The plight of Cambodian landmine victims has prompted 50-year-old teacher Rodney Mearns to set up a project to re-train those who have lost their livelihoods, writes Madeleine Pennell.

Many are farmers who have lost not only their limbs but their careers.

Mr Mearns went to Cambodia in the summer holidays with John Conway, an expert in training physically disabled people.

They went to Pursat, a town 150km north west of the capital Phnom Penn and also to Kampong, a town 180km north of the capital, to meet amputees and assess how they could be helped.

Mr Mearns, of Bergen Avenue, Abingdon, made the trip on behalf of the Cambodian War Amputees Rehabilitation Society International, a charity which he set up three years ago. He became interested in the plight of land mine victims several years ago. He said that having the long summer break was useful in the early 1990s because he was able to do voluntary work for the Cambodia Trust, a charity that gives artificial limbs to amputees.

That experience made him set up his own charity in an effort to take help for amputees a stage further and give them better employment prospects once they have new limbs.

He said: "There are tens of thousands of amputees in Cambodia and in rural areas, many of them were involved in agriculture, but it is a bit difficult to do if you have lost a leg."

Mr Mearns is planning to return to Cambodia during the Christmas or Easter break to set up a training scheme.