Ten women will show off their beauty and brains — and their landmine injuries — in Angola next April in a competition to win a golden prosthetic limb and the title of Miss Landmine 2008.The project, created by Norwegian theater director Morten Traavik, is designed to raise awareness of the plight of landmine survivors. Contestants will have to demonstrate their skills and take part in an interview, though the details have yet to be finalized.
"There is no sensationalistic intentions within Miss Landmine," Traavik said. "Of course the format has been chosen because it's obviously a very media friendly forum, but it still is based very, very much on local culture, since beauty pageants are such a consistent phenomenon in Angolan contemporary culture."
Up to 80,000 people are estimated to have been injured by landmines in Angola, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. The organization has cleared around 43,000 landmines from the countryside since 1994.
The women in the pageant range in age from 19 to 35 and represent their home provinces. Almost all were injured while tending fields or fleeing soldiers in the 1980s and '90s, according to their pageant biographies. Most are unemployed. The actual Miss Landmine pageant is planned for April 4, 2008, chosen to coincide with the United Nations' International Day for Mine Awareness, Traavik said.
Internet users can vote for their favorite online (click here). Along with fame and glory, Traavik said, they'll receive a golden prosthesis fitted to their specifications.
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