:17:37.723 --> 00:17:39.725
[ multiple explosions ]

00:17:49.860 --> 00:17:51.862
[ temple bells ]

00:17:54.156 --> 00:17:56.158
Wow! This is so great!

00:17:56.658 --> 00:17:59.453
You know, for a mikah person to

00:17:59.453 --> 00:18:01.205
have so much passion

00:18:01.205 --> 00:18:02.414
to go back to Laos.

00:18:05.751 --> 00:18:07.753
[ explosion ]

00:18:10.214 --> 00:18:12.966
And go back to Laos and help clean up!

00:18:13.175 --> 00:18:15.177
[ calm guitar music ]

00:18:35.948 --> 00:18:37.950
[ indistinct chatting ]

00:18:39.618 --> 00:18:41.620
I pledge allegiance to the flag

00:18:41.620 --> 00:18:43.622
of the United States of America

00:18:44.206 --> 00:18:46.792
and to the republic for which it stands

00:18:46.959 --> 00:18:49.211
one nation, under God

00:18:49.211 --> 00:18:50.504
indivisible

00:18:50.504 --> 00:18:52.506
with liberty and justice for all.

00:18:53.715 --> 00:18:56.927
America dropped about 280 million

00:18:57.177 --> 00:18:59.179
of these little bomblets

00:18:59.263 --> 00:19:00.806
on Laos.

00:19:01.223 --> 00:19:03.475
So, the airplane flew over,

00:19:03.892 --> 00:19:08.021
a canister fell out and opened up like a clamshell,

00:19:08.272 --> 00:19:09.773
and when it opened up,

00:19:09.773 --> 00:19:13.110
670 of these

00:19:13.110 --> 00:19:14.611
fell out.

00:19:14.778 --> 00:19:17.072
And when they landed,

00:19:17.281 --> 00:19:21.410
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba boom!

00:19:22.035 --> 00:19:25.372
The problem, of course, for the cleanup after the war

00:19:25.497 --> 00:19:28.083
is that somewhere between 10 and 30 percent

00:19:28.083 --> 00:19:29.543
didn't go off.

00:19:29.543 --> 00:19:32.754
Maybe they landed in the mud, a little too soft.

00:19:33.005 --> 00:19:34.631
Now they're underground.

00:19:34.756 --> 00:19:37.759
Maybe they fell through triple-canopy rainforest

00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:38.677
through the vines,

00:19:38.677 --> 00:19:40.888
the leaves, the branches.

00:19:41.221 --> 00:19:42.848
Landed too soft.

00:19:42.848 --> 00:19:44.850
If they didn't go off,

00:19:45.225 --> 00:19:47.227
they'll wait to go off.

00:19:47.811 --> 00:19:49.021
They'll wait to go off.

00:19:49.021 --> 00:19:51.023
They're very patient.

00:19:51.190 --> 00:19:53.192
Thanks for being such good listeners!

00:19:53.567 --> 00:19:55.569
[ clapping ]

00:19:55.569 --> 00:19:56.778
Thank you!

00:20:06.955 --> 00:20:08.957
[ indistinct talking and cooking sounds ]

00:20:13.462 --> 00:20:15.255
When we first moved to Wausau

00:20:15.255 --> 00:20:17.257
it was not a diverse community.

00:20:17.257 --> 00:20:18.926
I'm having trouble hearing you

00:20:18.926 --> 00:20:20.928
I'm sorry it must be my phone.

00:20:21.970 --> 00:20:23.347
Hi!

00:20:23.847 --> 00:20:26.516
(Jim)  The first Hmong families

00:20:26.683 --> 00:20:28.310
came to Wausau

00:20:28.435 --> 00:20:30.938
as a consequence of the war ending.

00:20:33.482 --> 00:20:35.567
Marty took it upon herself to

00:20:35.567 --> 00:20:38.111
invite Hmong elders into her school.

00:20:38.946 --> 00:20:43.408
And she would conduct art classes for the elders.

00:20:43.492 --> 00:20:47.120
(Marty)  When it first started we were simply doing...

00:20:48.288 --> 00:20:50.290
I think an educational service.

00:20:51.541 --> 00:20:55.128
(Jim)  When I became a principal of the Weston School

00:20:55.337 --> 00:20:57.339
in 1993,

00:20:57.547 --> 00:21:01.051
there were nine Hmong kids in the building.

00:21:01.385 --> 00:21:05.722
And when I retired 10 years later there were 147.

00:21:06.348 --> 00:21:09.101
So I was born in Laos and

00:21:09.184 --> 00:21:12.562
came to this state when I was four and a half, almost five.

00:21:12.938 --> 00:21:14.648
Way back in the 1980s.

00:21:16.108 --> 00:21:19.945
(Jim)  We very quickly went from just a few families,

00:21:20.278 --> 00:21:22.030
a few individuals,

00:21:22.280 --> 00:21:25.534
to hundreds, and ultimately to thousands.

00:21:26.159 --> 00:21:28.161
Coming to Wausau it was like,

00:21:28.245 --> 00:21:29.579
everything was...

00:21:29.579 --> 00:21:31.581
white American.

00:21:31.748 --> 00:21:34.292
And it's like, "Okay..."

00:21:34.292 --> 00:21:36.420
"This is very different."

00:21:36.503 --> 00:21:37.838
But we kinda got used to it.

00:21:39.298 --> 00:21:41.675
(Jim)  And I would say it loud and proud,

00:21:41.675 --> 00:21:45.721
I think it was the best thing that's happened to Wausau
in my lifetime.

