Help Save The Iconic Cambodian Landmine Museum
Donation protected
The Cambodian Landmine Museum re-opened in 2022, and you kept it open. It needs help. We have still not recovered from the effects of the Covid Economy. The Landmine Museum, founded by Aki Ra, a former Khmer Rouge child soldier and CNN Top Ten Hero, was not immune to this. The slow increase in tourism has made keeping the museum’s doors open difficult. Aki Ra retired from active demining in 2023 to concentrate on keeping the museum open. He cut his staff in half. He has not taken his salary in full in several months. The museum used to provide as much as $25,000 a year to its sister NGOs, Cambodian Self Help Demining (CSHD) and Rural Schools Village Organization (RSSO). They have been unable to provide any funding for either since before Covid.
The Landmine Museum used to draw as many as 200 tourists a day. Today, without tourists, it is lucky to have drawn that many in a week. It cannot survive without our help.
We need your help to help the museum survive until tourism returns. We estimate it will take only $2,000 a month to keep the museum afloat until tourism returns to profitable levels. We expect that to be in early 2025.
The Landmine Museum is not just a tourist destination; it is the home of Aki Ra, his wife, and the kids raised there. It is the site of decades of humanitarian work that has saved countless lives, supported children and education throughout the country, and documented and raised awareness of the horrors of landmines and other remnants of war that still litter Cambodia.
What does your donation go to?
The money that you send to this GoFundMe account will be sent to the Landmine Relief Fund (LMRF), an American registered 501c charity that has supported and worked closely with Aki Ra, the Landmine Museum, CSHD, RSSO, and other projects in Cambodia since 2003. Every dollar donated to LMRF through this GoFundMe goes directly to the Landmine Museum to ensure its survival.
Funds will be used to keep up with utilities and general costs. This includes a medley of assorted maintenance costs; we must care for the museum's infrastructure, exhibits, and facilities to ensure that it can remain open.
Who is Aki Ra?
Aki Ra is an internationally recognized figure who has dedicated his life to making Cambodia, his native land, safe from the horrors of landmines. Born in 1970 and taken from his family by the Khmer Rouge at the age of 5, he fought for the many different armies that ravaged Cambodia for nearly 35 years. In the early 1990s, he went to work for the UN, clearing landmines around Angkor Wat. He decided that demining would become his trade and returned to the villages where he had fought, removing landmines that were killing and maiming his fellow Khmers.
His Cambodian Landmine Museum and Relief Center, established in 2007, cares for dozens of at-risk children. They are housed, cared for, and educated. Today, he runs a demining NGO called Cambodian Self Help Demining.
In 2010, he was named a CNN Top 10 Hero out of 10,000 nominees. In 2010, a movie, A Perfect Soldier, was made about his life. In 2012, he received the Manhae Prize from the Manhae Foundation in Korea.
For More Information
You can read more about the work done by Aki Ra, The Landmine Museum, Cambodia Self-Help Demining, Rural Schools Support Organization, and the Landmine Relief Fund at the links below. We also have multiple documentaries made to show you precisely what we do in Cambodia and the effort to make the country safer for generations to come. With your help, we can continue to complete our work and affect the lives of countless people in Cambodia.
None of this is done alone.
Websites:
Videos:
A Perfect Soldier - The Story of Aki Ra Demining in Cambodia
Until They're Gone – The Story of The Landmine Relief Fund (Now on Prime)
Organizer
Bill Morse
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA