BOMBANGLES®

You want to do good, and you also like to look good. These remarkable Bombangles come with a terrible story, but buying them eases the problems the people who make them face every single day. This is their story. 

In the mountains of Laos, South East Asia, artisan families make these simple yet beautiful bangles from aluminium salvaged from deactivated UXO, unexploded bombs dropped on their province during 'the secret war', which took place between 1964 and 1973. 

While fighting the Vietnam war, the United States of America carpet bombed the small neighbouring country of Laos, on average dropping nine tonnes of cluster bombs every eight minutes for nine years, earning Laos the unenviable title of 'most bombed country per capita in the world.' Of these 270 million cluster bombs approximately 80 million failed to detonate, leaving behind a deadly legacy.

To this day the people of Laos are unable to farm vast swathes of land for fear of UXO, locking the country in poverty. ‘Bomb harvesting’ has killed and maimed many people in Laos as they are tempted to weigh-in the valuable scrap metal. The charities which this project aims to help, enable them to cheaply purchase responsibly deactivated UXO from approved scrap yards.

The affected areas are being cleared of UXO by the British charity MAG and local charity UXO Laos. A percentage of sales from these Bombangles will be donated to not only MAG (Registered UK charity 1083008) but also LEOT School of English (Registered UK Charity 115944)  to help young disadvantaged Laotians further their education. 

Bombangles® are fairly traded with each bangle being purchased at five times the local market value.

Sizes: Internal diameter 

S: 65mm
M: 68mm
L: 71mm

Origin: Laos