00:21:48.557 --> 00:21:50.559
[ calm guitar music ]

00:21:51.518 --> 00:21:53.520
[ birds singing ]

00:21:54.271 --> 00:21:56.898
(Marty)  Well, it started with a family

00:21:57.441 --> 00:22:00.360
at Jim's school where he was principal.

00:22:00.569 --> 00:22:02.571
Well ask them if they know Jim.

00:22:03.113 --> 00:22:05.324
They'll tell you stories about when I was a principal.

00:22:05.657 --> 00:22:07.659
[ talking on phone ]

00:22:08.744 --> 00:22:11.997
(Marty)  And we just, every year or two we'd add some more.

00:22:12.164 --> 00:22:15.625
So we went from starting with nine or ten gardens
which were

00:22:15.959 --> 00:22:17.961
primarily the elders to

00:22:18.336 --> 00:22:20.839
15, 18.

00:22:38.190 --> 00:22:40.192
[ indistinct talking ]

00:22:40.192 --> 00:22:41.485
I can't swim!

00:22:41.485 --> 00:22:44.237
And the baby can't swim.
How are we gonna get across?

00:22:44.780 --> 00:22:46.656
You know, in reality a Hmong person

00:22:46.656 --> 00:22:48.658
should be doing this.

00:22:49.034 --> 00:22:51.036
But yet, it's not.

00:22:51.578 --> 00:22:55.123
It's a mikah person who loves the Hmong people
so much.

00:22:56.458 --> 00:22:59.961
I told you about going into the refugee camp?

00:23:00.128 --> 00:23:04.216
Where you have to stay until they find a home for you
in America?

00:23:04.633 --> 00:23:05.967
Goodness...

00:23:06.259 --> 00:23:10.138
Can you find anybody on that crossing with the bamboo poles?

00:23:10.430 --> 00:23:12.432
Yeah. Right there. Yeah.

00:23:13.725 --> 00:23:15.727
We can take our kids there

00:23:15.852 --> 00:23:18.855
and remember what our life used to be.

00:23:20.774 --> 00:23:22.401
Every time

00:23:22.901 --> 00:23:24.903
we have the museum open,

00:23:25.570 --> 00:23:27.572
without fail,

00:23:27.572 --> 00:23:31.243
somebody, some member of the public or the community will say,

00:23:31.952 --> 00:23:33.954
"I had no idea."

00:23:34.413 --> 00:23:35.997
When a war ends,

00:23:36.164 --> 00:23:39.000
all the bombs that were dropped that didn't explode

00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:42.421
are still in the land and dangerous.

00:23:43.505 --> 00:23:45.549
You know, I don't know at what stage I thought,

00:23:45.549 --> 00:23:48.176
"Oh, thus and such is gonna happen next."

00:23:48.176 --> 00:23:49.594
I think it just grew.

00:23:49.761 --> 00:23:50.929
It evolved.

00:23:52.722 --> 00:23:54.724
[ calm guitar music ]

00:23:57.352 --> 00:24:00.689
So I thought for a couple or three years,

00:24:00.689 --> 00:24:04.317
I really thought my mission was to raise consciousness.

00:24:04.609 --> 00:24:09.197
And that if I told a lot of people about what I had seen,

00:24:09.197 --> 00:24:11.032
and the victims that I had met

00:24:11.032 --> 00:24:13.869
that I would be raising consciousness and then

00:24:13.869 --> 00:24:16.788
something good was gonna happen.

00:24:17.080 --> 00:24:19.082
And that's when I had my epiphany.

00:24:19.708 --> 00:24:21.960
I thought, "No..."

00:24:22.461 --> 00:24:25.797
People are living or dying

00:24:26.673 --> 00:24:30.218
because of the effects of the UXO.

00:24:32.220 --> 00:24:34.431
(Jim)  Because if somebody doesn't do something,

00:24:34.514 --> 00:24:36.516
raising consciousness,

00:24:36.683 --> 00:24:40.228
making some well-intentioned people feel guilty,

00:24:40.312 --> 00:24:42.063
that isn't gonna change anything.

00:24:42.147 --> 00:24:44.482
And that was the day I said, "Oh. Well then.

00:24:44.941 --> 00:24:47.486
The hell with consciousness raising.

00:24:48.278 --> 00:24:50.280
I'm gonna go do something."

00:24:50.280 --> 00:24:52.657
And that was the day that I resolved that

00:24:52.657 --> 00:24:55.118
I would start removing ordnance.

00:24:57.787 --> 00:24:59.789
[ explosion ]

00:25:03.335 --> 00:25:05.337
[ truck grinding ]

00:25:09.508 --> 00:25:11.509
[ explosion ]

00:25:14.804 --> 00:25:16.806
So, someone like Jim,

00:25:16.806 --> 00:25:18.808
who is out, um...

00:25:19.142 --> 00:25:21.144
working on this UXO issue,

00:25:21.561 --> 00:25:23.146
he is making an impact

00:25:23.146 --> 00:25:25.649
in the villages in which he is working

00:25:26.191 --> 00:25:28.777
on a very human way.

00:25:29.736 --> 00:25:31.738
[ explosion ]

00:25:40.163 --> 00:25:42.165
[ massive white phosphorus explosion ]

00:25:47.504 --> 00:25:49.506
[ temple bells ]

00:25:51.549 --> 00:25:53.551
In my military career I've worked on

00:25:53.551 --> 00:25:55.554
many bombing ranges

00:25:55.929 --> 00:25:57.764
where no one lived.

