Ethiopia: Raising awareness about weapon contamination among schoolchildren in Oromia

A young student, Girma (name changed) shared how he and his peers had been playing with bullets, unaware of the risk: “When we find bullets, we use them as whistles. We put them in our mouths and try to make sounds with them”. After the session, he would never do that again. 

Such cases highlight the urgent need for ongoing awareness raising, particularly in schools where children are most vulnerable. Best practices include not getting close to the suspected item, not touching any explosive remnant, not dumping the item into a hole or toilet, and alerting adults.

We also distributed leaflets to the schoolteachers, to ensure that the safe behavior messages would continue to resonate beyond our visit.