Today we went to the UXO centre. UXO stands for UneXploded Ordinance which means bombs that haven’t detonated. They are all over the countryside in Laos because of a war. At home we call it the Vietnam War but at the centre they call it the Indochina War 1955 -1975. We learnt that Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world compared to the amount of people that live there.

When we got to the centre there were lots of old, rusty bombs outside. Some of them were bigger than me. Then we watched a film about bombs and how they have affected people in Laos. Some people have been injured and lost a limb and others were killed. I felt really bad for the people on that film and I also felt scared because not all the bombs have been taken off the ground yet.

Here are some facts:

• Over 2 million bombs were dropped but 30% did not detonate.
• Lots of bombs were dropped in farmland and lots of poor peoples homes were destroyed by bombs this  means that poor people did not have enough money to feed their family.
• 50% of people who have been killed by UXOs were children because they found UXOs and did not know what they were so they picked them up or stepped on them and then they exploded.

The best part of this centre was watching the film.