MAG do unbelievable work in areas touched by the destruction of war. In many cases this work is in areas that were damaged decades ago but still carry the scars of the war today. Estimations suggest, during the conflicts in Vietnam and Cambodia, 10 million lands mines were planted. A lot of these claimed lives then, hundreds of thousands have claimed lives since, millions of them sit waiting to do the same.
Between the two regions MAG have over 750 team members. At the very sharp end of operations these include bomb disposal experts, mine detection teams and explosives dog handling teams. Following them and equally important, a huge team of liaison staff who conduct community meetings, intelligence surveys and much more. Teams in Vietnam alone have have cleared over 6 million square miles of land and have removed 25,000 mines and pieces of ordnance.
For us, it's the human element of what's happening out there that really makes this a cause worth riding for. It's easy to think that the Far East is a different world. We rarely hear about it on the news, we rarely think about it at all - but it's as real as the next city to you, the people are as real as your next door neighbours or your own family. When you honestly take time to consider that, you start to realise what a job MAG are doing - they're saving the lives of the of these real people - the farmers, the kids playing in the park, the women walking to the shops. They've already saved lives and the continual education they provide means that untold amounts children will grow up to enjoy something closer to the freedom we have.
So, we'll be bag packing, sponsored walking, running, cycling and generally breaking into a sweat to keep the funds heading to MAG who'll continue to work to keep people alive. I thought raising £6000 was a big challenge - the more I read the more it seems we've got the easiest piece of the jigsaw.
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