<
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/06/12/1103800905/photos-angolas-all-female-demining-teams-blow-up-landmines-and-gender-stereotype>
'Clad in sky-blue kevlar body armor with a thick protective visor over her
face, 22-year-old Catarina Sanhala inches slowly forward, swinging her handheld
metal detector slowly back and forth as she goes. The ground is steep and rocky
and she moves with careful, deliberate steps. Falling could have consequences
far beyond bruised knees or twisted ankles.
A year ago, Sanhala was enjoying a successful career as a professional handball
player representing her hometown of Lobito, a port city in western Angola. That
life now feels a long way off. Today, she is part of a highly trained
all-female demining squad working to rid her country of deadly anti-personnel
and anti-tank mines while at the same time challenging traditional notions of
gender roles in this southern African nation.
"It's a very different life," says Sanhala, who works for the HALO Trust, a
British nonprofit spearheading the fight against landmines in Angola. "But I
wanted a challenge." She now spends most of her time living in a remote camp
deep in the bush with around two dozen fellow deminers working six days a week
to clear the area of mines.'
Via
Future Crunch issue 191:
https://futurecrunch.com/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
