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No Wizards, Just Patient Teachers Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction Volume 10 Issue 1 The Journal of Mine Action Article 34 August 2006 No Wizards, Just Patient Teachers Bart Weetjens APOPO Jina Kim Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal Part of the Defense and Security Studies Commons, Emergency and Disaster Management Commons, Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons, and the Peace and Conflict Studies Commons Recommended Citation Weetjens, Bart and Kim, Jina (2006) "No Wizards, Just Patient Teachers," Journal of Mine Action : Vol. 10 : Iss. 1 , Article 34. Available at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal/vol10/iss1/34 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for International Stabilization and Recovery at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction by an authorized editor of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. h of t t en use he aidt of mine-detlat aining, ect eri in Mozambique Tanzania and but mine-det ing dogs, t tt all over of landmines Africa e presence ectSub-Saharan in soils e riggermet he worl ion ratdet al d is an issue t s are now being t used ect he o detUniindiscriminat ors tsignalthas mines. every ect Since met N ed ely. checked, be o atdet al ions and ot ectcertin useful very not are ors organizat her worlOne ainsoils. d organizatAPOPO,ut ion, ions are tmet unique ilizesa t rying Mine-act hod. o ad t But dress. ioncent he difficul ers quest t ion lies how in t olandminesfind t hat are undet ect able using met aldet because ect ors iron-con- t he became a Team Leader, people and their safety would come first and not the daily result. “Naturally, daily achievements count, and that is how I see a good Team Leader—managing to have high productivity but not jeopardizing safety.” Jennette Townsend Journal of Mine Action The Team Leader Mine Action Information Center As a Team Leader, a day’s work for Bogdany might involve guiding two demining machines and an eight-person demining team at E-mail: [email protected] the same time. She says this is not too difficult if both the team and the machines are located in the same place or near one another. Silvija Bogdany However, deminers must be at least 200 meters (66 feet) away from each of the machines. “My team is often on one side of the field Technical Advisor/Supervisor and the machines, naturally, are all the way on the other side of the field,” she explains. “In short, I did a lot of walking around like DCA Mine Action Program Sudan some lost fly, and I am dressed in full equipment.” Amarat Street 9, Block 10 Khartoum / Sudan The work not only mentally and physically challenges Bogdany, but it also affects her emotionally. After two Croatian Tel: +882 165 420 3064 deminers were killed and one was badly injured, she says, “My friends try to convince me that this comes with [the] work and I E-mail: [email protected] know that, but somehow I am not satisfied with that answer. I think that Team Leaders and Supervisors are mainly responsible for most accidents.” Damir Jakšić NPA Mine Action Program Croatia She thinks a Team Leader’s most important job is taking care of his or her team and safety on the site. “It is a really big respon- Plemena Lapčana bb sibility and a person must recognize the situation 23420 Benkovac / Croatia and not push it. You must know every person, his Tel: +385 23 684 024 way of thinking and limits. It is hard to work with Fax: +385 23 682 201 people, but the reward is big,” Bogdany says. E-mail: [email protected] “It is difficult to continue with work after every An Interview with in 2003 while pursing a landmine incident. I think that discussing it with Jennette Townsend worked as anJournal Editorial of Mine Assistant Action for the Mine Action the team is better than not talking about it at all. Silvija Information Center and for the What we all can and have to do is learn some- master’s degree at James Madison University. thing from those incidents and try not to bring Where do you see mine actionBogdany in the next 10 to 20 years, and where do you our colleagues and ourselves into a similar situ- fit into that vision? sOne ation,” she explains. “I’ve noticed that most ac- thing i certain—there world will cidents happen at the end of the working period. because there always be demining will continuewill for always many years. minefields Weetjens and Kim: No Wizards, Just Patient Teachers I think that concentration falls and everybody is be war somewhere and mine action on the in the nervous and not thinking right.” I think earth. Even that in 10 to if war stops, On Bogdany’s one-year anniversary of being only I would 20 years, demining like to see more will still a Team Leader she said, “My biggest reward is in their work. sophisticated be demining equipment, as it is now, Since which will that I can go to sleep every evening knowing I prefer fieldwork help deminers World to office that my team is okay.” country working work, I vi for an see myself No Wizards, sor, perhaps NGO somewhere as a demining [nongovernmental in a Third- Thinking about the Future in mine-risk education. instructor. organization] I also see as a super by Bart Weetjens [ APOPO ] and If money and other obstacles were no object, howmyself would becoming you go about deal- - Just Patient Teachers “My involvement in mine action has more involved Jina Kim [ Mine Action Information Center] developed much quicker and deeper than ing with the world’s mine problem? I thought it would,” says Bogdany. “I be- Ifere m oney w with no object, hypothetically APOPO is a Belgian-African nongovernmen- came a Team Leader in just 1 months. I’ve landmines because speaking, begins war we wouldn’t met and become friends with many people because would be an have of money enigma to a problem who are also involved in mine action. I money wasn’t involved—theand Trojan material War. people. Almost tal organization that trains rats to be at new possessions. every war What do you feel are areas in the demining worldOnly that canone be war improved? have gained more confidence in myself.” started where Looking to the future, she says, “If God I nvestwould i mine-detection tool. The authors describe more money gives me health and luck, I will be involved make demining in research easier with and in new in demining until my pension. I just hope work quality. less risk for innovations the basic idea behind this unique concept. I would invest deminers, but that would that everything will turn out right.” quality training and educationmoney for deminers. in at the same new, more sophisticated time improve Bogdany remembers a long talk she Quality equipment assurance and and in With more quality control he presence of landmines all over the world is an issue the had with her sister, Emilija, who retired personnel are of qualified big ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF BART WEETJENS before and to conduct importance United Nations, governments and other world organi- from demining when she got married. during the monitoring to demining. land clearance process of demining zations are trying to address. But the “She told me one thing and I think prior to its and to organizations T difficult question formal conduct are conducted release, it final inspection lies in how to find metal-based landmines using metal about it every now and then. She told in accordance would be ensured of cleared detectors dard operating with International that all clearance because the iron-containing, laterite soils in sub-Saharan Africa me that it was when she quit demin- procedures. Mine processes properly This way Action Standards trigger the detectors indiscriminately. Since every signal has ing that she realized for the first time and that it it would be and to companies. was not just ensured that stan- be checked, this method is not very useful in certain soils. One how dangerous the job is. She is more I have a money chase. the job was tending seen where Perfect examples done organization, APOPO, concerned for me now than she was to finish clearance was are commercial utilizes a unique approach to finding one project not done properly landmines. for herself when she was a deminer. and move on as quickly because In Tanzania and Mozambique, mine-detection rats to another as possible so they were that in the project, and that they can are now being used. Maybe it is better for us not to think money race, after that one, collect money the work are under unnecessarydemining pressure. quality to another and Rats show much promise in furthering mine detection. Alfredo Adamo and his baby rat. about that.” diminishes. so on. I think All Plus, people Like mine-detecting dogs, they in all it who are have a highly developed sense comes down doing of increase productivity but not loweringto good the management safety standards. smell. APOPO trains its rats to detect mines in the field us- and organization, ing vapor-detection technology. trying Since landmines emit a vapor to from the explosives within them, the rats are able to use their e presence of landmines all over t all over of landmines e presence he worl d is an issue t he Unit tlat aining, N ed eri at tt Africa of ions and otSub-Saharan in soils e t riggermet her worldet al t en use d organizat ect he aid of mine-det ions are tindiscriminat ors signalthas ectevery t rying Since met ely.
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