The areas that are mined are usually discovered one tragedy at a time. The blast took off his left arm below the elbow and his right thumb. Then it hurt very much. The handicap has not diminished Calipha's family responsibilities, and he has learned to compensate for a lost limb. Sometimes in his search for greener pastures he finds himself along the riverbank again.
Children are the prominent victims of landmine explosions.
They often misunderstand the danger. But the agency is not counting the hundreds of thousands of mines that locals estimate are in Blue Nile. The Blue Nile Project of In Touch Mission International plans to set up local landmine detection this summer. It took four men working one week to remove 500 mines and map portions of the riverbank for further removals.