MINE ACTION MOZAMBIQUE – GLORIA TIKI
A grandmother-headed family who can safely work and play on land previously contaminated with landmines.
I am Gloria Tiki, a widowed grandmother and smallholder farmer.
My daughters and grandchildren depend on crops for food and livelihood.
During the war nearby power lines were mined to protect them from sabotage.
For years our productive land was unsafe to work or play on so it lay unused.
But sometimes we had to go there to work. We were desperate.
My daughters hardly remember safe land, my grandchildren know no different at all.
Then APOPO arrived and in no time at all they had cleared away all the landmines.
They used machines…
Manual deminers…
…and APOPO HeroRATs!
The HeroRATs smell the landmines and then indicate where they are.
The landmine is then excavated and destroyed by a deminer.
APOPO found and destroyed many landmines.
Each yellow stick shows where a landmine was found and destroyed.
Thanks to APOPO, my family is now safe.