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U.S.
Campaign to Ban Landmines Email Newsletter In this edition. . .
Order Landmine Campaign Materials, Including New Brochures New and improved US Campaign to Ban Landmines color brochures are now available to order for yourself and your community. The brochures have pictures of landmine victims and campaigners as well as up-to-date information about the campaign, the global landmine crisis, and what people can do to get involved. The brochures cost 40 cents each to cover our production costs. You can order these brochures as well as the 10 min. fantastic campaign video, posters, advocacy kits, toolkits for action, "Surprise, You Picked up a Landmine" coasters, and petitions by visiting www.banminesusa.org and clicking on "Order Materials" on the right side of the homepage. The on-line order form is secure for credit card orders. Note: If you tried to order materials between September 18 and October 15, we probably never received your order because of technical difficulties that we have now resolved. Muppet
Team on Afghan Mission Two members of the team behind the Muppets are embarking on a mission to save Afghan children from landmines by creating an elaborate stage-show to take there. Michael Frith - one of Jim Henson's right-hand men on The Muppets and Fraggle Rock - has designed eight new characters with his wife, puppeteer Kathryn Mullen. Mr Frith and Ms Mullen have come up with the story of an innocent Afghan boy made from carpet, Chuchi, loosely based on the Pinocchio fairy-tale. And if the show works, the idea will be rolled out to other parts of the world to teach children about issues like HIV. In the Afghan show sponsored by the humanitarian group War Child, the boy is led astray through minefields by evil figures from Afghan folklore - but saved after children shout out safety tips. There are more than 10 million mines in Afghanistan, plus unexploded bombs from the United States-led campaign. Half of all landmine fatalities in the country are children. War Child are now trying to raise about $300,000 needed to take it to refugee camps in the Herat area, in the west of the country. Ms Mullen, who was one of the principal puppeteers on The Muppet Show, will teach locals how to keep the show running after the original team has left. "If it works, there are many other problems that can be addressed this way," she told BBC News Online. Puppetry is an established way of teaching children that has been used on television shows like Sesame Street for years, she said. "We're very familiar with how well a puppet can do this job." When War Child's emergencies co-ordinator Johnie McGlade first took a puppet, Seamus, to Afghanistan, he got an "extraordinary" response, he said. "Every time I went out to the camps with Seamus, they'd never remember my name but they'd always remember the puppet's name," he said. "When they saw me or anyone from my group, they would ask 'Where's Seamus - Seamus, where is he?' It was just incredible." Opportunity to Host Anti-Landmine Dinner This year the Adopt a Minefield Campaign is sponsoring its second annual Night of a Thousand Dinners initiative. You can participate by hosting a dinner in your community on or around December, 5, 2002 to raise awareness and funds for the landmines issue. The funds raised from last year’s dinners held around the world enabled the adoption of twelve minefields for clearance, sponsored five Afghan demining teams for 28 months of life-saving work, and supported other important mine ban and victim assistance efforts. If you would like to host a dinner, you can have the funds raised benefit the Adopt a Minefield Campaign, which supports mine clearance work (call 212-907-1307 or visit website below), or the US Campaign to Ban Landmines, which does anti-landmine US advocacy work (call 617-695-0041 or select "US Campaign to Ban Landmines" in the "affiliate" section of the 1000dinners website when you register). The Adopt a Minefield Campaign of the United Nations Association of the USA is a Steering Committee member organization of the USCBL. For more information and to register to host a dinner, visit www.1000dinners.com Unique Trip to Vietnam Available with Landmine Assistance Group A group of Americans who have been clearing landmines and bombs as well as helping accident victims for years now offers a unique glimpse of Vietnam as part of a special two-week tour. Part cultural kaleidoscope, part journey to the heart of one of the world's most war-torn regions, the trip offered by Clear Path International begins in Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam. It then takes travelers to Hanoi, known for its French colonial architecture, and makes its way to Hue, the ancient Imperial City in Central Vietnam. From Hue, travelers will venture into Quang Tri Province, which used to be the northernmost province of South Vietnam, mere miles from the former Demilitarized Zone. This is where Clear Path does most of its work on behalf of mine accident survivors. An independent, privately funded mine action nonprofit with offices in Dorset, Vermont, and Bainbridge Island, Washington, Clear Path International is known for its outreach to mine and bomb accident survivors in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. "Vietnam was made famous by war," says Martha Hathaway, the group’s Executive Director. "Our trip offers travelers a chance to see that legacy still affects people every day. But it's also an opportunity to see a dynamic society steeped in ancient traditions that's quickly becoming part of the global community." For more information about "Journey to Vietnam" Feb. 27 - March 10, 2003, contact Kathleen Colson at Lamu Traders Inc. -- 802-867-5756 or email DKColson@sover.net. More about Clear Path International and this trip can be found on the web at: http://www.clearpathinternational.org Emmylou
Harris to Receive the Patrick J. Leahy Humanitarian Award The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) announced today that Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris will receive the Patrick J. Leahy Humanitarian Award for her tireless efforts to focus attention on the plight of landmine survivors worldwide. VVAF supporters, including Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), will pay tribute to Harris Tuesday, November 12, at a benefit event at the Birchmere Music Hall. Musical guests will include Mary Chapin Carpenter, Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Nanci Griffith, Patty Griffin, Buddy & Julie Miller, Jamie O'Hara and John Prine. All proceeds from the 2002 Patrick J. Leahy Humanitarian Award event will support VVAF's post-war assistance programs. VVAF is a Washington, DC-based international humanitarian organization that assists civilian victims of conflict in countries overseas, as well as educates and engages the public about the global landmine crisis. The Patrick J. Leahy Humanitarian Award was established by VVAF in 1998 to recognize individuals who, through a lifetime of commitment, reflect the ideals and ideas of Senator Leahy -- one of America's foremost humanitarian political leaders. In 1991, Senator Leahy, along with Representative Lane Evans (D-IL), introduced a moratorium banning U.S. exports of landmines for one-year, which was enacted into law the following year. Senator Leahy introduced legislation in 1993 to extend the moratorium by three years, an initiative that was unanimously passed by the U.S. Senate before reaching President Clinton. Among other steps, Senator Leahy also established the War Victims Fund -- later named the Leahy War Victims Fund -- that today helps support the humanitarian programs of VVAF and many others. VVAF's international humanitarian programs assist innocent civilian victims of war and conflict in 14 countries by providing physical and social rehabilitation services, as well as identifying landmine clearance and other public health priorities. For more information on the November 12th Leahy Award event and about VVAF —a Steering Committee member organization of the US Campaign to Ban Landmines-- please visit http://www.vvaf.org , or call 202-557-7586. In the September 25, 2002 edition of the USCBL email newsletter, we highlighted the "Raising the Voices" program that organizes, educates, gives voice to, and advocates for landmine survivors from countries throughout the world. The program is sponsored by the Landmine Survivors Network. In the newsletter, we inadvertently neglected to give the website address for the Landmine Survivors Network. For more information about this important organization, please visit www.landminesurvivors.org For more information about the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines or to donate on-line, please visit www.banminesusa.org
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