Mofida Majzoub was a freelance wedding photographer in Lebanon when she saw an advertisement for female de-miners and made a career change that everyone in her life thought was absolutely crazy, joining the Mines Advisory Group that has now received the prestigious Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize worth $3 million. The organization has been removing landmines for more than 35 years across 70 countries, addressing the threat of roughly 110 million unexploded mines hidden in former battlefields around the globe that killed or wounded more than 5,700 people last year, the vast majority being civilians. Majzoub now leads demining teams in Syria, where over 1,400 landmine casualties have occurred since the civil war ended in December 2024, working daily to clear legacy minefields so displaced people can safely return to their homes and land. Her work requires extraordinary courage and concentration as she uses metal detectors to locate mines, carefully excavates and disarms detonators, and uses machines and pulleys from safe distances to extract explosives that could be boobytrapped, knowing that the first mistake would be her last.
When asked how she copes with being so close to something that could explode with one wrong move, Majzoub explained it requires staying focused and disciplined while following rules and reminding herself that she has done this before and can do it again. Despite her family still worrying about her dangerous work to this day, she continues because once you feel you’ve done something good at the end of the day and saved a life or made land safe for people and their children, you cannot stop calling it an addiction to helping others. The work in Syria alone will take 10 to 15 years to complete, with countless mines still buried and threatening civilians who mistakenly believe the danger ended when the fighting stopped. Majzoub and her teams work from dawn until dusk, traveling up to two hours to reach sites where they methodically clear areas one mine at a time, turning former battlefields into safe spaces where families can rebuild their lives without the constant threat of hidden explosives beneath their feet.
