Vietnam: Stories From the Field

Written By: Tran Hong Chi

On the morning of January 31, 2004, Pham Van Dao and his father were preparing their land for their Winter-Spring crop of rice. They had almost finished the plowing the day before, so while his father went on plowing the last section of land, Dao took his hoe to deepen the tiny ditch used to let water into the field. Their rice paddy is almost at the end of the irrigation system; thus Dao had to dig rather deep before the water could reach his land. The weather is not stable at this time of the year; therefore farmers have only 7 days to get all the preparation work done in time for sowing the rice seeds.

Dao started at the edge of his land, digging a connection between his land and the source of the water. The land is soft, and by 8:30, Dao had half of his digging complete. He paused for a while to take a deep breath. In the distance, his father concentrated on his work behind the buffalo. The air is fresh and a bit cold. Dao resumed his strength and he took another deep breath before raising his hoe.

Bringing his hoe down once again, Dao could feel that he had hit something as his blade went into the soft soil. He neither felt nor saw any thing else after that as the blast pushed him backward and a handful of mud, tiny rocks and other fragments went straight into his face.

Dao’s father, who was terrified by the explosion, rushed to his son. Dao’s face was badly injured, especially his eyes. Dao spent 3 weeks in the VietNam-Cuba hospital in Dong Hoi for emergency treatment, and another 36 days in Hue central hospital for the treatment of his eyes.

Dao was released from the hospital on March 18^th, 2004. His life is no longer in danger but his eyesight is permanently and severely damaged.