Landmine Victims Compete For A New Leg

13 Oct 2009: I found this story at http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/ and http://www.thenational.ae/ – it’s a story about a Miss Landmine Cambodia contest that was to be held in Phnom Penh in Cambodia as an exhibition showing photos of 20 contestants who are victims of landmine attacks.

Voting was to be held over the internet with the winner receiving a custom made prosthetic leg in December. The Cambodian Government wants to cancel the event saying it’s exploiting these unfortunate victims.

The organizer; Morten Traavik says he wanted to use the contest to raise awareness about landmine victims in third world countries. The same contest was held in Angola last year but it wasn’t without protest groups rallying together claiming it was discriminatory and racist.

They say that hundreds of people a year are killed, or seriously hurt by unexploded landmines that have been left behind, all over the countryside of Cambodia as a painful reminder of the Civil War.

One of the contestants; Song Kosal, who lost her leg in a landmine blast when she was five years old said she has joined the competition not just to win a new prosthetic leg but because she is trying to get landmines banned around the world. She has even been to the White House to present a petition.

I think it’s a great idea to raise awareness about landmine victims but I don’t think they should have to compete to win a new leg, this would be heartbreaking to those who lost; they’ve already been through enough. There are other ways to get international recognition.

To view the whole story, click on one of the above links.