The Ambitious Challenge of Adopting a Mine Field
by Larry Levine, U.N. Association
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Dropci
is a tiny, devastated and currently empty community of family farmers,
in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, near the border with Croatia.
Its people are still refugees from the war, as the land is strewn with
landmines, booby traps and unexploded ordnance. Monterey County, Cali.,
is known as the "Salad Bowl of the World" for its agricultural
abundance, the "Golfing Capital of the World" and the site of
the spectacular Big Sur coastline. Dropci and Monterey County are worlds
apart. |
What is the cord
that binds these two communities? The Adopt-A-Minefield Campaign, a program
coordinated by the United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA) to raise
funds for landmine clearance and to raise awareness about the global landmine
crisis. The UNA Monterey Bay Chapter was among the first groups to consider
working with UNA/USA to raise funds to sponsor demining efforts overseas.
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When
our chapter's Board of Directors first considered this concept in early
1999, there was considerable caution. The chapter had never undertaken
a major fund-raising campaign before. It had no staff or consultants,
no large mailing listor database, no major sponsors or wealthy members
ready to help. At the same time, the Adopt-A-Minefield Campaign encouraged
its sponsors to raise funds within four months of undertaking an adoption,
so that the mine action centers could plan their demining schedules accordingly.
We hated what landmines were doing to people and communities all over
the world and we wanted to make a difference, so we accepted the ambitious
challenge. |
For
the rest of their lives, whenever reference is made to landmines, our donors
will know that when given the choice between doing something and doing nothing
at all, they chose to do something.
We focused on
Bosnia, as our community had some ties to this country, and everyone had at
least heard of it because of the war in the Balkans. From the mine fields
available, we chose one in the family farming community of Dropci. We committed
ourselves to raise $33,500 to sponsor a month's work of the three teams of
deminers and mine-sniffing dogs needed to turn the community back into a community.
Sam and Edie Karas, long-time Monterey community leaders and UNA members,
offered to chair the Campaign Committee. Their personalities lent inspiration
and credibility to our campaign: Edie had been present at the birth of the
United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, and she and Sam had both served three
times as official election supervisors in Bosnia. Retired Gen. Robert Gard,
Jr., an internationally known advocate for banning and clearing landmines,
agreed to be our Honorary Chair, leading a group that included former White
House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, our Congressman Sam Farr and other respected
local residents.
Our community
is overwhelmed with fund-raising events, large and small, gala and low-key,
so we decided to simply tell the horrendous story of the landmine crisis and
ask for help, rather than plan one more series of banquets, film premieres
or rummage sales. Our committee created bulk mailings by hand, from lists
they found in their desk drawers. We fought for every bit of attention we
could muster from the local press. We approached religious congregations,
women's groups, service clubs, youth groups and businesses.
Our UNA members
responded generously, along with many neighbors in our community from many
backgrounds and perspectives. Thanks to the efforts of Princess Diana and
the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines, we
found that many local people had been concerned and upset about landmines
for years, but had never before found an avenue to do something about it.
One by one, the dollars came in and we kept plugging away. In the end we received
contributions from almost 500 individual donors, plus over 25 community organizations,
religious congregations and businesses. Low and behold, to our surprise and
great relief, we reached our target of $33,500 in early November 1999, two
weeks ahead of our four-month goal, faster than any other community-based
group so far to successfully complete a local Adopt-A-Minefield Campaign.
It's winter now
in Dropci, but we know that soon after the snows melt, and the frozen Bosnian
terrain begins to thaw, the mines will be cleared and the refugees will be
able to return to their homes, their farms and the beginning of a new, more
normal life. We know that we in Monterey County can never solve the global
landmine crisis, but we also know that we can make a difference. For the rest
of their lives, whenever reference is made to landmines, our donors will know
that when given the choice between doing something and doing nothing at all,
they chose to do something.
The Adopt-A-Minefield™ Campaign engages individuals, community groups
and businesses in the United Nations effort to remove landmines around the
world. The Campaign helps save lives by raising funds to clear mine fields
and by raising awareness about the global landmine crisis.
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The
idea behind Adopt-A-Minefield™ is both powerful and simple. Designed
to move beyond the political and policy debates typically associated with
banning the use of landmines, the Campaign provides a practical solution
to ridding the world of the tens of millions of mines that contaminate
it. Adopt-A-Minefield™ combines elements of two successful national
programs Adopt-a-Highway and Sister Cities and applies them to the landmine
problem. |
The Campaign
seeks national and international sponsors to adopt mine fields that the United
Nations has identified as being in urgent need of clearance. Sponsors raise
funds in their communities to clear their adopted mine fields and return land
to productive use. The cost of clearing these areas ranges from thousands
to millions of dollars, depending on the size and type of minefield and the
complexity of the demining task. Sponsors may adopt entire mine fields or
contribute smaller amounts, which are pooled with other contributions. Every
dollar raised is forwarded to the United Nations for mine clearance.
Adopt-A-Minefield™
is coordinated by the U.N. Association of the USA (UNA/USA) in partnership
with the United Nations, the Better World Fund, the U.S. Department of State,
and Medical Missions for Children. The Adopt-A-Minefield™ Campaign is
formalized by an exclusive agreement between UNA/USA and the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP). UNDP has overall management responsibility for
the Adopt-A-Minefield™ Campaign within the United Nations system and
works closely with the U.N. Office forProject Services, to whom it has subcontracted
the coordination of Adopt-A-Minefield™ demining activities.
The United Nations
undertakes mine action programs with the goal of developing local capacities
to address the landmine problem. It works closely with national mine action
centers to train local deminers and to certify that all mine fields are cleared
according to international standards for humanitarian mine clearance. UNA/USA
monitors this process and ensures that sponsor funds are properly allocated.
The Adopt-A-Minefield™
Campaign has been widely endorsed by the international landmine community.
It is regarded as a model of the public-private partnerships envisioned by
President Clinton when he launched the U.S. Demining 2010 Initiative, which
seeks to eliminate the threat of landmines to civilian populations around
the world by 2010. Adopt-A-Minefield™ has also been endorsed by U.N Secretary-General
Kofi A. Annan, Ambassador Donald K. Steinberg, Special Representative of the
President and Secretary of State for Global Humanitarian Demining; Jody Williams,
1997 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient; and the United States Campaign to Ban Landmines.
The hundreds
of thousands of landmine survivors worldwide bear witness to the indiscriminate
nature of anti-personnel landmines. While a mine can cost as little as $3
to produce, it can cost up to $1,000 to remove. Local communities in mine-affected
countries often do not have the resources to clear their own land. They typically
depend upon financial assistance from governments and international organizations.
Adopt-A-Minefield™ is a grassroots effort to provide this aid. It is
our hope that in the process of raising funds and mine awareness in communities
around the world, sponsors will establish long-lasting bonds with the mine-affected
communities that will benefit directly from their efforts.
Adopt-A-Minefield™
Campaign
United Nations
Association of the USA
Phone: (212)
907-1300
E-mail:
info@landmines.org
Website: http//www.landmines.org
