MANNAR (AFP) - Valmathi Jegadas is a different sort of mine clearer to the testosterone-fuelled explosives specialists portrayed in the 2008 Oscar-winning Hollywood hit, The Hurt Locker. A farmer's wife in northern Sri Lanka, Jegadas, 37, earns 200 dollars a month risking her life, and she admits being scared each time she steps into the minefields that are a legacy of the island's long and bloody civil war.

"This is the best-paying job in my village," Jegadas, who has three children, told AFP, adding that her mother and husband were both killed in 2007 by artillery attacks. Since joining the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) nearly a year ago, Jegadas says she has disabled more than 700 mines in Mannar district.

She works along former defence lines of the separatist Tamil Tigers, the rebel guerrilla force who fought the government for decades before being finally defeated in May last year.

Increasingly, international humanitarian organisations are training women to find and defuse mines.

"Women carry the burden after the war in most homes. They want the money, and they don't take short-cuts when clearing mines," said Noel Peacock, a technical advisor for FSD in Mannar.

"Demining is probably one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, but these ladies are very committed. They do a better job than the boys." The government's social services ministry estimates the war-torn north and east regions of Sri Lanka are home to some 90,000 war widows.

"Over 50 percent of female-headed homes are single parents under 30 years of age supporting their own and extended families," said Visaka Dharmadasa, director of the Association for War-Affected Women.

With most post-war jobs in fisheries, construction or farming, women have few options for a steady income. "And demining pays well. It is considered a high-status, respectable job, unlike poultry-raising," said Imelda Sukumar, government agent for the district of Mullaitivu.

Source: www.dailymirror.lk
Wednesday, 06 October 2010