• Español
  • Historical Archives
  • Convention
  • Contact Us
Support the Ministry Give
Mennonite Church USA Mennonite Church USA Mennonite Church USA Mennonite Church USA
  • About
    • What We Believe
      • Statements and Resolutions
      • Confession of Faith In a Mennonite Perspective
    • History
    • Find a Church
    • FAQ
      • FAQ about Mennonites
      • FAQ about MC USA
    • Executive Board Staff
    • Church Structure
      • Area Conferences
  • Ministry
    • Church Vitality
      • Women in Leadership
      • Church Planting
      • Wellbeing in Ministry
      • Ministerial Inquiry Form
    • Faith Formation
      • Children and Families
      • Faith Formation with Youth
      • Faith Formation with Adults
      • Christian Practices
      • Deep Faith Conference
    • Peacebuilding
      • Learn Pray Join
      • Israel/Palestine Initiatives
      • Undoing Racism
      • Undoing Sexism
    • The Corinthian Plan
      • Corinthian Plan Staff
      • History of the Corinthian Plan
      • Why Mutual Aid Matters
      • Corinthian Plan Subsidies
      • Wellness Incentives
  • Agencies
    • Everence
    • Mennonite Education Agency
    • Mennonite Mission Network
    • MennoMedia
    • Mennonite Health Services Alliance
  • Resources
  • Events
  • News & Media
    • News & Media
    • MenoTicias
    • Publications and Newsletters
  • Blog
Mennonite Church USA Mennonite Church USA
  • About
    • What We Believe
      • Statements and Resolutions
      • Confession of Faith In a Mennonite Perspective
    • History
    • Find a Church
    • FAQ
      • FAQ about Mennonites
      • FAQ about MC USA
    • Executive Board Staff
    • Church Structure
      • Area Conferences
  • Ministry
    • Church Vitality
      • Women in Leadership
      • Church Planting
      • Wellbeing in Ministry
      • Ministerial Inquiry Form
    • Faith Formation
      • Children and Families
      • Faith Formation with Youth
      • Faith Formation with Adults
      • Christian Practices
      • Deep Faith Conference
    • Peacebuilding
      • Learn Pray Join
      • Israel/Palestine Initiatives
      • Undoing Racism
      • Undoing Sexism
    • The Corinthian Plan
      • Corinthian Plan Staff
      • History of the Corinthian Plan
      • Why Mutual Aid Matters
      • Corinthian Plan Subsidies
      • Wellness Incentives
  • Agencies
    • Everence
    • Mennonite Education Agency
    • Mennonite Mission Network
    • MennoMedia
    • Mennonite Health Services Alliance
  • Resources
  • Events
  • News & Media
    • News & Media
    • MenoTicias
    • Publications and Newsletters
  • Blog
Home / Menno Snapshots / Of Bombs, Treaties and Moral Obligation (part one)
Aug 16 2017

Of Bombs, Treaties and Moral Obligation (part one)

In a culture wired for instant results, we often forget that meaningful change may take persistent action over a long period. This is a 35-year story of education and advocacy arising from the bomb-laden fields of Laos. Titus Peachey who, with his wife Linda Gehman Peachey, went to Laos on a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) assignment in 1980, tells the story in four parts. This series originally appeared in PeaceSigns, the online magazine of the Peace and Justice Support Network.

A U.S. bombing campaign at the height of the cold war left the country of Laos littered with millions of unexploded cluster bombs.

The air war, waged in a failed attempt to prevent Laos from coming under Communist rule, totaled 580,000 bombing missions over a nine-year period (1964-1973), equating to one plane-load of bombs every eight minutes ‘round the clock for nine years.

Many Lao villagers fled their homes during the war, some living in refugee camps near the capital city of Vientiane, while others survived by living in caves and forests, enduring incredible hardships. They returned to their destroyed villages after the war, but soon confronted the grim reality of unexploded ordnance (UXO) that left a miserable trail of injury, pain and death in what was supposed to be a time of peace.

Mennonite Central Committee began working in Laos in 1975, and as MCC workers started traveling to the heavily-bombed areas they were stunned by the magnitude of the UXO problem and began searching for solutions. Nevermind that we had no expertise. We were U.S. citizens encountering U.S. bombs and the painful human toll of war in a land of lamplit villages. As we were served tasty Lao meals on plates and utensils made from melted-down bomb metal, we felt the weight of responsibility settle unbidden, onto our shoulders. There were no humanitarian demining agencies to call or proven technologies accessible to novices like ourselves. Political relationships between Laos and the U.S. were cold. What followed were 20 long years of experimentation and frustration. Danger still lurked in the soil and the innocent play of children often turned into tragedy.

As the scourge of landmines came to public awareness in places like Afghanistan and Cambodia, humanitarian demining agencies were formed to respond to the crisis, with military veterans providing the technical expertise. In 1994, MCC invited the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) to come to Laos to deal with the unique and complex problem of a land littered with cluster bombs.

I returned to Laos for six months in 1994 to administer the bomb removal project on behalf of MCC, collaborating with MAG and the Lao government. The first Lao deminers we trained were a tiny sprout of hope in an otherwise bleak narrative. Through the generosity of MCC constituents, this privately-funded initiative began to take root and grow. Governments and U.N. agencies took note, and more substantive funding slowly developed. But it would still be many years before this fledgling effort even approached the scale of the problem. We had only begun.
Question for Reflection:

Forty years from now, what will be the ongoing impact of today’s wars on the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Waziristan?

For more information/images of MCC’s work on bomb clearance in Laos and the issues it raised, click here.

  • Posted in Menno Snapshots, Peace and Justice, Peace and Justice Support Network
  • Tagged demining, Laos, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Titus Peachey, war
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • E-Mail
Official comments policy for users of Mennonite Church USA’s websites and other social networking tools. We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates this policy.
  • The purpose of comments is to engage in constructive dialogue.
  • Please provide your own full name.
  • Be respectful. If you’re offering criticism, focus on others’ ideas — not their motives, person, character or faith. Consider the log in your own eye before pressing ‘Enter.’
Comments are moderated. Comments with any content that is deemed obscene, libelous, defamatory or hateful toward an individual or group will not be approved. Comments will remain open for 10 days.
    --
Política de comentarios oficiales para los usuarios de los sitios en Internet y otras herramientas de redes sociales pertenecientes a la Iglesia Menonita de EE.UU. Nos reservamos el derecho de eliminar cualquier comentario que viola esta política.
  • El propósito de los comentarios es entablar el diálogo constructivo.
  • Por favor brinde su propio nombre completo.
  • Sea respetuoso. Si ofrece críticas, enfóquese en las ideas del otro, no en sus motivos, su persona, su carácter o su fe. Considere la viga en su propio ojo antes de apretar ‘Intro’
Los comentarios son analizados. Aquellos comentarios que contengan contenido que se considere obsceno, calumnioso, difamatorio u odioso hacia algún individuo o grupo no será aprobado. Los comentarios permanecerán abiertos por 10 días.

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Explore categories

Search

3145 Benham Ave. Suite 1
Elkhart, IN 46517

718 N. Main St.
Newton, KS 67114
Phone: (866) 866-2872
  • News & Media
  • Español
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Convention
  • Resources
  • Give
  • Staff
  • Employment
©2020 Mennonite Church USA   |   Subscribe to PeaceMail to receive news and blogs compiled into one weekly email.   SUBSCRIBE