Please note, we haven't managed to get the Bombangles back in for a couple of years but have left this blog up to tell the story.

We recently visited Laos to find out more about the story behind our Bombangles. To do this we visited MAG in Vientiane to try and get a clearer idea of the dark legacy of the secret war in Laos. We also travelled to the village of Ban Napia in Xieng Khuang province where our bombangles are made to see the manufacturing process.

'Bombies'

Between 1964 and 1973, whilst fighting the Vietnam war, the United States of America carpet bombed the small neighbouring country of Laos. During this 'secret war', around 270 million cluster bombs were dropped over the course of 580,000 bombing missions – equal to a planeload of bombs dropping every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years. This earnt Laos the unenviable title of 'most bombed country per capita in the world.' And shockingly, more bombs were dropped on Laos in those nine years than were dropped on all of Europe during World War Two.

More than 80 million of the bombs did not detonate and a large number of these bombs were cluster bombs. The cluster bombs are known locally as ‘bombies.’ Bombies look like fist sized metal balls and are contained in an outer casing which breaks open in the air and disperses them across a large area. Each bombie has a tail fin which spins around a certain number of times in the air before exploding. Many of the bombies landed in paddy fields, mud, ponds and densely vegetated areas preventing them from detonating.

In the past, many of these bombies were discovered by playing children and MAG have been employing community co-ordinators to educate children to recognise and avoid them.

To this day the people of Laos are unable to farm vast swathes of land for fear of UXO, locking the country in poverty. ‘Bomb harvesting’ has killed and maimed many people in Laos as they are tempted to weigh-in the valuable scrap metal. The charities which this project aims to help, enable them to cheaply purchase responsibly deactivated UXO from approved scrap yards.

In the two weeks before we visited, three 500lbs unexploded bombs were discovered and deactivated, one of them next to a petrol station. In another area, a dried-up pond was investigated and 600 bombies were discovered. The sheer number of bombs is evident by simply walking around the local town with parts of deactivated bombs being used to make fences and house supports.

MAG has been doing excellent work across Laos and in the area around Ban Napia. We were lucky enough to meet with a retired MAG bomb disposal team member and he talked us through the process.

The Disposal Team

Once there has been a report of unexploded ordnance in an area, MAG will arrive within 48 hours. Their teams work in groups of 12 and they use poles to divide up an area into a grid of squares. Metal detectors are used to locate bombs and other metal and team members carefully dig around them to expose them. After this the bombs are surrounded with sandbags and a controlled explosion is initiated.

Many of the team members are female, helping to provide valuable paid work for disenfranchised women. Most work for 20 days and then have 10 days off. Since MAG started work in Laos in 1994, there have been no deaths or injuries to MAG workers as a result of the operations.

The scrap metal at the end of this process is then given to the landowner and some of it is sold to the bombangle makers. Whilst this short-term payment is valued, the more important aspect is that the land is made safe to be farmed. Using this process of grid clearing, people are optimistic about the future.

The Craft

The process for making the bombangles and the other items involves creating a mould in the desired shape. The moulds are made using thickened ash from the furnace. Sometimes a mould will last for a couple of uses, sometimes they can last for a dozen before becoming misshapen.

The source metal is melted down in the homemade furnace and is then carefully poured into the mould using a long spoon. After allowing to fully cool, the mould is opened and the finished item can be removed.

There are several bangle and spoon makers in Ban Napia and they have become very skilled at the process, making hundreds of pieces a day in various shapes and styles.

We have been donating a percentage of proceeds from our Bombangle sales to both MAG and a school in Luang Prabang, LEOT. Our hope is that MAG will be able to continue their amazing work clearing unexploded bombs and enabling Laotians to reclaim their land from fear and devastation.