00:25:58.139 --> 00:26:01.351
And I always describe Laos as the biggest bombing range

00:26:01.351 --> 00:26:04.479
where people are actually living on the range itself.

00:26:05.272 --> 00:26:08.191
So I was in the military for 22 years

00:26:08.191 --> 00:26:10.193
as an EOD operator.

00:26:10.318 --> 00:26:11.653
Retired.

00:26:11.903 --> 00:26:14.906
And I've been here ever since, working for different NGOs

00:26:14.906 --> 00:26:16.908
and different commercial companies.

00:26:17.951 --> 00:26:20.453
In the provinces, I wouldn't put a shovel in the ground

00:26:20.453 --> 00:26:22.664
without using a metal detector, mine detector

00:26:22.664 --> 00:26:25.959
to make sure there were no ordnance underneath the ground.

00:26:28.211 --> 00:26:29.921
Huge problem.

00:26:30.255 --> 00:26:31.965
Huge problem.

00:26:33.133 --> 00:26:34.718
People still getting killed.

00:26:34.718 --> 00:26:36.928
Children, adults are still getting killed every

00:26:37.012 --> 00:26:39.014
week in the provinces.

00:26:51.860 --> 00:26:53.862
[ somber music ]

00:28:38.883 --> 00:28:43.012
I find myself using the figure 20,000 casualties

00:28:43.012 --> 00:28:44.931
post-conflict, in Lao.

00:28:45.348 --> 00:28:47.976
Those are the people who were killed or injured.

00:28:48.601 --> 00:28:52.647
In Lao, half the population probably lives on uncleared land.

00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:54.941
So the fear factor.

00:28:54.941 --> 00:29:00.613
You may have 20,000 killed or injured,
but you have millions of people who live in fear.

00:29:09.789 --> 00:29:11.791
[ chickens ]

00:29:27.348 --> 00:29:29.142
[ somber string music ]

00:29:46.743 --> 00:29:48.536
[ somber string music ]

00:30:00.256 --> 00:30:02.258
[ water sounds ]

00:31:27.969 --> 00:31:31.097
This last trip to Lao was especially...

00:31:31.097 --> 00:31:32.599
hard.

00:31:32.599 --> 00:31:34.601
A little 12-year-old girl

00:31:34.601 --> 00:31:36.603
named Sunsamei.

00:31:37.270 --> 00:31:39.897
Her family aspired to do coffee.

00:31:41.691 --> 00:31:43.693
And every Saturday

00:31:43.985 --> 00:31:46.696
that Sunsamei wasn't in school she'd go with her mother

00:31:46.696 --> 00:31:49.073
and they'd plant more seedlings.

00:31:49.824 --> 00:31:51.826
The very last day

00:31:52.535 --> 00:31:54.537
of their planting effort

00:31:54.996 --> 00:31:56.998
everybody was tired.

00:31:57.165 --> 00:32:01.669
Sunsamei said to her aunt, "Auntie, I'll carry your hoe for you."

00:32:01.753 --> 00:32:04.255
And so she took the aunt's hoe.

00:32:04.380 --> 00:32:06.674
And as she walked, she wasn't using the hoe as a tool

00:32:06.674 --> 00:32:09.802
she simply walked along with the hoe as a walking stick.

00:32:36.829 --> 00:32:39.123
And she happened to

00:32:39.499 --> 00:32:42.210
set the head of the hoe down and hit

00:32:43.002 --> 00:32:45.672
a 20mm shell

00:32:45.755 --> 00:32:47.298
the size of my thumb.

00:33:46.023 --> 00:33:48.026
[ temple bells ]

00:33:50.403 --> 00:33:52.947
The Lao government has made priorities based on

00:33:53.197 --> 00:33:55.908
provincial coordination and

00:33:55.908 --> 00:33:58.202
the contamination level in each province.

00:33:58.536 --> 00:34:00.788
Because the problem is so dense.

00:34:01.497 --> 00:34:02.874
The sheer amount

00:34:02.874 --> 00:34:04.876
is enormous.

00:34:05.543 --> 00:34:07.545
So nine provinces are prioritized.

00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:09.505
And the rest are not.

00:34:09.672 --> 00:34:11.799
That doesn't mean that they don't have contamination.

00:34:11.883 --> 00:34:15.678
But the resources to deal with that is simply not in place.

00:34:29.358 --> 00:34:33.404
Vientiane Province is not the priority province.

00:34:33.780 --> 00:34:35.782
(Per) There is an enormous problem.

00:34:36.616 --> 00:34:38.618
Three to four hundred million US dollars.

00:34:38.743 --> 00:34:40.745
Five hundred million US dollars.

00:34:41.037 --> 00:34:42.288
Something like that.

00:34:42.288 --> 00:34:44.874
Then the problem can be manageable.

00:34:49.128 --> 00:34:51.130
[ calm guitar music ]

00:34:56.636 --> 00:34:58.638
[ car zooming ]

00:35:04.477 --> 00:35:06.479
[ indistinct talking ]

00:35:15.029 --> 00:35:16.405
Phongsali

00:35:16.405 --> 00:35:18.616
has never had any assistance up there

00:35:18.616 --> 00:35:21.369
since the end of the war, apart from

00:35:21.369 --> 00:35:25.164
Jim Harris who's come out and hired a rapid response team.

