Aki Ra Mine Centre – Volunteer Cambodia
Aki Ra Land Mine Centre – Siem Reap, Cambodia
I visited this Centre when I was in Siem Reap. It was definitely a high light of my trip. Aki Ra has quite an incredible story and this museum is a great place. I met two people that were volunteering there from Holland. They were doing a range of things there and living at the museum. The museum displays different mines that Aki Ra himself cleared and also his lifestory of being a Khmer Rouge childsoldier.
The very basic museum, where Aki Ra and his 2 children and his wife live, is also home to a number children who are landmine vicitims or just very poor. The money raised from the museum and fundraising, goes to his demining activities and trainings for the Cambodian army to demine themselves. It also goes to the 20 children who live there and get education, food and care. It truly is a great place and great opportunity.
Website: http://www.cambodianselfhelpdemining.org/
I agree that it’s very moving. However I do have reservations about it and Aki Ra himself. It’s a business more than a philanthropic venture. The Cambodian Government has been trying to close him down for a long time which is why he is now so far out from the centre of Siem Reap. Take a look at the photos in there and just look at the amount of self publicity there is.
Here is a bit more information about Aki Ra and being named a CNN hero for 2010. Very interesting man: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/archive10/aki.ra.html
And complex.