West Virginia Firm Donates Free Detectors to Locate Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War

This advertisement describes Schonstedt Instrument Company’s (www.schonstedt.com) generous humanitarian demining initiative (http://www.schonstedt.com/index.cfm?page=savealife) to donate at no cost a magnetic locator for humanitarian demining purposes for each Schonstedt TraceMaster II or XTpc pipe and cable locator purchased. The locators, which can detect the magnetic signature of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) in many types of soil, are donated in the name of individual or corporate purchaser. The Schonstedt Instrument Company coordinates its donations with the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS; http://www.mineaction.org) to ensure that its locators will be sent where they are needed. The Schonstedt Instrument Company is a Public-Private Partner of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (www.state.gov/t/pm/wra) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. [Photo courtesy of Schonstedt Instrument Company.]

Bob Ebberson, Director of Business Development, on the left, and President Michael B. Head, on the right, proudly holding magnetic locators at the Schonstedt Instrument Company manufacturing facility in Kearneysville, West Virginia. [Photo courtesy of Ron Agnir, Martinsburg Journal, Martinsburg, West Virginia.]

Frank Lenik, a concerned American citizen, professional surveyor, and former Peace Corps Volunteer who lives in Woodstown, New Jersey, learned about the Schonstedt Humanitarian Demining Initiative. He approached fellow Woodstown Quakers to determine if they could raise money to donate some Schonstedt locators to help detect landmines and ERW. The Quakers in this community responded generously, raising money to buy two detectors, which triggered donation of a third detector by Schonstedt. The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) recommended that the three detectors be sent to Tajikistan, parts of which are severely impacted by ERW left from the 1992 – 1997 civil war in this former Soviet republic. To learn more about this particular effort, see the Philadelphia Inquirer article, “N.J. Quakers help save lives a world away,” archived at http://www.schonstedt.com/index.cfm?page=news. These Quakers subsequently raised additional funds and, through the Schonstedt Humanitarian Demining Initiative, enabled 24 locators to be sent to Vietnam. [Photo courtesy of Bonnie Weller/Philadelphia Inquirer.]

Tajik Ministry of Defense humanitarian deminers equipped with Schonstedt magnetic locators donated by Schonstedt Instrument Company search for ERW in Tajikistan, with the assistance of the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (Fondation Suisse de Déminage; http://www.fsd.ch). A dog handler and a mine detecting dog, which can sniff the explosives in landmines and ERW, carefully sweep for more “hidden killers” in the background. The Swiss Foundation for Mine Action is also a Public-Private Partner of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement. [Photo courtesy of Tajikistan Mine Action Center.]

Tajik children in one of the villages whose surrounding fields are impacted by ERW. Thanks to Schonstedt Instrument Company, Tajik Ministry of Defense humanitarian deminers, and the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action, their chances and those of many other Tajik children of growing up and enjoying normal lives rather than being maimed or killed by ERW have been considerably improved. [Photo courtesy of Tajikistan Mine Action Center.]

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Daubney (center), Commandant of the International Mine Action Training Center in Nairobi, Kenya accepts a magnetic locator from Bob Ebberson (left) of Schonstedt Instrument Company. The unit represents the first of hundreds the company expects to donate for humanitarian demining efforts worldwide. Justin Brady (right) of the United Nations Mine Action Service, provides liaison at the UN Headquarters, pictured just behind them, in New York city. [Photo courtesy of the United Nations.]

See the related Media Note, “West Virginia Firm Donates Free Detectors to Locate Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War” at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/feb/101190.htm . To learn more about the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement’s Public-Private Partnership Program, visit www.state.gov/t/pm/wra and click on the “Public-Private Partnerships” subject button. Also, be sure to read Safe Passage, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement’s Public-Private Partnership newsletter at www.state.gov/t/pm/wra/partners/c14838.htm.