Khalid's Cooperation saves people's lives from risk of Landmine

With the support of the European Union (EU), the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has been conducting mine risk education sessions, reaching diverse community members including children, women, and men. Since June 2021 till September 2024, DRC has delivered life-saving mine risk awareness sessions to 52,667 people includes 13,441 men, 5,196 women, 19,576 boys, and 14,454 girls through 2,973 sessions.

Khaled’s story:

Khaled Mohammed, 30-year-old man with five children.

One sunny day, while walking slowly through the dry fields, Khaled noticed a strange object partially buried in the soil. It resembled a small metal piece, arousing both his curiosity and concern. Recalling the warnings he had heard from the demining team, Khaled felt a mix of fear, worry, and a sense of responsibility towards his community. He thought, "The livestock that graze here could be affected, as well as the people and children who use this path."

Marking the spot clearly, Khaled planned to report the object to the DRC team as soon as possible, where he can find the conducting awareness session in neighboring villages.

The next day, while on his usual route, he encountered the DRC team and quickly explained the exact location of the suspicious object.

The team agreed to accompany him to examine and safely dispose of the item. The demining team arrived at the designated site and working together Khaled precisely located the object and secured the surrounding area. After a careful operation, the object was safely removed.

Khaled felt a sense of pride for contributing to the safety of his community, realizing that reporting such objects was everyone's duty.

After this incident, Khaled was so keen to attend the mine risk education sessions in the neighboring villages because this session has not yet hold in his village. The information Khaled get from the session was new for him as he was shocked by the risk landmine can have. 

The incident profoundly impacted Khaled, motivating him to attend a mine risk education session in a neighboring village, as his own community had yet to receive such education.

The session provided him with crucial information about the dangers of landmines, which he described as 'shocking,' as it was his first exposure to this knowledge. After attending the awareness sessions, Khaled felt that he had a great responsibility to share with people of his village about danger of landmines.