By Cherise Kim | Philanthropy Associate
Xhem, 58, lives in the village of Moronice, a small rural community that was heavily affected by the Kosovo War. During the conflict in 1999, land around his home was contaminated with cluster munitions.
But nearly 30 years after the war's end, these explosives continued to threaten his family's safety and livelihood.
Throughout the war and its aftermath, he recalls seeing cluster munitions often. They often posed dangers to the community, its residents, and even their livestock – one day, his horse fell into an area contaminated with munitions.
Xhem owns a field near his house, which he would use to graze his cows and to collect plants like grapes, chestnuts, and mushrooms. But because of these dangers, Xhem could only use a small area, and he felt fear and anxiety when approaching certain parts of his own land.
His fear was well-founded – after surveying the area, HALO found a total of 36 cluster munitions on his land.
On September 15, 2025, HALO released more than 35 acres – or about 27 football fields – of Xhem's land back to him, having carefully removed each explosive. Today, the family has returned and is making full use of their property. He uses the cleared area confidently for grazing and has plans to cultivate crops for his cows. Now, they can live, work, and grow food safely.
Xhem told HALO, “I can now use my land without fear. Before, I was afraid to go there, but now I feel safe. I thank all the donors for their contribution and hope they will continue to support HALO until all our land is safe.”
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
