the prize is a prosthesis

December 12, 2007 10:46 AM

Miss Landmine: We are currently preparing the live Miss Landmine Angola 2008 pageant in close collaboration with the Angolan government (CNIDAH) and supported by the European Union. The crowning of the world's first Miss Landmine will be taking place in Luanda, Angola on April 4th, 2008, the UN International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. Stay tuned! The web voting for Miss Landmine Angola is open until April 3, 2008.

The beauty pageant is the work of Morten Traavik, a Norwegian theatre and film director who sees it as a way of empowering disabled African women and delivering some much-needed attention to the land mine issue. Ten Angolan women are competing in the pageant for the grand prize: a leg prosthesis direct from Norway.

MeFite posts about landmines.

posted by nickyskye (17 comments total)

Heartbreaking, heartwarming. Thanks, nickyskye.
posted by cgc373 at 10:56 AM on December 12, 2007

wow. more power to them.
posted by emilbus20 at 11:00 AM on December 12, 2007

Competing for a leg prosthesis? How freaking sad.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 11:09 AM on December 12, 2007

Miss Landmine Angola 2008 is about the best drag queen name I've ever heard.

Anyhow, this is amazing.
posted by hermitosis at 11:19 AM on December 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm glad they are helping someone, but do they have to raise, and then dash, the hopes of (at least) 9 others in the process?
posted by DU at 11:23 AM on December 12, 2007

Something tells me that these women are all going to be taken care of by the time this is over, whether as a condition of their involvement, or by private donors.
posted by hermitosis at 11:29 AM on December 12, 2007

anyone victim to a landmine should get free prosthesis. come on, then.
posted by mr_book at 11:49 AM on December 12, 2007

anyone victim to a landmine should get free prosthesis. come on, then.

In an ideal world, yes. I don't think anyone would argue that would be a good thing, either. Unfortunately, we don't live in such a world.

But then again, in an ideal world we wouldn't have landmines, now would we?
posted by deadmessenger at 11:57 AM on December 12, 2007

But then again, in an ideal world we wouldn't have landmines, now would we?

In an ideal world, the landmines would only kill the bad people.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:12 PM on December 12, 2007

The whole concept of land mines is barbaric. But so is war. I guess that means we should prepare for an attack of Iran. How fucking depressing.
posted by notreally at 1:48 PM on December 12, 2007

Ummmm, not to lack empathy or anything, but did you notice if you decide to vote, they ask for your name, e-mail and age? Why do I feel discomfort providing this?
posted by Samizdata at 2:29 PM on December 12, 2007

Last time I checked, Angola claimed the highest landmine amputation ratio per capita. It could be that Afghanistan and Cambodia have caught up, though.
posted by A-Train at 2:41 PM on December 12, 2007

It would be interesting to see the Miss Land Mine Angola candidates as representatives of a class action suit brought against the land mine manufacturers and the governmental entities that laid them, prosecuted in much the same way as have been cases against big tobacco.

Meanwhile, the mine fields should be designated as Superfund-equivalent clean-up sites.
posted by spacely_sprocket at 3:06 PM on December 12, 2007

It would be interesting to see the Miss Land Mine Angola candidates as representatives of a class action suit brought against the land mine manufacturers and the governmental entities that laid them, prosecuted in much the same way as have been cases against big tobacco.

Meanwhile, the mine fields should be designated as Superfund-equivalent clean-up sites.

Are you operating under the assumption that Angola is one of the United States?
posted by nasreddin at 3:15 PM on December 12, 2007

Samizdata, you do not have to give your real email address or info, you can, I think, use a temporary one like at http://www.mailinator.com/. I used an old email address I never use any more.
posted by nickyskye at 4:25 PM on December 12, 2007

In the interests of gender equality, perhaps we should have a Mr Landmine. I nominate Robert J Stevens, Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin.
posted by rhymer at 2:30 AM on December 13, 2007

nasreddin Are you operating under the assumption that Angola is one of the United States?

No. That's why I said Superfund-equivalent.
posted by spacely_sprocket at 10:47 AM on December 18, 2007