00:35:26.374 --> 00:35:28.876
(Jim)  What we found in Phongsali, you know,

00:35:28.876 --> 00:35:32.046
everything that America dropped on Phongsali 40 years ago

00:35:32.046 --> 00:35:35.383
if it didn't explode when it hit the ground, it's still there.

00:35:44.100 --> 00:35:46.102
[ calm guitar music ]

00:35:56.237 --> 00:35:58.239
[ water and voices ]

00:36:01.242 --> 00:36:03.244
[ children's voices playing ]

00:36:12.295 --> 00:36:14.297
[ crying and laughter ]

00:36:15.047 --> 00:36:17.049
[ ominous guitar ]

00:36:26.517 --> 00:36:29.061
(Jim)  I was sleeping at the clinic

00:36:29.270 --> 00:36:31.606
That's where we had our camp, at the clinic,

00:36:31.606 --> 00:36:33.774
and he brought me a mortar!

00:36:34.025 --> 00:36:36.944
I think I remember, when they built the house they had to

00:36:36.944 --> 00:36:38.571
fill in a crater.

00:36:38.946 --> 00:36:40.615
Do I remember that right?

00:36:40.865 --> 00:36:42.867
[ talking in Lao ]

00:36:43.910 --> 00:36:45.244
(Song) OK, the bomb crater is

00:36:45.244 --> 00:36:46.954
just here.

00:36:46.954 --> 00:36:49.790
And we cleared the land so he could

00:36:49.790 --> 00:36:51.792
build the house.

00:36:54.879 --> 00:36:56.881
[ motorcycles, birds twittering ]

00:36:58.883 --> 00:37:00.885
It's hard, even after five years.

00:37:01.093 --> 00:37:03.095
And things have changed.

00:37:06.098 --> 00:37:08.100
Well, I'm glad I'm not coming back in my 80s.

00:37:08.100 --> 00:37:10.102
I wouldn't have a chance.

00:37:11.979 --> 00:37:13.981
Tell this man I'm looking for his bomb!

00:37:14.148 --> 00:37:16.150
[ laughter ]

00:37:16.817 --> 00:37:18.402
I've probably dealt with

00:37:18.402 --> 00:37:20.404
I don't know ... four or five hundred

00:37:20.696 --> 00:37:23.616
big bombs. But they're the ones that have been
on the surface.

00:37:24.075 --> 00:37:26.077
No one has started digging out the big bombs

00:37:26.077 --> 00:37:28.079
that are buried.

00:37:28.412 --> 00:37:30.414
[ talking in Lao ]

00:37:31.248 --> 00:37:33.251
He says the bomb is buried

00:37:33.751 --> 00:37:35.044
here!

00:37:35.127 --> 00:37:36.921
(Jim)  When I was here five years ago

00:37:36.921 --> 00:37:38.714
we dug and we looked.

00:37:38.714 --> 00:37:41.008
We did not have a team big enough.

00:37:41.550 --> 00:37:44.136
If we found it, we couldn't do anything with it.

00:37:44.136 --> 00:37:45.346
That was the problem.

00:37:46.681 --> 00:37:49.225
This bomb has given me nightmares.

00:37:51.352 --> 00:37:53.354
[ talking in Lao ]

00:37:53.896 --> 00:37:56.107
[ ominous music ]

00:38:16.919 --> 00:38:19.422
And there was one over there? They said the story was

00:38:19.422 --> 00:38:21.549
that there was a fire last week that exploded?

00:38:21.549 --> 00:38:22.591
Yes!

00:38:54.999 --> 00:38:56.625
[ ominous music ]

00:38:56.876 --> 00:39:00.129
(Jim) There's an accident that was never probably reported.

00:39:00.254 --> 00:39:02.256
So we say, "How many accidents a year?"

00:39:02.423 --> 00:39:04.425
It's just part of life.

00:39:05.051 --> 00:39:07.053
If nobody was seriously injured, why,

00:39:07.344 --> 00:39:09.972
why take the time to report an accident?

00:39:10.598 --> 00:39:12.600
[ talking in Lao ]

00:39:13.142 --> 00:39:15.144
[ distant popping sounds ]

00:39:39.251 --> 00:39:41.253
[ wind in the hills ]

00:40:00.439 --> 00:40:02.441
[ distant motorcycles, radio ]

00:40:23.420 --> 00:40:25.422
(Song)  Huh. Chisels here.

00:40:25.422 --> 00:40:27.425
Tap-tap-tap...

00:40:29.343 --> 00:40:31.345
OH! WHOA! NO NO NO!

00:40:40.646 --> 00:40:42.648
[ rooster crows ]

00:40:51.282 --> 00:40:53.284
[ people talking in Lao ]

00:40:53.409 --> 00:40:55.411
[ rooster crows ]

00:41:00.040 --> 00:41:01.667
Here we go...

00:41:01.750 --> 00:41:02.835
Inside...

00:41:03.002 --> 00:41:03.586
There!

00:41:03.586 --> 00:41:05.171
Right there. See the booster?

00:41:50.049 --> 00:41:52.051
[ Chickens clucking in background ]

00:41:56.222 --> 00:41:58.224
[ rooster crows ]

00:42:16.075 --> 00:42:18.077
[ chickens clucking in background ]

00:42:37.596 --> 00:42:39.598
[ temple bells ]

00:42:42.559 --> 00:42:44.561
[ traditional Hmong music ]

00:42:57.950 --> 00:42:59.952
(Jim)  The Bolaven Plateau

00:42:59.952 --> 00:43:01.954
in southern Laos

00:43:02.329 --> 00:43:05.958
is one of the premier coffee regions of the world.

