COPE @ Work
Today is Friday and it’s Casual Day at work.
It is customary to have a charity donation tin to collect
for the privilege of wearing jeans and casual clothes to work.
Earlier in the year, a female colleague visited Laos and was
shocked by the stories about the impact of unexploded cluster bombs scattered
across that country.
During the Vietnam War, Laos became the most bombed country
on the globe with the USA dropping (amongst other ordnance) 270 million cluster
bombs on the country.
Many remain unexploded.
They continue to maim and kill. Often the result is loss of
limbs.
There has been a recent documentary about the efforts being
made to find and destroy the cluster bombs. It has been estimated that at the
current rate of progress due to a lack of substantial funding, it will take
another 30-50 years.
At work, our Casual Day charity is COPE - Cooperative
Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise which provides prosthetics and mobility
devices for people who require them in Laos.
See this link for more information.
Such a sad legacy of the Vietnam War.
ReplyDeleteI am shocked by how many cluster bombs were dropped.
I will be sending a donation to COPE.
The US should be doing more to find and destroy these bombs.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. They give a paltry $12m per year and every year there is a hard fight in Congress to secure funding.
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