What Are Their Needs?
Today, the area inhabited by the Bru is peppered by land mines and by cluster bomblets that were dropped by U.S. warplanes during the Vietnam War. Deaths and injuries most commonly occur when villagers are working in their fields or gardens. The wet rice farmers use traditional hoes to turn the soil. If a bomblet is struck with a hoe, it often explodes, injuring or even killing those nearby. Many children have been seriously injured while playing in the fields as their parents worked.
Although the Laos Bomb Removal Project is in place, it has not yet reached the area where the Bru are located. However, mobile teaching teams have begun traveling to these sites, making the people aware of the problem and teaching them mine clearance techniques.
The villagers daily need God's protection over them as they work in the fields laden with bomblets. They also need more education teams that can teach them how to clear the mines. Medical help, especially with prosthesis and physical therapy, are desperately needed. Perhaps these needs will provide opportunities for Christian medical missionaries to gain access to these people.