I feel like I'm saving lives

I’ve been a scout for 14 years. I started out as a cub scout, which was fun and interesting, before becoming head of the Sea Scouts. I left the scouts for a while when I started work and studied medicine at the same time. But I still managed to help them out in their camps, give them lessons, help the community and take part in their outings.

It’s the first time that I have worked for an NGO and I chose Handicap International because I felt that in Libya, mine education really needed my support. From the start of the programme, I felt it was an easy way of saving lives (which is not always the case in hospital). Risk education is simple and very effective.

We prepare risk education sessions for classes of all ages and raise the awareness of as many people as possible in camps for displaced persons. We also cooperate with local populations by using every possible type of medium to get our messages across. Because our target population is so big, we have to narrow down our choices. That’s why we mostly intervene in aid of displaced persons. The work involved is long and relentless.

They are very understanding and receptive. In fact, people realise that they lack information on the risks posed by mines and unexploded ordnance. Everyone wants to know more about the practices to adopt when faced with these dangers and to learn more about these weapons.

You can clearly see a change in attitudes before and after the risk education session by listening to the words and reactions of the children we educate through these games. This positive impact makes our work particularly gratifying.

I want the suffering to stop because we’ve really suffered enough. We cannot continue to live under the threat of an enemy that kills and maims those we love: we have to take action.