War is declared!

Canada has started a war...not a war with guns and soldiers, but a war against landmines. Of course, we know that Canada was not the only one in the fight. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines working in many countries around the world were there years before. As Canadians we feel very proud that Honourable Lloyd Axworthy, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs a year ago in Dec. 1996, dared to challenge the nations of the world to get their act together so that one year later in 1997 they would be ready to sign a treaty that would ban landmines completely. Between Dec. 2-4, delegates and observers from over 144 nations of the world have gathered in Ottawa, Canada to make this challenge become a reality. Welcome to the Global Ban on Landmines Conference!

As one of the schools participating in the United Nations-sponsored Schools Demining Schools project, we were privileged to have 3 honoured guests visit our class.

On Tuesday December 2, 1997, Mrs. Nane Annan, wife of the UN Secretary- General (Kofi Annan) made a visit to the Grade 6 students in St.Elizabeth's school. Mrs. Annan came to Ottawa with her husband who was to play an important part at the Conference. Among other things it is his job to take the signed Convention back to the United Nations. Mrs. Annan was accompanied by Her Excellency Diana Fowler LeBlanc, wife of the Canadian Governor-General Romeo LeBlanc and Mary Fowler, the Deputy Chief of Mine Action Service of the United Nations.

We had a very crowded class that morning. There were the 3 special guests, about 20 media people, cameras, RCMP (the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and of course 37 very excited students and teacher.

Mrs. Annan is very soft-spoken and gentle. The room became very quiet as she told us about her experiences during her visit to Kuito, Angola in Africa where she saw and talked to many landmine survivors. She expressed her feelings deeply as she spoke of her experiences. There was the young boy of age 12 who had lost both legs. The kids knew that a 12-year-old boy, about their age, would have to live without his legs for the rest of his life and not be able to do the things we take for granted everyday...run, play ball, jump. Then there was the boy who had just skin where his eyes should have been and the mother of three who had lost a leg. The people were all real people and their stories touched us very deeply. Mrs. Annan made the horrors of landmines become very real to us.

Mrs. Annan addressing the students with Her Excellency Diana Fowler LeBlanc looking on

After Mrs. Annan spoke, Mrs. Mary Fowler who knows all the technical stuff about landmines passed four dis-armed mines around the class and explained to us how these mines worked and how easy it was to make them. It's so hard to believe that something so small can inflict so much damage. One of the mines looked just like a small shoebox while another one was the size of a hockey puck but was coloured green so that it would blend in with the ground or grass. Can you imagine that one of the mines was especially redesigned so that only a barefoot and not a booted foot could trigger the explosion? Landmines cost about $3 to $30 to make, but $300 to $1000 to remove.

The authors with Mrs. Mary Fowler.

The one thing that surprised us was how hard it was to find and demine a mine. Mrs. Fowler showed us a probe - a long pointer that can be extended- which is used to detect mines. A person working with one of these probes can only work for 20 minutes at a time because after that time it is very hard to keep your hand from shaking. Very steady movements are needed to work safely with mines.

Mrs. Annan, Ms. Naujokaitis, David D.and Her Excellency Diana Fowler LeBlanc "surfing the net"

It was then our turn to share. David D. (10 years old) took Mrs. Annan and Her Excellency Diana Fowler LeBlanc on a "virtual tour" of our website Students Against Landmines (http://www3.sympatico.ca/st.elizabeth2/mine/mine.htm). Then a group of students explained what our main fundraising to raise money to demine schools in Mozambique and Afganistan would be. We will be making and selling buttons using our logo Students Against Landmines. We demonstrated how the buttons were made and presented them to our guests to wear.

Our guests then spent some time in informal conversations and answering questions. They must have been enjoying themselves because the Master of Protocol had a hard time getting them to leave to get to their next function which was a state luncheon hosted by the Governor-General at Rideau Hall, the official residence of the Governor-General of Canada. Later in the afternoon, we received an e-mail from our guests thanking us for the visit. We also found out that they wore their buttons to a state luncheon and were asked many questions about the project. We thought this was pretty cool!!

The Global Ban on Landmines convention has been signed by many countries. Now the real war has begun...ridding the world of all landmines! And we as kids are doing our part.

By Mark (11) and David (11)
St. Elizabeth School
Ottawa, Ontario

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