West Virginia Campaign to Ban Landmines
Spotlight on Proud Students Against Landmines (PSALM) at St. Francis

Led by their art and social justice instructor, Nora Sheets, students at the St. Francis School in Morgantown, WV have taken on an ambitious series of projects designed to raise public awareness, offer humanitarian assistance to victims, and move the U.S. toward adopting an international treaty ending the use of landmines.

This year the students hosted an information table at a lobby day in Charleston, WV and sent representatives to Environmental Green Festivals in Washington, DC and Chicago. Previously, students have collected medical supplies for landmine victims in Nicaragua, provided a prosthetic device for a young Bosnian landmine victim and raised funds to train mine detecting dogs in tsunami affected regions.

PSALM has also decided to expand their mission beyond landmine advocacy to cluster bomb advocacy as well. “Dud” cluster bombs left behind after conflict will effectively function as landmines. The impact of unexploded cluster bombs on civilian populations has been particularly pronounced in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Lebanon.

These students are part of the broader West Virginia Campaign to Ban Landmines, which has been represented at conferences in Bosnia, Kenya, Croatia and Jordan. This campaign demonstrates the tremendous impact a small group of individuals can have when they dedicate themselves to an issue.