The Horror of Land Mines
Land mines kill or maim more than 15,000 people each year . Most victims are innocent civilians. Many are children. Still, mines are planted by the thousands every day by Gino Strada Scientific American - May 1996 Finally, the terrible bloodshed in Rwanda had come to an end. Alphonsine and her family were returning to their house when Alphonsine stepped on an unseen mine. At the hospital in Kigali, run by the surgical team of the relief organization EMERGENCY, I and other physicians did what we could to repair the damage. The explosion had smashed Alphonsine’s legs and fractured her left forearm. We had to amputate both legs above the knee. Her sister sustained a penetrating brain injury from a metallic fragment; she never regained consciousness and died six hours after surgery. Their father, who had been meters away from the two girls, had only multiple small wounds in his chest. As a surgeon for EMERGENCY, I have treated many children such as Alphonsine and her sister—victims of a n