Blogging on Meds

An expat economist I knew in Phnom Penh would pass the time at his boring office job playing computer games, but whenever his Khmer co-workers stopped by his desk, he’d hotkey off the window. Not because he was wasting time, but because he was afraid of having to explain the game Minesweeper in a country where 1 in 300 has lost a body part to a land mine or unexploded ordnance.

It’s amusing and really not amusing, a groaner joke that elicits equal parts smile and wince. But what’s worse, laughing at it or being limited to the binary reactions that discussing amputees and land mine victims can only be either cruel or somber?

Angola’s Miss Landmine beauty pageant looks like 100 percent good times. It doesn’t at all involve horror or pity. In fact, the pageant pulls off not only being uplifting, but actually getting you to cheer for the women. (When you look at the site, open the “Miss Landmine Theme Tune” in a new tab while you read.)

The contestants’ portraits are beautiful — fashiony, modeling-type photos, just with regular people who happen to be mine victims. Some look radiant, and others exude confidence. Their short bios give the usual info like kids, favorite color and dream job, plus the prosthesis they use, the type of mine they encountered and how it happened — walking home from school, running from soldiers, tending fields.

It reads like what I suppose a beauty pageant site would read like, but normalizing the mine info. Which is good, because it sucks to be poor, in a poor country, and handicapped. There’s no need to add stigma on top of that.

Voting is open until tomorrow (Friday, April 4, 2008), which is also International Mine Awareness Day.