Removing mines to make families safe in Kosovo

Thank you.

In the 1990s, deadly conflict in Kosovo left landmines, cluster munitions, and other unexploded dangers scattered across the country. Though fighting ended nearly 30 years ago, families in urban centers and rural countryside alike have lived with lingering threats along their roads, in their children’s schoolyards, and near their homes.

But with the help of supporters like you, teams have been hard at work carefully removing these explosives and making these places safe again. This means farmers are back in their fields safely, communities are gathering, and children are walking to school safely.

You have made some incredible accomplishments possible, including:

• 5,770 acres of land and counting has been made safe – that’s about seven Central Parks combined.
• Over 40,000 dangerous devices have been found and removed from communities.
• Over 26,000 people are directly using cleared land again. Whether they are building homes, planting crops, or gathering their communities, tens of thousands of men, women, and children are now living life on land that was once too dangerous to walk on.

Families across Kosovo are feeling the impact of your generosity every day – here are a few of their stories.

In places like the village of Arllat, even schoolchildren – most of whom have never seen active war in their lifetimes – lived fearful of the remnants of conflict. But today, that fear is gone. Deminers have completely cleared this community of explosives, including a cluster submunition found dangerously close to a school. Parents in Arllat now send their children to the classroom each morning knowing they are learning, playing, and growing up on safe ground.

Further west, in a town called Junik, Dervish and his wife lived just six and a half feet away from a patch of land they knew contained hidden explosives. Despite being the longtime owners of a plot of land near their home, the constant worry of unseen danger kept them from cultivating their garden.

In Junik, deminers cleared explosives from more than 118,000 square feet of land in their village. Today, Dervish says, he feels “99% safer.” He hopes to plant fruit trees on their newly safe land.

All Thanks to You.

Throughout the decade that HALO has worked in Kosovo, your support has made stories like these possible each and every day. Thanks to you, families are looking to the future with confidence, hope, and the knowledge that they can live in safety for generations to come.

Links:

• Give Today to Keep Supporting Landmine Clearance