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| OAS/Rehabilitation program in Nicaragua |
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In five years, OAS rehabilitation program has supported 510 victims with prosthesis and psychological assistance. Destroying an estimated of sixty five percent of mines sown, and 100 percent of stockpiled mines, the program initiated its component in rehabilitation and work training. The majority of the victims of this part of the program come from Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua where nearly half of the country’s know landmines were found.
Nearly 89 percent of the landmine victims in Nicaragua are civilians and only eleven percent are military. Ninety-five percent are men the ages of 32 and 47. The majority were looking for a job, or working when they stepped on the mine. Different from other countries with landmines the children are the least affected population with only four percent involved in accidents .
The OAS/Mine Action rehabilitation program was created essentially in response to requests from OAS member countries. The effect of one antipersonnel landmine has devastating consequences not only for the victims, but their families. Most victims were their family’s main economic support before the accident.
The lack of knowledge about mines is one of the chief contributors to landmine accidents, for instance, Domingo Martínez told to OAS that “I have 10 mines stockpiled at home to assure that none of them harm anybody.” Carmelo Rivera “had a mine in my “patio” at home and it exploded without “touching anybody.”Arnulfo Pozo: “there are some folks in the Pampas that take out mines and hide them in their homes.” Daniel Montiel volunteered to show to the OAS mines that are “close to a tree.” Manuel Pérez that kept one “mine PPMISRII and one used rocket LAU” in his home. Or simply stories without name such as a “15 year old youngster that found three jumping mines. He kicked them, threw stones at them and moved them close to a road.”
Twenty nine percent of mine accidents happen when people walk through a mined area. Such was the case of Ramón Peralta, a 34 year old: “I am a farmer and my accident happened in May 20,1999. At that moment I was picking corn. I did not know that the field was mined. I stepped on a mine. It exploded and threw me about thirty meters. I was carried to the hospital of Ocotal where they amputated both of my legs.”
To reduce the risk of accident, OAS/Mine Action has embarked on an integral and extensive education program using radio and television, and in some cases through training of local leaders. OAS campaigns have identified mines placed in patios, schools, and stockpiled by individuals in their homes. In a recent campaign, in the Nueva Segovia area, had a strong participation of the community accounted for the location of more than 400 mines and unexploded ordnances, which were subsequently destroyed.
With the financial support of the Sweden, Norway, Canada, and Spain, through the National Center of Prosthesis and Orthesis, the OAS supports by victims providing them with prosthesis and medical treatment. This was the case of Victor Bustamante: “In the Sungano, Nueva Segovia, I stepped on a mine that smashed my right leg. I was carried to the Ocotal Hospital where my leg was amputated. The OAS gave me the prostheses that I needed.”
The OAS optimizes information through its data base that includes biographic profile of victims, as well as the names of, also the areas where the individuals suffered from the accidents. The data base also includes the areas where the OAS provided mine awareness education.
The OAS/Mine Action Program has established a priority in providing prostheses and medical attention, but also work training. Last year, the program started a pilot that provided job training and jobs to mine victims.
The selection criteria is diverse. Prior medical and prosthesis attention is the first requirement. A second criteria includes the distribution of affected zones. First generation of students came from the three different areas with the most accidents in Nicaragua: Chontales, Nueva Segovia and the North Atlantic Autonomous Region.
The training period lasts approximately one year and depends on the particular skills and experiences of each victim.
The National Technological Institute, a governmental organization in Nicaragua, provides technical training. Students receive a scholarship, a monthly stipend, perdiem, transportation and daily meals. Job skills training includes car engineering and mechanics, soldering and computing.
The first generation of students started their courses in April 2002 and concluded eight months later. Of the 24 students who graduated, eleven were trained in woodworking, six in car engineering and mechanics, five in soldering and two in computing. In addition, seven students were provided extra help in literacy classes.
The OAS/Mine Action program, in collaboration with the National Commission of Demining, national entity in charge of the follow up of mine action operations in the country, provided a loan of financial support to each graduated student. This financial support helped them to establish their own business in their communities.
During the training, the OAS facilitator noticed that many of the victims had learning disabilities caused in part by depression. In response, the OAS provided psychological treatment to these students.
The OAS project has attracted the attention of other nongovernmental organizations in the United States, Global Care Unlimited, located in New Jersey, solicited funds from eight hundred students from twenty five schools in New York and New Jersey.
The OAS at this moment is training 32 students, with the support of the Government of France and Spain, and will start a third group in August. In the near future, this project will be replicated in other countries such as Ecuador, Peru and Colombia. In Colombia, a number of victims outnumbers those in Nicaragua.
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-The lack of knowledge about mines is one of the chief
contributors of landmine accidents.
-Most of the 24 students did not have a fixed income. It is necessary to give a stipend to the students for their training.
-During the training, the OAS facilitator noticed that many of the victims had learning disabilities caused in part by depression. In response, the OAS provided psychological treatment to these students.
-There was a high preference, among the students, in the wood making area. This might be because the mechanic's tools are too costly to establish an independent workshop. Another possibility is that to work as an assistant in mechanics, it requires more physical effort. Thus, for a handicapped person, this becomes more difficult.
-22 of the students did not know how to read and write. OAS had to implement a literacy course before implementing the training.
-None of the students chose farming as training. This might be the case because the students already have farming as a background.
-Work reinsertion should be diversified through different specific projects that benefit different groups of survivors.
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