In Remembrance

Silvija Bogdany, Operations Manager for RONCO Consulting Corporation in Northern Sudan, died 30 April 2008, from injuries resulting from a vehicle accident outside the town of El Obeid, Sudan. Her coworker, Jan Bosman, United Nations Mine Action Office Regional Coordinator for Northern Sudan, was also killed in the accident.

Bogdany had worked for RONCO in Sudan since August 2007 in support of humanitarian demining conducted on behalf of the United Nations. As an expert in explosive-ordnance disposal and demining, she managed RONCO’s demining and ground-preparation operation based in Kadugli, Sudan, which consisted of 100 local national deminers as well as international supervisors.

She impressed everyone at RONCO not only with her intelligence but also with her years of wisdom and experience at the relatively young age of 26. Bogdany will be remembered by her colleagues for her strength and dedication to demining in Sudan. She was an honest and caring woman, capable of finding much-needed humor during many long days in the field.

Bogdany had worked in Sudan since 2005 as both Technical Advisor and Supervisor for Fondation Suisse de Déminage and DanChurchAid. Her demining background began in 2003 in her home country of Croatia, where she was trained by Norwegian People’s Aid as a deminer.

Bogdany resided in Marusevec, Croatia. Friends and colleagues in Kadugli held a memorial service in her honor on 5 May. Her funeral took place in Croatia on 9 May.

Editor’s Note: The Journal of Mine Action wrote about Bogdany in August 2006 (issue 10.1), profiling her as a mine action “Unsung Hero.” She was nominated for this honor by an NPA coworker. The JMA was unable to obtain a photo or additional information about Jan Bosman to include in this article.