Sole of Africa Campaign

The Mineseeker Foundation has been granted the license for a radar system that uses sensors to detect the location of landmines. By equipping airships with this ground penetrating radar technology that can detect and eliminate landmines, the project aims to use land declared landmine-free for agricultural development.

The project’s plans include:

• Mapping of the land to quickly eliminate landmines.
• Fertilising and planting agriculture on the newly cleared land.
• Educating and empowering communities with tools to sustain economic vitality going forward.
• Using defined road maps to provide and distribute aid supplies, thereby, facilitating the sustainability of a country and the empowerment of its people.

The project is supported by a communications campaign that involves a call to action, driven by celebrities and heads of state, asking everyone to ‘put their foot down’ to change the world. The call to action will be communicated through:

• A television appeal film, to be broadcast in the United States.
• The Sole of Africa website, a source of ongoing information about the campaign.
• A pin badge campaign.
• The compilation of positive stories from Africa, for possible future publication as part of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul Series”.
• An ongoing project blog, as well as a presence in social networking sites such as Facebook and myspace.com.
• A downloadable music recording (in the planning stage as of July 2009).

Individuals are being asked to:

• Sign the Declaration against landmines.
• Tell a friend about the campaign.
• Donate.
• Submit stories about Africa for the book.
• Get companies involved.
• Attend a Changing History seminar.
• Add Sole of Africa banners and resources to their websites.

Conflict, Economic Development, Hunger, Natural Resource Management.

According to the organisers, Mineseeker estimates it can find and eliminate all of the world's current land mines within 10-15 years (vs. the estimated 500 years it would take to use existing technologies which have proven to be costly and dangerous). Land mines are not specific to any country or city. There are 70-100 million mines in 70 countries around the world that contain land mines on their soil. Land mines kill or maim 72 people a day (or 26,280 per year). Every 19 minutes someone - usually a woman or a child - is killed or maimed by a land mine. Those that are not killed often lose limbs. Mozambique was chosen as the first country for the first project because Mozambique, with much of its land fertile and lush, has the capacity to be “equipped as a kitchen for Africa.” Mineseeker estimates that it will take only 3 years to identify the mines; and 85% of the land can be quickly turned back to agriculture.