It has been nearly 10 years since the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, a horrific conflict that lasted more than 25 years and claimed an estimated 100,000 lives. A decade later, land mines and unexploded ordnance still litter the northern landscape, endangering those who are trying to return to their previous lives. Allison Joyce, a photographer with Getty Images, recently spent time with some of the Tamil women, many of them widows and survivors of the war, who work for the HALO Trust, one of the NGOs trying to clear one of the largest minefields in the world. Said Joyce: “Forty-four percent of HALO’s staff working in the minefields are female, of which 62 percent are the primary breadwinners of their family, and 37 percent have had relatives who were injured, killed, or went missing during the civil war. As of January 31, 2019, HALO Sri Lanka has cleared 309,354 mines and unexploded ordnance in Sri Lanka.”
The Women Who Are Clearing the Minefields in Sri Lanka
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Navirethan Sujitha works at Muhamalai, one of the biggest minefields in the world, on March 2, 2019, in Muhamalai, Sri Lanka. In 2009, Sujitha's village, Uruthirapuram, was heavily shelled, and the military moved in and took her and her family to a camp. Her husband was not home at the time and is presumed dead. After more than a year, she was allowed to return home. She joined HALO Trust in 2010, and her first job was to clear land mines from her own village. She is the sole breadwinner of her family, and her salary supports her, her mother, her daughter, and her niece. #
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Chandran Tharani enters her de-mining vehicle after a break at Muhamalai on March 3, 2019. Tharani's father disappeared during the war, and her mother lost a leg to a land mine. Her mother worries about her work, but Tharani says she feels happy to be able to clear the land. #
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After returning home from her shift working to clear mines, Navirethan Sujitha (left) talks to her mother as she works in her garden in Uruthirapuram, Sri Lanka, on March 2, 2019. #
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Navirethan Sujitha (far right) poses for a photo with her niece, daughter, and mother after returning home from her de-mining work on March 2, 2019, in Uruthirapuram. #
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Inthira Piriyatharsini works to clear mines on March 3, 2019. Piriyatharsini and her family were displaced in 2009 when the Sri Lankan military shelled their village. Her husband, Ludes Nixon, was hit and lost his right leg during the attack. After a year, they were able to move back to their village with their two children. In 2012, Piriyatharsini joined the HALO Trust as a de-miner. “I was nervous the first day and the first time I found a grenade, but I was affected by the war, so doing this work is very satisfying for me. I always think that it's just because of my work that people get to come back and live in their homes again,” Piriyatharsini said. #
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Inthira Piriyatharsini and her husband, Ludes Nixon, pose for a photo in their home on March 3, 2019. Piriyatharsini and her family were displaced in 2009 when the Sri Lankan military shelled their village, and Nixon was hit and lost his right leg during the attack. #
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