Land of the Living Mines

War stops, but its legacy continues for many years.
~ Pedro Jagiso, an Ethiopian doing humanitarian work with CEAS in Kurmuk

Don’t just go wandering around. When in Rwanda, we were told to pee directly on the road. You never knew where a landmine had been planted, just a short distance off the road.
~ Sammy Mutua, my colleague and Trauma Healing workshop facilitator

To avoid mines, I would follow the tracks of the vehicle in front of me. If no one was in front of me, I just picked the most recent-looking tread marks.
~ Matt, a worker for Samaritan’s Purse in Southern Sudan

There’s nothing more terrifying than looking at the innocent ground before you and wondering if your next step might be your last. I could vividly see the soil just rip open before me, consuming my foot before exploding half my body twenty feet in the air. After a morning of “hop-flights” through Southern Sudan, we had finally arrived at our destination: Kurmuk, on the boarder of Southern Blue Nile district of central Sudan and Ethiopia. The long strip of hard-packed dirt served as a lifeline as well as an airstrip in hostile terrain.

Tentatively, I stepped off the strip, and after a few agonizing and slow paces I relieved myself. Traveling with CWS and my veteran coworkers, I knew that the area was thoroughly de-mined and “safe.” Yet I could still sense the stench of war and all the atrocities that must have happened where I now stood… or somewhere thereabouts.

The town of Kurmuk, the location of our workshop on Trauma Healing and Peace Building, had been heavily mined during the war. Favorite locations of the leaving army included: schools, hospitals, mango trees and water wells, or any other place that enticed people to gather socially or for necessary nourishment. There have been five

In the movie Casualties of War, Michael J. Fox observes that in an atmosphere of death, when anyone could be killed at any moment, his fellow troops had responded by completely disregarding any moral code whatsoever. Being so close to death, what did their actions matter? Yet Fox argues that they should be extra careful, precisely because they’re so close to death.

Does it make sense to be reckless when one is petering on a cliff’s edge? Must we be pushed to the edge to act morally?

For more information on the landmine issue, visit landmines.org.