“A life without mines” is a target Project Masam has been working to achieve in Yemen for five consecutive years in order to ensure a safe and landmine-free life for the Yemenis to help bring back life to normal in this war-torn country.
The random plantation of landmines everywhere in Yemen and particularly in its vital institutions has pushed Project Masam to immediately move and demine them. Thus, vital places, such as water resources, hospitals, health centers, and many other places, have been cleared of landmines to bring life back to normal in this country, which has been turned into an open minefield.
Aware of the importance of the educational institutions for the revival of the Yemeni society, schools were among the first places Project Masam worked on to free from landmines, which have been intimidating students as well as teachers who were forced to keep away from them.
On the International Day of Education, Ousama Algosaibi, Project Masam’s Managing Director, described the reason why the demining project decided to give special attention to clearing schools of landmines saying, “Project Masam believes in the Yemenis’ right to a safe life free of landmines. It further believes that the Yemenis’ safe life will never be completed nor prosperous unless they get a safe and secure educational process.”
Algosaibi explained further: “ The landmines which have been intensively planted in Yemeni schools were meant to destroy the educational process through terrorising students and teachers so as not to approach their schools to keep away from deadly accidents. Those mines are laid in innovative camouflages inside classrooms, the areas around schools, and the roads leading to them in a clear message that those educational institutions should not be approached by anyone.”
The Managing Director added: “Project Masam is paying special attention to the clearance of the Yemeni schools of landmines out of its belief that paralysing such vital institutions will destroy the current as well as the coming Yemeni generations and create a poisonous environment that paves the way for the spread of ignorance, illiteracy and the backwardness of the whole society.”
