Landmine rap and hip-hop competition in Battambang, Cambodia. [Photo: Sok Savy]
Listen to the audio
Young people at risk from landmines in Cambodia are to be targeted by hip-hop and rap music carrying the message of risks from the abandoned munitions.
Many different ways have been tried to alert young Cambodians to the danger of landmines.
But the message is not getting through.
Kristin Rasmussen, of the Integrated Mine Action project, told Radio Australia's Connect Asia up to 80 percent of victims hurt in accidents have attended mine risk education sessions.
Identity
In particular, "we believe that young men tamper (with mines) as a way of forming their gender identity as young men," she says.
How to get through to them that landmines are potentially lethal?
Music is the latest education trend in three heavily mined villages that have experienced the highest fatality rates in the country. Of the victims, 38 percent are children.
Cambodia has 40,000 landmine amputees in a population of nearly 14 million - or one person in every 300.
Statistics show young males have the highest incidence of injuries related to tampering with the armaments.
Young people from the three villages in north-western Battambang province are part of a pilot program to create hip-hop and rap music carrying the mine risk message.
Agencies
The Integrated Mine Action project is working with the International Women's Development Agency and World Vision Cambodia, with funding from AusAid, the Australian aid agency.
Ms Rasmussen, IMA project coordinator, says a song competition has just been held bringing young people together. It featured original songs they composed.
Here are some of the themes from competing songs:
"Don't use the explosive devices to modify and play around as a game.
It's dangerous and fatal, destroying arms, legs and make you blind.
It turns you to be disabled at very young age.
If you have explosives and ordinance go away as far as you can.
Don't ever make contact with them . . . "
Ms Rasmussen says: "The reason that we decided to do this through rap and hip-hop messaging is because we wanted to reach out to one of the highest risk of tampering, which is young boys between the ages of 12 and 22."
She hopes the winning song from the competition will become an anthem for the cause.
- Sonja Heydeman, October 13, 2009
Source: Radio Australia
0 comments:
Post a Comment