NICOSIA: Sabah Masaeed’s father, a Jordanian shepherd, lost a leg several years ago when he stepped on a landmine. So did her uncle.

Today, she has become a member of the Middle East’s first all-female team dedicated to clearing landmines manually.

“Every day, I feel pain and sorrow when I look at my father,” 27-year-old Masaeed told AFP.

“My uncle also lost his leg in a similar accident. The way landmines change people’s lives forever is a real tragedy,” she said, speaking in the northeastern town of Mafraq.Sabah is part of a group of 23 Jordanian women who have been trained by a Norwegian agency to brave one of the world’s most dangerous jobs in a region rife with mines.

The women, aged 20 to 36, have been contracted by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) to work alongside 150 men in removing 136,000 landmines that Jordan laid along its border with Syria in the 1970s.

Like the other women on the team, she is aware of the dangers that lie ahead but insists that she can meet the challenge.

“I am not afraid to remove the landmines, and my family has encouraged me to do so. I want to help get rid of this underground danger, which threatens the lives of thousands of people.”

According to the NPA, the women who completed a six-week training course in manual landmine clearance on Wednesday will form the first team of all-female deminers in the Middle East.

It will certainly be a novelty in Jordan, a conservative Muslim country where men can murder female relatives in so-called “honour crimes” and walk away with a mild punishment. Masaeed’s team-mates are university graduates, farmers, homemakers, who were recruited by the NPA in villages in northern Jordan. Initially 38 women joined the training programme in October but only 23 graduated. All the women are devout Muslims and wear the veil.

They will each earn a monthly salary of 540 dinars as well as receiving social security, health, accident and life insurance, according to the NPA, which has carried out demining operations in Jordan since 2006.

Walaa Andali, 21, weighed the danger of working in minefields and decided that it could help her provide for her 12-member family as well as put money aside to open a hairdressing salon.

“I know that removing landmines is going to be dangerous and might cost me my life,” said Andali.

“But at the same time, this job is feasible and might help me start my professional life. I also want to improve my financial situation, open my own hairdressing salon and buy my own car.”

Parwin Mahdawi, 32, studied fashion design and English in the United States for three years before deciding to join the team.

“I love this challenging humanitarian work although it’s dangerous and difficult,” she said.

“I just need to focus on my work and stick to the regulations and things will be fine, God willing,” said Mahdawi.

Iman Mohammed, 26, had to persuade her family that she could do the job.

“My family told me to stay away as much as possible from this dangerous job. But I have convinced them that I need to try my luck in this life and break the barrier of fear of these landmines.”

NPA operations manager J. Paneer Selvam told AFP the women were up to the task even if “compared to men they might be physically weaker.”

“We are impressed with these girls. They are well-educated, well-motivated and enthusiastic,” he said.

“We have trained them without facing any problems. They can definitely do it.”

The women have also won praise for their thoroughness.

“Demining statistics throughout the world have shown that while female deminers may be slower than their male counterparts, their work is more thorough,” said NPA programme manager in Jordan Stephen Bryant.

In 1993, Jordan began clearing the more than 300,000 mines laid during successive Israeli-Arab conflicts. A year later Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty.

The NPA said it has cleared around 60,000 mines, mainly in Wadi Araba on the border Israeli border, and that demining in the north is due to be completed by the end of 2011.—AFP