You will often find Aki Ra walking quietly through the villages and fields of Cambodia searching the ground. He’s clearing land mines. He buried land mines himself a long time ago. When Aki Ra was a child he was taken from his family by the Khmer Rouge and forced to be a soldier and do terrible things like bury land mines. He says he did other bad things then too. But he had no choices back then. Aki Ra knew nothing but war until he was in his early twenties.

Now, Aki Ra does good things. So far he has removed over 50,000 land mines. In one year, he cleared over 160,000 square meters of land. Thanks to him twenty-four hundred people could go back to land that was once dangerous. Clearing mines is not all he does. He has built a home for orphans and provided educations and opportunities to many children maimed by land mines .

Aki Ra is a great example of one person making a difference. In his words, he is making peace step by step. His efforts have been recognized around the world. In 2010, he was named one of CNN’s Heroes of the Year .

Aki Ra will be visiting Osaka, Japan, from next week. Please stay tuned for more updates about his visit.

If you want to know how to donate to Aki Ra’s cause , click the link below: