The UN Special First introduced the Story of
Vanna in its October 2005 issue
Update on Vanna
August 2006
Vanna, the Cambodian girl who lost her leg when she
stepped on a landmine at the age of eight, and who is the
subject of the children’s book, Vanna’s Dance, written by
Maria Almudevar – van Santen, has finally been located.
After more than a year and a half of trying to find someone to
help locate Vanna, Maria is able to report the happy news that in
August, Roy Warren Clark, founder of the Akira Mine Action Centre
(AMAC) and the Cambodia Landmine Kids College Fund
(www.akiramineaction.com) in Siem Reap, Cambodia, has found
her. Maria had heard of Roy through Sandy Rung from Waterloo
Region, Ontario.
When Maria related to Sandy that she did not know where
Vanna was, Sandy put her in contact with Roy. Roy is all too
familiar with the landmine situation in Cambodia. He immediately
offered to help find Vanna.
In mid-August, Roy, along with Ty Khan, Administrative
Manager, AMAC, and filmmaker Etienne Cannavo from Paris,
France, set out to search for Vanna. Maria was able to furnish
Roy with some details as well as where Vanna might be attending
school.
The group stopped at the International Committee of the Red
Cross in the area where they thought Vanna was and were checking
the files on children who had received assistance from them.
As they were doing so, a message came in that word had spread
that some people were looking for Vanna. A man was waiting outside at the gate who knew exactly where she was.
The three men raced to the location and just inside the door of
her school sat Vanna. They showed her a photo of herself that
Maria had given them and asked if it was her. She smiled a beautiful
smile and said yes.
Vanna was naturally a bit surprised to have three strangers
arrive at her school, obviously very happy to see her, hand her a
book about herself and tell her that they wanted to help her.
Roy gave her a photograph of Maria and Vanna then relaxed and
smiled again.
Vanna is now 17, a beautiful young lady, and attending both a
regular school and a school where she is learning to become a
seamstress.
Roy and Khan will remain in contact with Vanna by telephone.
Eventually, they will go with her to visit her parents who live in
the remote countryside. At that point, the best way to set up a
fund for her will be determined.
In Cambodia, approximately 1 in every 263 people is victim to
a landmine. There are still over 100 million landmines left in
the ground in over 80 countries – some of the poorest countries
in the world. Global efforts are in place to help destroy these
mines before they destroy more people.
Profits from the sales of the book, Vanna’s Dance, are donated
to Adopt-A-Minefield (www.clmf.org or www.landmines.org) for
their work in eradicating landmines and helping the survivors.
A portion of the funds has also been set aside for Vanna. And
now thanks to the special efforts of Sandy, Roy, Khan and
Etienne, Vanna will have access to this fund for her future
needs.
© 2006 UN Special |