I have a couple friends who have traveled to Cambodia in recent years and visited the Landmine Museum. The founder of the museum — Aki Ra, a former child soldier of the Khmer Rouge — is working to make his country safer and raise awareness about the millions of landmines and unexploded ordinance scattered around. These friends decided to help his cause, and in turn, I chose to help theirs.
In the past few weeks, we’ve organized a community event in Seattle: Demine Valentine:
Among other things, it includes drinks, a buffet dinner, silent auction, and speaker Jill Morse from the Landmine Relief Fund. Also, we’re making landmine-shaped chocolates as giveaways (more on that process later). Our goal is to raise $5,000, enough to de-mine a village in Cambodia.
Although it’s taken up a decent amount of my time recently, it’s been thoroughly rewarding, knowing that our efforts very directly contribute to making another community safer. If you live in Seattle, you should consider joining us on Tuesday night at Demine Valentine.
[ If you’re not going to be in Seattle on Tuesday but would like to make a donation, the Landmine Relief Fund is the place to do it. ]