| Abdul Wahab's story | 
| Abdul Wahab, his wife and children could have been killed or badly injured by an object that they picked up without knowing what it was. This incident highlights the importance of raising awareness on the dangers of landmines. | Abdul Wahab still says his thanks to God on a daily basis. He knows that his family were lucky... “Our story should serve as a lesson to the other people in the village” says Abdul. One day Abdul brought home a metallic object, found in his field, to his village of Al Basan in the Helmand province in the south of the country. Abdul had seen unexploded devices before, but this one seemed different. This one was in the form of a bell and made of shiny metal. His first thought was that he could make use of it. Then, one-by-one his children, Mohamed, Myriam, Fatima and Juma, took turns in throwing it against the walls. Abdul used it as a weight when fishing, and his wife tried
in vain to remove the strips of metal to make fishing hooks. Abdul’s imprudence could have easily turned to drama when his eldest son, surrounded by his brothers and sisters, subjected the object to another ‘ord eal ’. He hit the metallic encasing with a tool and the device exploded! Amazing luck: the children escape with only minor injuries.
| Handicap International had sent a team to the village to raise the a w a reness of the inhabitants, but Abdul and his family had not gone to the session. “If I had been given the Handicap International information on the dangers of mines and unexploded devices, I would never have brought this object back to my house ” concludes Abdul. | 
(c) H. Laurenge/HI | |
