24 April 2003
Mine Action Organizations Collaborate to Help Landmine Victims
(State's Bloomfield lauds Grapes for Humanity, two other groups) (1350)
Lincoln Bloomfield, special representative of the president and
secretary of state for mine action, praised the work of three
non-governmental organizations in aiding landmine victims at a
reception at the State Department April 23 especially honoring Grapes
for Humanity.
Bloomfield, who is also assistant secretary of state for
political-military affairs, focused on the good work done by the Polus
Center for Social and Economic Development and by the Vietnam Veterans
of America Foundation, in addition to Grapes for Humanity. He spoke
specifically about the efforts of all three organizations in providing
mine survivors' assistance, one of the "three pillars" of the U.S.
Humanitarian Mine Action Program, the other two being mine clearance
and mine risk education. The program is active in 40 countries, he
noted.
Grapes for Humanity drew notice from Bloomfield for raising $50,000
for a Polus Center project to reach out to mine victims in Leon,
Nicaragua, through a prosthetics program called Walking Unidos. He
said the group also helped the Polus Center with a similar program,
called Vida Nueva, in Choluteca, Honduras.
In addition, the Grapes group teamed with the Vietnam Veterans in 2001
by raising money to renovate the patient dormitory at the Veterans'
Kien Khleang National Rehabilitation Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia,
Bloomfield said. And Grapes is now helping the Veterans with their
project to improve income generation and physical rehabilitation for
mine survivors in northern Cambodia, he said.
"Grapes for Humanity's track record and choice of effective projects
to date has been superb," Bloomfield said.
A transcript of Bloomfield's remarks follows:
(begin transcript)
Reception Honoring Grapes for Humanity
Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Jr., Special Representative of the President
and Secretary of State for Mine Action
Benjamin Franklin Room, U.S. Department of State
Washington, DC
April 23, 2003
Thank you for that introduction. Good evening.
In my capacity as the Special Representative, I've recently had
occasion to provide remarks for several mine action events at various
locations. But, given the press of events here in Washington, I could
only deliver those remarks by videotape. So I am doubly delighted to
be with you this evening, not only to thank you in person for coming
and to honor you for your support for mine action -- but to have an
opportunity to personally savor your good company and the fine
Beringer Vineyards wines featured tonight.
Let me add to Jim's greetings by again thanking Grapes for Humanity's
co-founders, Arlene Willis and Tony Aspler, for inspiring this evening
and for being such inspirational people.
I also thank our other partners in humanitarian mine action, Bobby
Muller, President of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, and
Michael Lundquist, Director of the Polus Center for Social and
Economic Development, for coming here to testify to Grapes for
Humanity's good works and to help us celebrate this Canadian
charitable foundation's launch of its U.S. arm.
The U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program, which encompasses all three
pillars of mine action -- mine clearance, mine risk education, and
mine survivors assistance -- in some 40 countries, is dedicated to
mitigating the threat and after-effects of landmines and other
explosive remnants of war to innocent civilians. Our partnership
program, headed by Jim Lawrence, is set up to foster the involvement
of civil society in this worthy cause.
As Arlene, Tony, Bobby, Michael, and others in this room well know,
mine action is more than the sum of the three pillars that I
mentioned. Landmines, as well as unexploded ordnance and other
explosive remnants of war, place a tremendous burden on developing
societies. Landmines and their deadly cousins are often a feature of
crisis areas, where political repression, lawlessness, and patterns of
violence take hold, resulting in hunger, poverty, and economic
deprivation. Therefore mine action must serve as a basic element of
post-conflict reconstruction and national reconciliation.
Iraq is an example of a country in which humanitarian mine action is
being included in such reconstruction and reconciliation. The Bureau
of Political-Military Affairs, which I head, is making a major
contribution to a national mine action plan for Iraq, to include
funding, technical expertise, and the deployment of our Quick Reaction
Demining Force.
Late last year, even before hostilities commenced, the State
Department began supporting humanitarian mine action in northern Iraq
where the inhabitants remain at risk from the landmines laid by their
own former so-called rulers.
We know that a well thought out mine action program for all of Iraq is
vital to enabling international relief to reach people in former zones
of conflict. And of course a well-designed and executed mine action
program helps lay the foundation for these innocent civilians and
their children to resume normal lives. As I speak, officers from my
Bureau have already deployed to Iraq to help this become a reality.
Let me return to tonight's theme and mention some of the good work in
which Grapes for Humanity as well as our mutual friends -- the Vietnam
Veterans of America Foundation and the Polus Center -- have already
engaged in other mine affected countries.
Grapes for Humanity's focus is on mine survivors assistance. This
charitable foundation has a sensible, straightforward way of operating
that I commend. It:
-- identifies a worthy project;
-- sends representatives to perform due diligence to ensure the
project meshes with Grapes for Humanity's goals;
-- establishes a monetary target to assist the project; then
-- successfully fund raises to help bring the project to fruition.
Grapes for Humanity's track record and choice of effective projects to
date has been superb.
With the generous sponsorship of Beringer Vineyards, Grapes for
Humanity raised $50,000 to help the Polus Center with its Walking
Unidos prosthetic outreach center in Leon, Nicaragua. Grapes for
Humanity teamed up with the Polus Center again to help fund the
establishment of the Vida Nueva prosthetic outreach center in
Choluteca, Honduras. Vida Nueva -- New Life -- opened its doors in
February of this year.
By the way, the Polus Center's annual gala dinner on March 12 was one
of those events where I delivered a speech by videotape rather than in
person. Michael, I am delighted that we are now in the same room so
that I can personally express my gratitude to you, your staff, and all
of the Polus Center's supporters for your valuable work. And I thank
Grapes for Humanity for working so closely with Michael and his team.
Grapes for Humanity has also successfully collaborated with another
one of our partners that was with us from the start in 1997 when we
developed our unique humanitarian mine action public-private
partnership program. I am talking about the Vietnam Veterans of
America Foundation -- veterans of war, and veterans of peace-building.
In July 2001, Grapes for Humanity raised the money needed for the
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation to perform extensive
renovations on its patient dormitory at its Kien Khleang [KEEN KLANG]
National Rehabilitation Center in Phnom Penh. These renovations are
protecting the patients -- men, women and children maimed by landmines
and other weapons of war -- from monsoons and other extremes of
Cambodia's climate, and assisting in their recovery.
Now, Grapes for Humanity aims to help the Vietnam Veterans of America
Foundation with its income generation and physical rehabilitation
project for very poor, war-disabled Cambodian peasants in a town in
northern Cambodia. This successful project is enabling war-injured
Cambodians to weave silk from which they can make a productive living
and reintegrate with their society.
Bobby, I thank you and your staff at the Vietnam Veterans of America
Foundation for all of your good, creative work in Southeast Asia and
other parts of the world that are also infested by landmines and
unexploded ordnance.
I have spoken long enough. Let me close by again thanking you all for
your efforts to make our world a better and safer place and for
gathering at the State Department this evening to celebrate Grapes for
Humanity's success. Now I am pleased to give the floor to Arlene
Willis.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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