00:43:07.960 --> 00:43:11.463
It should be known around the world like Jamaican Blue Mountain.

00:43:11.463 --> 00:43:13.465
Like Kona in Hawaii.

00:43:13.674 --> 00:43:15.676
Seven months...

00:43:15.676 --> 00:43:17.678
eight months...

00:43:17.678 --> 00:43:19.680
for harvest.

00:43:20.681 --> 00:43:23.267
(Jim)  I've got photographs following the bean

00:43:23.267 --> 00:43:25.436
from the bush to the roaster.

00:43:25.769 --> 00:43:28.689
What I tell people is, it's direct trade.

00:43:29.189 --> 00:43:31.191
I know the farmers.

00:43:31.191 --> 00:43:33.610
These are from family farms.

00:43:43.912 --> 00:43:45.914
I have 800 pounds to sell

00:43:45.914 --> 00:43:49.585
so I can take a team and go clear ordnance.

00:43:57.593 --> 00:44:01.305
We tell people, "You know, you're not just buying coffee."

00:44:04.475 --> 00:44:06.477
[ bird song ]

00:44:06.894 --> 00:44:08.896
[ plucky guitar music ]

00:44:09.813 --> 00:44:12.358
Given the modest resources that we have,

00:44:12.650 --> 00:44:15.027
and I've never gone to Lao for a work project

00:44:15.027 --> 00:44:17.571
where I had in excess of $20,000,

00:44:18.530 --> 00:44:21.575
what is our work about if it's so modest?

00:44:22.117 --> 00:44:24.536
We want to be a demonstration project.

00:44:25.037 --> 00:44:27.790
Let's approach the problem in a way

00:44:27.915 --> 00:44:30.834
that we make something more positive happen

00:44:30.834 --> 00:44:33.253
when we leave.

00:44:37.549 --> 00:44:39.551
[ plucky guitar music ]

00:44:48.268 --> 00:44:50.270
[ indistinct talking ]

00:45:00.489 --> 00:45:03.617
[ temple bells ]

00:45:06.578 --> 00:45:09.164
[ soft string music ]

00:45:11.750 --> 00:45:13.752
[ birdsong ]

00:45:15.212 --> 00:45:16.922
[ camera click ]

00:45:38.485 --> 00:45:39.987
(Jim)  I don't know that I've ever

00:45:39.987 --> 00:45:41.989
been involved in a project

00:45:41.989 --> 00:45:44.491
an occupation, avocation, hobby

00:45:45.117 --> 00:45:47.119
special interest that's

00:45:47.119 --> 00:45:49.955
quite as important to me as the work I do here.

00:45:52.082 --> 00:45:54.668
[ soft string music ]

00:46:05.846 --> 00:46:07.848
[ pounding ]
pok pok pok

00:46:15.230 --> 00:46:17.232
[ indistinct talking, birdsong ]

00:46:20.194 --> 00:46:22.863
And nobody, nobody knows before they come here.

00:46:22.863 --> 00:46:25.240
You know I think there's a really shocking lack

00:46:25.282 --> 00:46:27.367
of awareness and knowledge.

00:46:27.367 --> 00:46:29.703
I mean it was a secret war, right?

00:46:30.370 --> 00:46:34.374
But why there's not more Americans becoming passionate about it

00:46:34.666 --> 00:46:36.668
um, again, I don't know.

00:46:37.669 --> 00:46:39.671
[ pounding ]
pok pok pok

00:46:40.130 --> 00:46:42.132
(Marty)  This many years later I feel like

00:46:42.299 --> 00:46:43.884
he wants to give back.

00:46:43.884 --> 00:46:47.262
kind of on behalf of the citizens of our country,

00:46:47.804 --> 00:46:49.806
people in our community,

00:46:49.806 --> 00:46:52.351
people in our circle of friends and acquaintances

00:46:52.684 --> 00:46:56.146
who really did object to that war effort.

00:46:57.314 --> 00:47:00.776
Seeing the legacy that's left here in the landscape of Lao

00:47:01.151 --> 00:47:05.614
and knowing that the US is underserving that cleanup

00:47:05.989 --> 00:47:08.742
I think that really adds to his commitment.

00:47:10.661 --> 00:47:12.663
[ jaunty Hmong music ]

00:48:32.576 --> 00:48:34.202
I mean for us, it's a

00:48:34.202 --> 00:48:36.038
it's a partnership made in heaven

00:48:36.038 --> 00:48:37.539
I don't know what we'd do if we didn't have it.

00:48:37.539 --> 00:48:41.835
Because we would really struggle to implement
any of our projects if we didn't have

00:48:41.835 --> 00:48:43.337
his support.

00:48:43.337 --> 00:48:46.882
I'm actually shocked at how many NGOs here don't consider it

00:48:46.882 --> 00:48:50.260
and don't think about it when they're working in UXO contaminated areas.

00:48:50.427 --> 00:48:52.429
For us it's really really strong

00:48:52.429 --> 00:48:54.264
that we will not do any of that work

00:48:54.264 --> 00:48:56.433
 without UXO clearance.

00:48:59.936 --> 00:49:01.938
[ leaves crunching ]

00:49:03.482 --> 00:49:05.484
[ metal detector beeping ]

00:49:07.736 --> 00:49:09.738
[ metal detector beeping ]

00:49:14.868 --> 00:49:17.371
(Jim)  The Japanese made a contribution

00:49:17.496 --> 00:49:20.207
of a massive device

00:49:20.207 --> 00:49:23.460
that was supposed to grind over the Lao countryside

00:49:23.460 --> 00:49:25.462
and detonate cluster bombs.

