Today as families and friends across the world sit down to eat dinner together and gift each other traditional red envelopes, we’re thinking about the gift of good news our HeroRATs enable us to bring to our beneficiaries.

In Chinese culture the rat is an animal that symbolises prosperity and the beginning of a new day. And that is what we wish for the people living in the vulnerable communities we serve. Like the gift of good news we gave Cambodian farmer Sarun of mine-free land to grow rice.

Landmines are still inflicting pain and fear in Cambodia. Clearing minefields is intense, difficult, dangerous work and demands accuracy and time. This is where the HeroRATs come in. Integrating the HeroRATs into conventional methods has significantly increased the speed of landmine detection, which boosts the daily square meter coverage and clearance, and allowing people to get back on their land as quickly as possible.

“The fields near us are where we grow our rice and cassava and herd livestock. Our children play in them or walk through them to get to school. We could only use part of the fields as we knew there were landmines. We had to use them because we have no choice. I had to feed my family.