Yohmor, a village in Southern Lebanon about five kilometres from the border with Israel, has a long and turbulent history of conflict. During the conflict in 2006, Yohmmor was hit by several types of explosive ordnance, including artillery shells and air-dropped bombs. The village was littered from one end to the other with unexploded cluster munitions.
In the days following the end of the conflict, each of the families who returned to their homes faced profound and frightening changes. The Zhours, for example, found an unexploded rocket in a bedroom of their partially destroyed home that contained hundreds of unexploded bomblets. The Olleik sisters, Sukna and Khadeeja, returned to find their house reduced to rubble, and their fields full of cluster submunitions.
MAG was the first agency on the scene and carried out emergency clearance of deadly weapons in the days following the ceasefire. Having cleared public areas and streets in Yohmor, MAG turned its focus on making land safe for livelihood activities, such as farming, which many residents rely on to earn a living.
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"They were spread as if someone had been planing bombs instead of seeds," he said. The area was cleared by MAG during the summer of 2007, allowing the family to start constructing a new, smaller one-storey house in August. Hajj Hussein is thankful to all who have helped him through difficult times. He added :
" I feel completely safe now"
Hajj Hussein Olleik, farmer, Lebanon
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