00:49:25.963 --> 00:49:28.882
And it arrived in Lao with a lot of fanfare.

00:49:29.508 --> 00:49:33.553
It weighed too much to cross over any of the bridges in Lao.

00:49:33.804 --> 00:49:35.806
And it failed.

00:49:37.140 --> 00:49:38.892
It comes down to

00:49:39.059 --> 00:49:42.145
a Lao technician, a Lao deminer, and a metal detector

00:49:42.270 --> 00:49:43.981
looking for the ordnance

00:49:43.981 --> 00:49:46.900
and then blowing them up, one piece at a time.

00:49:50.821 --> 00:49:52.823
The particular challenge in this site

00:49:52.948 --> 00:49:54.408
is the danger.

00:49:54.408 --> 00:49:55.826
The road is dangerous.

00:49:55.826 --> 00:49:57.786
We came by some areas that

00:49:57.911 --> 00:50:01.707
are there today but wouldn't be there
if we had two solid days of heavy rain.

00:50:01.707 --> 00:50:03.125
That road will go.

00:50:03.125 --> 00:50:04.793
It'll be washed away.

00:50:04.793 --> 00:50:06.795
And our team, our guys justifiably

00:50:06.795 --> 00:50:08.797
are a little worried about their own safety.

00:50:08.797 --> 00:50:11.883
They know that if they get injured over here

00:50:11.883 --> 00:50:13.885
– and it wouldn't have to be bombs –

00:50:13.885 --> 00:50:16.513
you know you get speared with a spike of bamboo.

00:50:16.513 --> 00:50:18.890
You get bit by a snake. You could have

00:50:18.890 --> 00:50:20.267
heatstroke.

00:50:20.267 --> 00:50:22.269
 All kinds of things that are hazards here.

00:50:22.269 --> 00:50:24.479
And, and on top of that, the bombs.

00:50:24.479 --> 00:50:26.648
And our guys have to have in mind that

00:50:26.648 --> 00:50:28.775
if they were critically injured

00:50:29.568 --> 00:50:30.318
the best we

00:50:30.318 --> 00:50:33.530
can hope for, we have a relationship with CARE

00:50:33.530 --> 00:50:34.322
and they've said, "Well,

00:50:34.322 --> 00:50:36.324
you start down the mountain...

00:50:36.533 --> 00:50:39.828
 and if you get to an impasse, we'll come up

00:50:39.828 --> 00:50:42.372
from down below. And then we'll transfer the person."

00:50:42.873 --> 00:50:43.999
Well,

00:50:45.917 --> 00:50:47.919
That's not ideal.

00:50:49.421 --> 00:50:52.090
We are here. Let's give our guys credit.

00:50:52.424 --> 00:50:54.426
We are here taking the risk.

00:50:57.471 --> 00:50:59.473
[ metal detector whirring ]

00:51:05.061 --> 00:51:07.063
[ traditional Hmong song ]

00:51:07.939 --> 00:51:09.941
It's interesting. If you overlay a map of

00:51:10.233 --> 00:51:12.235
UXO contamination

00:51:12.569 --> 00:51:13.737
in Laos with a

00:51:13.737 --> 00:51:15.739
poverty map of Laos

00:51:15.781 --> 00:51:18.658
the areas are very much the same.

00:51:20.744 --> 00:51:23.705
It's not because of UXO that the poverty is there.

00:51:24.081 --> 00:51:26.083
Those are upland areas

00:51:26.083 --> 00:51:28.085
where the Ho Chi Minh Trail happened to go.

00:51:28.543 --> 00:51:31.088
But it's just a very bad combination of elements

00:51:31.088 --> 00:51:33.298
that has led to that.

00:51:36.343 --> 00:51:38.345
[ breeze ]

00:51:40.305 --> 00:51:42.307
[ hoeing earth ]
chop chop chop

00:51:49.439 --> 00:51:52.651
It's now a really terrible combination of those factors

00:51:52.651 --> 00:51:54.653
coming together in those areas

00:51:54.653 --> 00:51:57.697
all along the eastern border of Laos.

00:51:58.532 --> 00:52:00.534
[ metal detector whirring ]

00:52:03.328 --> 00:52:05.330
It's hard to build roads here.

00:52:05.330 --> 00:52:07.415
It's hard to do

00:52:07.415 --> 00:52:09.626
a variety of things that you would

00:52:09.626 --> 00:52:13.213
expect a country at this stage of its development

00:52:13.213 --> 00:52:14.339
to be doing

00:52:14.756 --> 00:52:16.967
because of the contamination.

00:52:16.967 --> 00:52:19.219
And as the population

00:52:19.719 --> 00:52:23.098
ventures out to look for more areas to farm

00:52:23.515 --> 00:52:25.517
it will continue to be a problem.

00:52:26.977 --> 00:52:28.979
[ metal detector whirring ]

00:52:31.189 --> 00:52:33.191
[ temple bells ]

00:52:34.025 --> 00:52:36.027
[ birdsong ]

00:52:36.278 --> 00:52:38.280
[ traditional Hmong music ]

00:52:40.365 --> 00:52:42.367
[ rooster crowing ]

00:52:54.713 --> 00:52:56.715
[ joking, laughter ]

00:52:57.424 --> 00:52:59.426
[ truck grinding ]

00:53:16.818 --> 00:53:19.946
Considering the bombing patterns on the Ho Chi Minh Trail,

00:53:19.946 --> 00:53:24.117
the last thing you would do would be to try to apply logic to it.

