Landmines in Cambodia: Past, Present, and Future By Wade C. Rober ...

dangerous terrain. He was carrying two containers. The first was a rather small container positioned beneath his left arm, balancing on his hip. This container, with a bright yellow label wrapped around its body, was likely used for some liquid substance at one time. The second container, much larger in size, was likely an old water canister. A swell of mud shifted back and forth in the bottom of the container as he swung the gallon-size jug with the cadence of his gait. He sensed someone was watching him. He turned in my direction. I snapped the image. The boy continued a short way, filled his canisters with water, and made his journey back in the direction of his approach.

The combination of extreme rains and flat dirt roads was a perfect recipe for potholes. As we swerved in and out in an effort to avoid the dents and dips the road presented as obstacles, I compared travel in my home country to my current experience. Was everything more difficult here? I marveled at how Cambodia was burdened with explosive remnants of war decades beyond war. Traversing the unmarked paths eventually led us to our desired location—a village near the Cambodia–Vietnam border. Now we needed to find someone searching for metal. It did not take long.

Sarun Sot was standing in an open field outfitted with a worn sack dangling from one shoulder. On his other shoulder, he had positioned a strap whichwas connected to the shaft of a metal detector. The strap helped to hold the weight of the device as he motioned it left and right in concentrically expanding semicircle patterns. Alone, he was searching for metal. Sarun was 12 years old. His family relied on the income he acquired selling the snippets and oddments of metal he unearthed. He would tote his daily find to his uncle’s home less than a kilometer away from where he lived. After being paid the going rate for the weight of metal he had uncovered, he quickly instituted the return leg of his journey toward his home with cash in hand. A portion of his earnings was given to pay rent on the metal detector. The remainder was handed over to his father. Sarun was to continue this process the following day, and the next, and the next. No long-term escape plan was in place.