When Zimbabwean deminer Memory Mutepfa digs up a land mine, places it in a pit and blows it up using electronic detonators, she feels pride not fear.
Mutepfa, 31, belongs to a group of women working to clear mines in eastern Zimbabwe, where the country’s former British colonial rulers laid millions of anti-personnel landmines during the 1970s Liberation War.
A veteran of Zimbabwe’s women deminers, who are employed by the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) humanitarian group, Mutepfa used to lead a team of 10 and she is passionate about the programme.
“On a daily basis, we used electronic detonators to destroy the landmines without fear. We excelled in the landmines clearing industry as an all-female team just like our male counterparts,” Mutepfa said.
Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1980 but the anti-personal mines have continued to cause havoc in the four decades since the Liberation War.
About 1 500 people have been injured or killed by landmines since independence, according to the US Embassy in the capital, Harare.
People in places such as Chipinge, where Mutepfa and about two dozen other women were working to clear mines one morning in December, are unable to use mine-contaminated land for agriculture or to graze livestock.
For the women themselves, the work is a source of pride and economic independence that allows them to challenge deep-rooted patriarchal notions in Zimbabwe about the kind of jobs women should do.
Makukunzva said her dream was for more women to enter the profession, which remains dominated by men in Zimbabwe and elsewhere.
“I will keep on supporting and fighting for more women to take up demining roles and even management posts,” she said.
