According to UNICEF, 8,000 – 10,000 children are killed or disabled by landmines every year. Children like Emanuel…
“I was eight when I stood on a landmine in Liberia. I was taken straight to hospital, but I was so close to dying I had to go to another hospital far away and became separated from my family – I’ve not seen them since.”
Now aged 23, Emanuel considers himself fortunate because “the UN people provided me with an artificial leg”. Emanuel is a member of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled in Accra where he is training to be a tailor.
Of the countries that ADD works in, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sudan, Uganda and Zambia are all affected by landmines. Cambodia is the worst affected, with UN estimates of six million live landmines. Recognising the need to change this, in 2006 the UN declared April 4 as the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.
Just one second – that’s all it took to change Grace’s life forever when her left leg was blown off and her right leg badly burned...
While the international community is working together to reduce the number of landmines, the number of people that are disabled by landmines continues to grow.
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