#HTE

The Women Who Are Clearing the Minefields in Sri Lanka (21 photos)

It has been nearly 10 years since the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War, a horrific conflict that lasted more than 25 years and claimed an estimated 100,000 lives. A decade later, landmines and unexploded ordnance still litter the northern landscape, endangering those who are trying to return to their previous lives. Allison Joyce, a photographer with Getty Images, recently spent time with some of the Tamil women, many of them widows and survivors of the war, who work for the HALO Trust, one of the NGOs working to clear one of the largest minefields in the world. Joyce said “44 percent of HALO’s staff working in the minefields are female, of which 62 percent are the primary breadwinners of their family, and 37 percent have had relatives who were injured, killed, or went missing during the civil war. As of January 31, 2019, HALO Sri Lanka has cleared 309,354 mines and unexploded ordnance in Sri Lanka.”

image
Navirethan Sujitha works at Muhamalai, one of the biggest minefields in the world, on March 2, 2019, in Muhamalai, Sri Lanka. In 2009 Sujitha’s village, Uruthirapuram village, was heavily shelled and she the military moved in and took her and her family to a camp. Her husband was not home at that time and is presumed dead. After more than a year she was allowed to return home. She joined HALO Trust in 2010 and her first job was to clear landmines from her own village. She is the sole breadwinner of her family and her salary supports her, her mother, daughter and niece. ( Allison Joyce / Getty)
image
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2019/03/the-women-who-are-clearing-the-minefields-in-sri-lanka/584368/