Join us for the 2005/2006 That Landmine Thing campaign launch event!
Join us for the 2005/2006 That Landmine Thing campaign launch event!
UNA-USA's Adopt-A-Minefield and Landmine Survivors Network invite you to join us for our official launch of the 2005/2006 That Landmine Thing campaign at 6:30pm on November 3, 2005 in Chicago. Loyola Academy will be hosting the event on its Wilmette campus (1100 Laramie Avenue), and the evening will consist of a speaking engagement and question and answer discussion featuring the campaign's new Youth Ambassador, Farah Ahmedi.
Farah, a 17-year-old landmine survivor joined the campaign after winning Good Morning America and Simon and Schuster's "The Story of My Life" contest. Farah was seriously injured by a landmine in Afghanistan at the age of seven; she lost her left leg and her right leg was fused at the knee. Soon after returning home following two years of rehabilitation in Germany without her family, Farah's father and two sisters were killed by a rocket strike on their home and her two brothers fled Afghanistan and disappeared. Despite her condition, Farah and her mother eventually traveled over the mountains into Pakistan and lived there for several years as refugees. They were finally rescued and relocated by World Relief to Wheaton, Illinois in 2002.
That Landmine Thing is a student campaign to raise funds to clear minefields, assist survivors, and raise awareness about the landmine problem. The campaign currently involves over 1,000 schools and has raised over $222,000, clearing five minefields in Cambodia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and providing survivors with appropriate medial care, peer support, and the means for establishing an ongoing livlihood. Funds raised from the 2005/2006 campaign will be used to sponsor a demining team in Afghanistan and to help thousands of survivors in Farah's name.
PLEASE REGISTER FOR THE EVENT AT: http://www.landmines.org/getinvolved/studentaction/tlt_launch_event_reg.cfm
Adopt-A-Minefield is a campaign of the United Nations Association of the USA in partnership with the Better World Fund, the United Nations and other leading mine action organizations around the world. For more information on UNA-USA and how you can become a member, log on to www.unausa.org.
Farah Ahmedi pictured with Laura Bush during Farah's visit to the White House.