Landmines continue to cause irreparable damage in the lives of innocent victims long after wars have ended. In a June 1997 newsletter, United Methodist missionaries Bryan Stone, M.D., and Ann Stone, R.N., of Chicuque Rural Hospital in Mozambique shared the tragedy of a 30-year-old farmer maimed twice by landmines.
A landmine struck Jose for the second time while he was kneeling to plant crops. The explosion damaged both eyes and split his lower lids. The Stones describe the farmer's ordeal in their June 1997 newsletter: In the operating room, we removed one globe but there was enough left of the other to leave it as a filler. His eye sockets and the blast burns on his hand and forehead healed quickly, but he was totally blind. He always smiled when he heard our voices and was eager to get on with his life. At discharge, we sent him to get two prostheses--one for his eye and another for the leg he lost when he stepped on his first land mine in 1990.
Though blinded by the accident, Jose considered himself fortunate to be alive. Had the mine been planted at a different angle, he would have been killed.
The September 1997 issue of Response had an article on the menacing threat of the more than 200 million landmines either stockpiled or being planted around the world. Sixty-eight countries, including the U.S., produce landmines at a sale price of $3 to $30. Removing a mine costs from $300 to $1000, and for each mine cleared approximately 20 new ones are laid. The usual victims are poor farmers like Jose, women gathering firewood or traveling to the market, and young children at play or on their way to school or church. UNICEF has called for a ban on the production, use, stockpiling, sale, and export of land mines.
Mary Wareham, coordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL), which is made up or more than 225 nongovernment agencies, estimates that there are 250,000 landmine-disabled people in the world today and that landmines claim another victim somewhere in the world every 22 minutes.
Senators Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, and Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, proposed legislation to ban deployment of landmines by the year 2000, but they have been unsuccessful in garnering significant support. As of July 1997, ninety-seven countries had endorsed a Canadian sponsored campaign called "Ban Landmines," but the United States, Russia, and China had yet to sign. Advocacy groups, including those from the church, urged the Clinton administration to sign the Ottawa Treaty when it was presented in December of 1997.
GBGM Photo: A landmine simulation at the Global Gathering in Kansas City, April 1997.
The Stones ask your continued prayers and support for the people of Mozambique, where it will take about 10 years and more than $40 million to clear the landmines.
See also New World Outlook's Landmines Information and Action Pages
More Landmines Info | Missionary Biographies | Global Connections: Mozambique | Mission Stories
Outside Link: Landmines in Mozambique Information from Human Rights Watch