When a woman deminer talks…

“Certain events caused my husband and me part our ways. prompting me to move with children to my mother's place. Right now, it is just me and my five-year-old daughter, Nilufar, living together. She is at her preschool studies, while my fourteen-year-old son, Mammad, is away at high school. We are currently staying in an IDP settlement. We hope that once the land is safe again after the mines are cleared, we can return to our homeland.”

Narmin is a deminer, dedicating her days to the crucial task of clearing our precious earth from mine contamination. She needed a job, so when she came across an online job opening for recruitment of women deminers she felt compelled to apply. Despite knowing it is a tough job, Narmin believed she could handle it. While the decision to apply was not hard for Narmin, her mother worried about the choice.

“After submitting my application and passing the exam, I felt relieved and grateful to be chosen for the position. Joining this project has made me feel like I am part of something truly meaningful. Luckily, I was the first among our group of women deminers to discover a mine. It filled me with an immense sense of pride and shifted the way people treated me, and those around me started to express their pride in my achievement though initially, my decision to pursue this challenging profession was not welcomed by my mother and relatives.”

Their primary goal is to locate landmines and other dangerous items buried beneath the ground and then safely hand them over to the explosive ordnance disposal team. As a team of women deminers, they are deeply involved in the effort to clear areas contaminated by mines, actively contributing to this vital work. 

“This is my first job, a significant milestone for me. Getting my very first paycheck as a deminer, helped finding a way to support my family's needs. It's been a year now since I joined the project, and over this time, I have seen how my earnings have made a real difference. With careful saving and hard work, I was able to buy a car. It made our daily routines smoother, lightening the load of family responsibilities and giving us a newfound sense of ease and freedom.”

Narmin is a mother. She came on a call of her motherland. She came to release it from foreign objects, to restore its purity, and to help it flourish again!