Africa: Landmines, the hidden threat

Esperança Chidzinga lives in the rural town of Chicualacuala in Mozambique's Gaza province. Accessible only by a train that comes twice a week, the town is isolated and under-serviced. When Chidzinga was nine years old she went into the forest with school friends to gather wood for a party and she stepped on a landmine and lost a leg. Her life has never been the same. 'I was at the hospital and my father came to see me,' she said. 'When he left I tried to follow him but when I got off the bed I fell down. That's when I realised I had lost my leg.' Chicualacuala is a typical example of the many areas in Mozambique still affected by landmines laid during the country's civil war.