Angola landmines: The women hunting for explosives left from civil war
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Loading... - Lara Da Silva
- 11 Apr 2023
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An increasing number of women in Angola are working to get rid of the scourge of landmines left from the 27-year civil war, which are still claiming victims long after the fighting finished.
"I don't want my daughter, or any other child, to be the next victim of a landmine," Helena Kasongo tells the BBC on a video call from Moxico in eastern Angola.
Her smile broadens when she talks about her three-year-old daughter, despite the grim nature of the subject.
The child is still too young to really get what the 25-year-old mother does for a job, namely risking her life every single day at the "office".
Ms Kasongo, nonetheless, is adamant that the little girl will someday understand what led her mum to become a "sapadora" - the Angolan term for people who clear mines.
People are still dying or being maimed after coming across one of the millions of landmines or unexploded ordnance left over from the fighting that ended more than two decades ago.
The only national survey into this issue, carried out by the Angolan government in 2014, found that around 88,000 people were living with injuries caused by landmines in the country.
Organisations like the International Campaign to Ban Landmines say that the true toll may be higher still, as there is no on-going official monitoring of casualties.
Children are often the victims.
Three months ago, a six-year-old girl was killed, and six others were injured, in an explosion in Moxico province. According to local media, the children were playing with an unexploded bomb they found in a field, unaware of the risks. Read More..
