Many of you are following Kayeng’s road from his village in Xieng Khouang, Laos to Bumrungrad in Bangkok and back home. While our job is not complete with Kayeng, it’s important that his two teenage uncles, Seu and Vaneng are taken care of. They are 13 and 14 years old. Their shrapnel-filled bodies need to be addressed.

Last November, Kayeng’s grandmother appealed to Give Children A Choice to help her grandson Kayeng. She asked that we take care of his pains, his eye infections, his eyesight. She recounted how she spent sleepless nights, caring for and coddling Kayeng.

She recounted with Barbara that she had already lost her 13-year old son to a bombie explosion seven years ago. The boy would be 20 years old today. She recounted how her aunt died from a bombie explosion in her old village. They moved to Ban Thong, where they live today, with the hope that they’ve escaped from the daily threat and gnawing fear of encountering life-threatening bombies.

In January 2012, her worst fear came true. Within spitting distance from Kayeng’s grandmother’s house, a bombie exploded. Two of her son’s bodies are littered with keloidal reminders of that fateful day. They occasionally become septic and flare up into infections, exacerbating the already bulging keloids. The grandmother showed us the keloids on her son’s head, neck, fingers, arms, chest, legs and feet.

The grand mother wanted the younger of the two sons, Seu, to show us the keloid-covered shrapnel on and around his private parts. He was obviously embarrassed. It wasn’t necessary. We’ll leave that to the doctors.

Give Children A Choice is in the process of securing passports for the two boys. Give Children A Choice will take them to the Queen’s Hospital in Khon Kaen after their school year is over.