No More Landmines Week 2008
No More Landmines Week – 1st – 7th November 2008
In 2008 No More Landmines Week runs from 1st – 7th November and gives students around the country and the world an opportunity to learn more about the impact of landmines and other unexploded weapons as well as offering an opportunity to be part of the solution.
As well as brand new lesson plans and updates on previous years’ campaigns, this year has a focus on the impact of landmines on education. There are lots of ideas how students can raise funds to clear land and help landmine survivors and competitions to appeal to all ages.
Competitions
Design a T-shirt competition
No More Landmines needs your help! As part of the Dangerous Ground campaign, students are invited to design a T-shirt to help raise awareness of the devastation caused by landmines and other unexploded weapons. The winner will have their T-shirt printed. The theme is ‘the ground is a dangerous place to be’, and there’s plenty of inspiration on the Dangerous Ground website – www.dangerousground.org – and in our teachers’ resource pack. Click here to read more.
Name a demining dog
This is a unique opportunity for students to name a demining dog. Our free teachers’ resource pack provides information and facts about the crucial role dogs play in clearing communities of unexploded weapons. All schools that participate will receive regular updates on the dog’s progress and how it is changing lives for the better. The dog’s name will be selected from all submissions received by 31 December 2008. Click here to read more.
How your support last year changed lives
Cluster bomb ban
In 2007 there was a call to action for students and teachers to put pressure on the UK government to support the process leading to a ban on these indiscriminate weapons. In May this year over 100 governments, including the UK, adopted the text for a treaty banning the use, stockpiling, manufacture and transfer of cluster bombs. The Oslo Treaty will be open for signature in December this year, ending the terrible impact of cluster bombs on civilians.
Clearing communities
In the last year No More Landmines has cleared minefields and supported landmine survivors in Vietnam, Cambodia, Mozambique, Laos, Iraq, Ethiopia, Bosnia-Herzogovina and Angola. Funds raised by schools in 2007 helped to clear villages in Cambodia of landmines and now whole communities can live free from fear.
Kunthea is 21 years old and lives in Boeng Snor, one of the villages cleared. In 2004 Kunthea’s mother heard that work was available near the border and moved her family to a village. Villagers knew it was an old battlefield but paths had been well trodden and were viewed as safe. One day Kunthea went with five other children to collect water, travelling on a small tractor. The driver followed one of the ‘safe’ routes, but in Kunthea’s own words:
“Suddenly a loud noise blew up into the sky, along with a cloud of black smoke and dust, and I had a ringing in my ears. I felt I floated high up in the air and fell down on the ground. My body was covered with dust; the tractor was completely destroyed and painted by blood. Around me people laid down in the fresh blood. My right leg was numb and so heavy. I looked at it; it was cut, torn apart and burned and I knew that I got mine accident.”
Kunthea lost her leg and her mother had to sell their land and borrow money to pay for treatment. Kunthea, however, thinks of herself as lucky. Unlike many people in the villages near her, she survived.
To order your free Teachers’ Resource Pack please e-mail info@landmines.org.uk providing your postal address or call 020 7471 5580. Packs will be available from the end of September.
