Destroy mines with creativity

This project is the proof that creativity is a very important key factor in doing good. It is a project from Massoud Hassani, a designer raised in Kabul in Afghanistan and now living in the Netherlands.
As a boy his was playing with self-made toys. One of his favourites was a small rolling object that was wind-powered.

Massoud: “We used to race against the other kids on the fields around our neighbourhood. There was always a strong wind waving towards the mountains. While we were racing against each other, our toys rolled too fast and too far. Mostly they landed in areas where we couldn’t go rescue them because of landmines. I still remember those toys I’d made that we lost and watching them just beyond where we could go.”

Almost 20 years later, he went back to Kabul and made those toys again. That was his graduation project for the Design Academy Eindhoven.
He call it a Mine kafon. When it rolls over a mine it destroy it.
It is made from bamboo and biodegradable plastics and it has a GPS chip integrated in it. With this chip it is possible to follow its movement and see were it went, where are the safest paths to walk on and how many land mines are destroyed in that area. One Kafon costs about 40 euros.

During the shooting of the film it was proven that the prototypes work, now Hassani is in the process of finding collaborative partners – technical companies, fundings and governments – to start to produce these live saving deminers.
Read more about it at his website.

Hat tip mo greens.