 |
|
Mussole wears a MAG t-shirt that carries the message Teacher says ‘Keep yourself safe’. [Photo: Everisto Cambembe / MAG] |
Safety messages given by MAG’s Community Liaison staff saved this Angolan boy’s life.
In April 2007, Mussole, who was five years old at the time, left his home in Lucusse, Moxico Province, with his two friends, Ken and Lupembe, and his brother Moses. The four boys were walking to the nearby river to take a bath when Lupembe decided he needed to go into the long grass to go to the toilet.
 |
Quick link: Please help us to spread the word by posting this on Facebook |
When he returned to the group, he was carrying an unusual object. Mussole kept his distance and told Lupembe: “This is no object to play with, it’s a mortar and it kills people.” But Lupembe continued to fiddle with the object and it started to make a noise.
Mussole ran away from the group in the direction of an abandoned truck and was practically behind it when the mortar exploded, or in Mussole’s words: “The metal came out.”
Lucusse |
|
View larger map |
The force of the explosion knocked Mussole to the ground unconscious. Tragically, the other three boys were killed. “I never saw the others again,” says Mussole.
When the mortar exploded, Mussole’s left leg was sticking out from behind the truck and consequently he received severe injuries to his thigh, as well as cuts to his forehead.
Mussole remained in hospital for a month following the accident, during which time “I was fearing death and crying”. Mussole’s father said that when his son was discharged from hospital he wasn’t himself: “He started throwing stones at his mother. Because of this abnormal behaviour he went a year without going to school.”
Mine Risk EducationMine Risk Education (MRE) helps minimise the risks for people living, working and travelling through areas contaminated with landmines and/or unexploded ordnance. MRE includes how to recognise and report commonly found dangerous items, what to do in an emergency, recognising warning clues and signs for mined areas, how to keep others safe, and more. As well as face-to-face and community meetings, MRE can also be delivered through radio and TV broadcasts, billboards, posters, drama and music. |
|
Read more on Mine Risk Education |
Despite attempts in 2008 and 2009 to return to his classes, Mussole found it difficult to concentrate and was sent home. “He was rebellious and didn’t listen to the teachers,” explains his father.
Mussole says he would like to go to school in 2010, because when he grows up he would like to be a teacher.
Mussole stated he knew the object was dangerous because he had been told by MAG a couple of months prior to the incident, when the organisation’s Community Liaison Officers were delivering house-to-house Mine Risk Education in the area.
These messages – ‘if you see an object don’t touch it’, for instance – were reinforced by his mother, and Mussole now does the same with his friends: “I tell them not to go in the bush, and if they find a strange object not to touch – if they do, it will explode and they will die.”
Your donation is used to reach communities most in need and enable us to respond quickly to emergency situations.
There are many ways to help MAG – please Donate or Get Involved in whatever way you can.
21 April 2010
See also:
- Latest news and case studies from Angola
- More about Community Liaison
- More about Mine Risk Education
MAG thanks the following donors to
its
Angola programme: Chevron Oil - Angola; UK Department for
International Development (DFID) / UKaid; Dutch Ministry of Foreign
Affairs; Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, US Department of
State; Unicorn Grocery.
Back to top
