CBS Channel 2 Harry Porterfield Highlights Gary Christ's Work and Mission! Follow The Link!
http://cbs2chicago.com/someoneyoushouldknow/gary.christ.Someone.2.1191083.html
Phnom Penh's English Daily Features Gar's Work! Follow Link.
Local Cambodian News Features Gary's Mission!
Crystal Lake man's device blows land mines away
BY MARCO SANTANA June-2006/July-2007
msantana@dailyherald.com
"Muoy ... pi ... bei!" Click. Ka-boom!
A cloud of smoke and dust rises around Gary Christ's machine deep in a Southeast Asian jungle. As the air clears, he peers intently, seeking any sign his machine was damaged. Not a scratch. The test result: success. One land mine destroyed in Cambodia, where mines injure or kill at least two people every day.
From his Crystal Lake home, Gary Christ has traveled to Cambodia several times. The culture shock he experienced on his first visit in 2001, he says, was like a slap in the face.
The poverty was appalling. Sanitation systems were horrendous and disease-ridden. Roads were terrible.
Christ, who had owned Arrow Septic Service until 1988, decided to put his expertise to work.
"My (original) mission was to improve sanitation at orphanages," he said. "That's what brought me out there."
Christ helped install 12 septic systems in the next few years, but on his 13th, his focus was redirected.
While trying to install a system for an orphanage in Kampong Chanaan, a trip wire that led to a land mine was discovered.
The mine was disarmed, but it had impact nonetheless.
The problem
Cambodia sits on the Gulf of Thailand, between Thailand and Vietnam.
During two decades of war, land mines were laid throughout the country. The location of most of them were never mapped or recorded.
Last year, 875 people were hurt by a mine. That's more than two Cambodian civilians every day of the year.
Christ estimated that three to four times a week, he would see the local paper report on a new casualty.
"It usually kills people," he said. Most stories are about farmers going out into their field and hitting a land mine.
"Knowing the fact that there's one land mine in the field creates such a feeling of terror that you do not want to venture going out there," Christ said.
The device
Two years ago, Christ turned his attention to the anti-personnel land mine problem.
He started with a 1947 Farmall Series H tractor on his family's Crystal Lake farm.
Today, it's hard to recognize the old Farmall.
A huge hoist system in front of the tractor lifts a steel-plated box into place with an electromagnet.
The box holds more than 40 solid steel pegs, each about 1 feet long and 2 inches square, and each hanging from its own chain in the box.
The total weight of the box and the pegs exceeds 1,000 pounds.
A switch in the operator's protected seating area controls the magnet. When the switch is thrown, the magnet deactivates and drops the half-ton box.
Because each peg hangs independently, every inch of the area covered by the 4-by-2-foot box is hit with enough force to activate a mine. This is important because the mines are barely bigger than a standard can of tuna, and most are buried in uneven jungle terrain.
Christ last month tested the machine in Cambodia for the first time.
"It was very, very satisfying to go out there and actually flip the switch and - first try - it worked," Christ said.
The local heroes
In Cambodia, Christ met Sem Sovantha and Aki Ra. Both men are former Cambodian army soldiers and were key figures in getting Christ the OK to test his machine.
Because of public relations concerns, the government tries to regulate most activities concerning land mines in Cambodia. Aki Ra has been a leading de-miner in the country, so it didn't take much for him to get approval.
For 15 years after leaving the army, Aki Ra deactivated mines in Cambodia and now is the director of the Cambodian Landmine Museum.
Aki Ra - who Christ said is like a folk hero in Siem Reap, the area in northwest Cambodia where the test was conducted - and Sovantha both watched the test with Christ.
Sovantha lost both of his legs to a land mine while serving as an army captain, and he now serves as director of the Angkor Association for the Disabled.
He wants Christ's invention to turn into a possible industry for disabled people to work for in Cambodia.
Christ said the selfless nature of Sovantha and Aki Ra is not unique in Cambodia.
"They inspire me a lot," he said. "They are grateful for what they have, compared to what they've been through."
The U.S. position
In the United States, the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines focuses on the political side of things.
The group's main goal is to get the United States to sign the Ottawa Convention, a treaty designed to ban and remove all anti-personnel land mines in the world.
Today, 155 countries have signed the pact.
Scott Stedjan has been coordinator of the Washington-based U.S. Campaign for the past three years.
"It's a frustrating initiative where you know we will not make progress right now," he said. "Once the U.S. (signs), we'll be able to get (other holdout countries) to do it more easily."
The United States does contribute $70 million a year to de-mining activities around the world and is the world's No. 1 donor, Stedjan said. But it needs to do more, including sign the treaty, he said.
The reward
Christ said the experience isn't over with just one test.
In fact, last month he tested his tractor on larger land mines, including one about a third of the size of an anti-tank mine. That blast destroyed the steel box that encases the steel pegs.
Now he wants to raise money to start producing the machines in Cambodia. He plans to speak to groups in the Chicago area to see if he can create interest in the issue.
"I just need to convince people that it's worthwhile to help people on the other side of the world," Christ said. "The whole idea is to hopefully inspire somebody else to help.
"When you go to Cambodia and you just see so many people that are disabled, you think that there must be a faster way to remove the land mines. It's the most rewarding thing I've done."
How to help
•For more on Aki Ra's museum and to donate money to the museum's relief fund, go to www.cambodialandminemuseum.org.
•To view the Landmine Monitor, an annual global roundup of land mine statistics,
go to www.icbl.org/lm.
•To view the United States' land mine policy, announced on Feb. 27, 2004, go to www.state.gov/t/pm/wra/c11735.htm.
•To help Sem Sovantha's organization, the Angkor Association for the Disabled, go to www.angkorad.org.
Land mine data
2005, 875 land mine casualties were reported in Cambodia.
From 2000 to 2005, Cambodia destroyed 71,136 stockpiled antipersonnel mines, including 16,878 in 2005, the largest number for a single year.
Mine clearance in Cambodia increased by 63 percent in 2005.
The K5 mine belt, one of the world's biggest, stretches 435 miles along the Thailand-Cambodia border. The belt runs 11 to 160 yards wide.
In 2005, the United States donated $6.3 million for mine action in Cambodia, by far the world's largest monetary contribution.
The United States has not signed the Ottawa Convention, a 1997 treaty banning the use of anti-personnel land mines.
In 2005, the United States banned the use of mines that can't be located with a metal detector.
Sources: U.S. Department of State's official land mine policy and the International Coalition to Ban Landmines' 2006 Landmine Report.
