Returnee Girls and the Risk of landmines on the School Way

      Written by: Samira Haleemzai

A survey found that 20.2% of the land of Afghanistan accounted for mines and explosive remnants of war and the returnees are the most victims of these disasters because they are not aware of the landmines. These mines and explosives take the lives of about 180 people monthly in Afghanistan.

AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some people about this issue.

Abdul Wakil, a resident of Maidan-Wardak province is a witness of an incident. He says: “one day when I was busy in my work, I heard the voice of an explosion. When I reached the place, I saw a schoolgirl was a victim of a landmine.”

Sadaf, a resident of Panjshir province says: “when I was living a neighboring country, I had not heard anything about landmines but when we came back to our country, I heard about the dangers of the landmine. Due to the fear of landmines, I could not go to school for a long time.”

How could people find the solution for this issue?

Mir Nematullah, a resident of Paghman district, Kabul province says: “when a family returns from migration, we invite the elders of the family to the Masjid and aware them about landmines and explosives. When they go back home, they aware their children about the danger of landmines and explosives.”

Sadaf says: “when we returned from immigration, I tried to find friends who were aware of landmines and explosives. We were going together to school on the public way.”

Razia, a resident of Khost province says: “when I was a fifth-grade student, our school administration gathered all students in the conference room and showed us the different varieties of landmines and explosives. They told us that red stones are the signs of mine area and green stones are also the signs of danger but white stones show that the land is cleared from the landmines.”

Sona, a resident of Kunar province says: “After we returned from immigration and when we went to school, we faced a very active principal. She held a seminar for us and she invited some engineers from a mine clearance organization and they taught us how to protect ourselves from landmines and explosive remnants of war.”