00:53:28.705 --> 00:53:31.958
It's that belief, that American belief in technology.

00:53:32.959 --> 00:53:34.961
"We'll find a way."

00:53:36.171 --> 00:53:38.173
Oh, we did cloud seeding.

00:53:38.173 --> 00:53:40.634
We thought that if we could make it rain more

00:53:40.842 --> 00:53:45.513
we would extend the rainy season and that would make the trail impassible.

00:53:49.059 --> 00:53:52.729
Maybe this is one of those spurs that they

00:53:53.396 --> 00:53:57.025
hit with laundry detergent, hoping they could make it so slippery that

00:53:57.025 --> 00:53:59.027
the people couldn't get their footing

00:53:59.027 --> 00:54:01.863
and the trucks couldn't get any purchase on the trail.

00:54:02.364 --> 00:54:04.366
Or it could be one of the spurs

00:54:04.366 --> 00:54:07.369
that we dropped cases of beer

00:54:07.369 --> 00:54:10.747
in the hope that the porters would get inebriated

00:54:10.747 --> 00:54:12.749
and couldn't proceed.

00:54:17.295 --> 00:54:19.297
[ quiet munching ]

00:54:26.471 --> 00:54:28.473
I've always told myself

00:54:28.473 --> 00:54:31.059
I'll come here, I'll work with the team

00:54:31.434 --> 00:54:34.938
be a part of that as long as I'm not slowing the team down.

00:54:35.188 --> 00:54:36.940
But if I reach the point where

00:54:36.940 --> 00:54:38.942
my age, my physical condition

00:54:38.942 --> 00:54:42.404
keeps the team from being effective, then I'm done.

00:54:42.570 --> 00:54:44.030
[ laughter ]

00:54:44.990 --> 00:54:46.992
Just careful you don't catch your crotch.

00:54:50.328 --> 00:54:52.330
[ slow, traditional Hmong tune ]

00:55:02.132 --> 00:55:04.050
(Paul)  Even if they don't find anything

00:55:04.050 --> 00:55:05.719
the farmer didn't know that before.

00:55:05.719 --> 00:55:07.304
He didn't know what was under the ground.

00:55:07.304 --> 00:55:09.306
So every time he was swinging a hoe

00:55:09.431 --> 00:55:11.433
potentially he was risking his life.

00:55:11.433 --> 00:55:13.435
Or her life.

00:55:17.897 --> 00:55:19.899
[ chatting in Lao ]

00:55:27.866 --> 00:55:30.618
[ joking, laughing ]

00:55:41.421 --> 00:55:43.423
[ lively music ]

00:55:50.096 --> 00:55:52.098
One two three!

00:56:55.912 --> 00:56:57.914
[ anxious percussion music ]

00:56:59.582 --> 00:57:01.584
[ truck clanking ]

00:57:09.300 --> 00:57:11.302
[ softly talking ]

00:57:32.907 --> 00:57:34.909
[ increasingly anxious music ]

00:57:46.171 --> 00:57:48.173
[ talking in Lao ]

00:58:02.979 --> 00:58:04.981
[ lively drumming music ]

00:58:30.840 --> 00:58:32.842
[ lively drumming music ]

00:58:55.281 --> 00:58:57.158
One!

00:58:57.283 --> 00:58:59.285
Two!

00:58:59.452 --> 00:59:00.995
Three!

00:59:02.664 --> 00:59:04.666
[ loud bang ]

00:59:12.924 --> 00:59:15.885
(Jim)  This is the most dangerous part of the whole process.

00:59:16.594 --> 00:59:19.722
The only two clearance workers I've known who've been killed

00:59:19.722 --> 00:59:22.809
were both killed post-demolition.

01:00:05.476 --> 01:00:07.145
Three!

01:00:07.312 --> 01:00:09.022
Two!

01:00:09.147 --> 01:00:10.648
One!

01:00:11.774 --> 01:00:13.776
[ loud bang ]

01:00:21.326 --> 01:00:22.285
Finished.

01:00:22.285 --> 01:00:24.287
All done here? Finished here? Okay.

01:00:30.543 --> 01:00:31.502
30 minutes?

01:00:31.502 --> 01:00:33.504
Yeah, not bad.

01:00:34.422 --> 01:00:36.424
Not even morning break.

01:00:37.842 --> 01:00:38.926
10:30.

01:00:39.635 --> 01:00:41.220
Nice job.

01:00:44.015 --> 01:00:46.017
[ soothing music ]

01:01:06.204 --> 01:01:08.206
Ohhh!

01:01:25.640 --> 01:01:27.642
[ loud chatting ]

01:01:29.185 --> 01:01:31.187
People back home ask me,

01:01:31.521 --> 01:01:34.357
"Do you get lonely when you go to Lao?"

01:01:34.649 --> 01:01:38.236
Well, sure. I miss my Wisconsin friends when I travel here.

01:01:38.236 --> 01:01:41.364
But when I go back to Wisconsin I miss my Lao friends.

01:01:50.081 --> 01:01:52.083
[ birdsong ]

01:01:55.753 --> 01:01:57.755
I don't think I, personally,

01:01:58.339 --> 01:02:00.341
bear the responsibility

01:02:00.717 --> 01:02:03.428
to act on behalf of my government.

