What Motivates a Mine Clearance Professional?

It’s a pleasantly sunny late summer day, and in a field the size of several football fields, Yana, a mine-clearance professional, is swinging her metal detector, rhythmically sweeping the tool back and forth over an area that is known to be contaminated with anti-personnel landmines. The area is 18 miles from Kyiv.

Why is she there?  

She could be safe in Poland with a desk job.  She was one of the eight million refugees who fled from Ukraine after Russia’s invasion began on February 24, 2022.  However, after two months spent watching the invasion of her country from the safety of Warsaw, she realized, “I knew I couldn’t stay in Poland. I needed to be in my country, helping.”

But that raises a valuable question: If she’s going to help her country, couldn’t she find easier ways of doing it than spending eight-hour days clearing active landmines?  

After all, she knows that a deminer’s daily work includes finding explosives designed to kill people. Landmines can cause injuries including the loss of a limb or even death.  And contrary to how they are often portrayed in films, a landmine can explode instantly on contact—standing motionless will not stop one from exploding. 

Yana knows all of this, but even so, she says, “I wanted to become a deminer because if I can save the life of one child or keep him or her from being maimed for life, I have to do it. Everyone fights in their own way, and this is what I do.”

She has additional reasons for being OK with this kind of work. “Every occupation has its hazards. Whether you’re a bus driver or an electrician,” she points out, “you can get hurt. With mine clearance, if I follow the procedures, I know my chances of being injured are very small.”

She’s right. The job may have its hazards, but the training and safety procedures used by The HALO Trust, the mine clearance organization she works for, are rigorous. HALO makes sure that none of its deminers work on actual demining until they’ve had a full month of operational training with a clear pass/fail distinction. Many will take 10 days of additional training to become a paramedic. All are trained in first aid.

HALO operates in 30 territories and countries, including Ukraine, where it’s working on clearing mines from areas liberated from the Russian occupation. Yana is part of the effort that is focusing on more than 20 different areas near Kyiv that are known to have active landmines.    

HALO has been active in Ukraine since 2016. The organization aims to expand its landmine clearance operations in Ukraine, and this includes training hundreds of new staff each month. It’s now the largest international mine action organization in Ukraine working alongside State Emergency Services and other NGOs.

Landmines aren’t the only explosives the clearance specialists at HALO are up against. By some estimates the intensity of the shelling on both sides is greater than at any time since World War II.  

Many of the shells failed to detonate. They’re on the ground, still potentially threatening people’s lives. Children are especially vulnerable, as the shells can look like exciting playthings.

The HALO Trust has a risk education campaign to alert Ukrainians, especially the children, to the dangers in their streets, fields and forests. In addition to in-person classes, HALO has run a social media campaign warning people of the dangers of unexploded ordnance.  So far this campaign has been seen by almost 15 million Ukrainians. 

Ukraine is now the most heavily mined country in the world. Yana’s work will play an essential role in helping Ukraine recover from the war, but with more than 30 perrcent of the country contaminated with mines, the effort needs to be scaled up rapidly. 

To help fund more HALO efforts, come to DonorSee and to learn more about The HALO Trust come to www.halousa.org.