Caught in the trap: Survivors’ experiences after landmine accidents, Antioquia, Colombia, 2007

Abstract

Objective: This report is the partial result of a survey carried out with the purpose of interpreting the process of reintegration to daily life of survivors after landmine accidents, through their testimonies when they recall their experiences.

Methodology: A qualitative methodological approach and an ethnographic particularistic focus were employed. The techniques for gathering information were semistructured interviews to four participants, and observations during them.

Results: This paper shows the category caught in the trap in response to the question: How is the experience of landmine accidents survivors? It describes the momentand place of the blast, the activity that was being carried out, the object responsible for the injuries, the harm caused, and the sensations of the survivors and their companions.

Conclusions: Education on the risk of landmines is an adequate strategy to make communities and persons aware of the dangers posed by those artifacts. Consequently, the possibility arises to reduce such dangers to levels consistent with the recreation of milieus free from the restrictions imposed by the presence of landmines.