01:02:04.095 --> 01:02:06.097
But I think the victims

01:02:06.514 --> 01:02:08.641
in order to deal

01:02:08.641 --> 01:02:10.643
with their grief, their anger

01:02:11.561 --> 01:02:14.063
they need somebody to step up and say,

01:02:14.188 --> 01:02:17.567
"On behalf of America, I would like to

01:02:18.109 --> 01:02:20.486
make this gesture of kindness to you."

01:02:21.195 --> 01:02:23.197
Take another one. Take two, they're small.

01:02:23.448 --> 01:02:24.282
[ camera click ]

01:02:24.574 --> 01:02:27.034
Team Leader! One more! Come on Team Leader!

01:02:27.368 --> 01:02:29.370
And if my government's not gonna do that,

01:02:29.787 --> 01:02:31.789
then I think I should.

01:02:37.420 --> 01:02:39.422
[ crying ]

01:02:40.757 --> 01:02:42.759
[ melancholy music ]

01:02:43.426 --> 01:02:45.428
[ deminer singing in Lao ]

01:02:47.472 --> 01:02:49.098
Can't smile...

01:02:49.515 --> 01:02:51.517
Oh! Can't smile...

01:02:52.018 --> 01:02:54.020
Wait a minute...

01:02:56.314 --> 01:02:57.398
Oh!

01:02:58.983 --> 01:03:00.985
Ohhh!

01:03:02.737 --> 01:03:03.321
[ camera click ]

01:03:04.030 --> 01:03:05.615
Sorry!

01:03:05.615 --> 01:03:07.617
It's okay!

01:03:10.328 --> 01:03:12.330
[ melancholy music ]

01:03:15.917 --> 01:03:17.919
Okay! Sorry, sorry!

01:03:20.254 --> 01:03:21.589
Bye!

01:03:21.589 --> 01:03:23.591
Goodbye guys!

01:03:29.722 --> 01:03:31.098
[ truck honks ]

01:03:33.142 --> 01:03:35.144
Bye bye!

01:03:37.104 --> 01:03:39.106
Boots on the ground.

01:03:42.318 --> 01:03:45.696
It's a retired school principal from Wisconsin.

01:03:54.330 --> 01:03:59.126
I offer it to people as an example of how little we are really doing.

01:03:59.627 --> 01:04:03.881
And I don't think we're trying very hard to clean the place up.

01:04:13.516 --> 01:04:15.518
So today I'm proud to announce

01:04:15.810 --> 01:04:17.812
a historic increase in these efforts.

01:04:18.312 --> 01:04:20.314
The United States will double our annual funding

01:04:20.731 --> 01:04:23.067
to $90 million over the next three years

01:04:23.359 --> 01:04:25.903
to help Laos expand its work.

01:04:26.195 --> 01:04:28.197
[ loud applause ]

01:04:32.493 --> 01:04:36.873
But it's still shockingly low compared to how much they spent
bombing the country, right?

01:04:37.415 --> 01:04:39.834
We're giving for a whole year of cleanup

01:04:40.251 --> 01:04:44.213
what we used to spend on days, just days of bombing.

01:04:44.463 --> 01:04:46.841
We're certainly the biggest donor in the sector.

01:04:48.926 --> 01:04:50.386
But compared...

01:04:50.386 --> 01:04:53.139
Compared with, I know, it's not enough!

01:04:55.057 --> 01:04:57.059
The sort of money we give,

01:04:57.685 --> 01:05:01.147
you could dismiss it as pocket change. I say to people,

01:05:01.272 --> 01:05:03.774
it's not even pocket change.

01:05:03.774 --> 01:05:07.278
It's the lint in the pocket where you keep your pocket change.

01:05:07.278 --> 01:05:09.280
[ momentous piano music ]

01:05:38.559 --> 01:05:40.561
[ eerie music ]

01:05:43.689 --> 01:05:45.691
[ silent historical video ]

01:06:05.753 --> 01:06:07.755
[ melancholy music ]

01:06:20.810 --> 01:06:23.062
How much land remains to be cleared?

01:06:23.437 --> 01:06:26.190
Over 32,000 square kilometers.

01:06:30.528 --> 01:06:31.404
Heh.

01:06:31.737 --> 01:06:34.323
Are you asking how long it's gonna take to clear?

01:06:34.448 --> 01:06:34.949
Um...

01:06:35.992 --> 01:06:37.702
[ loud bang ]

01:06:37.994 --> 01:06:39.870
It will probably never be cleared.

01:06:39.870 --> 01:06:41.080
There will always be

01:06:41.080 --> 01:06:43.708
remnants of war left.

01:06:51.882 --> 01:06:54.176
I think it's the US's mess

01:06:54.176 --> 01:06:57.179
and the US should be taking care of this mess

01:06:57.471 --> 01:07:00.474
with funding, personnel, whatever it takes.

01:07:06.105 --> 01:07:08.107
[ melancholy music ]

01:07:09.316 --> 01:07:11.318
The goal that the Lao have set is to

01:07:11.444 --> 01:07:14.447
clear UXO as a barrier to national development

01:07:14.447 --> 01:07:15.781
by 2030.

01:07:16.198 --> 01:07:17.783
It is a solvable problem.

01:07:17.783 --> 01:07:19.201
It is a resource problem.

01:07:51.067 --> 01:07:53.068
[ melancholy music ]

01:08:39.865 --> 01:08:41.867
[ cowbells and crickets ]

01:09:27.162 --> 01:09:30.124
[ temple bells ]

01:10:44.406 --> 01:10:47.743
[ loud cicadas and flowing water ]