Mine Kafon: An Afghan toy that aims to save lives

While Hassani hopes his device can be used to make his homeland a safer place, his ultimate goal is to increase understanding about the devastation and destruction caused by land mines. If his project doesn’t solve the problem, he hopes others will see it and be inspired to find new solutions. In the Western world, “it’s a forgotten problem,” he said.

Hassani is correct that the will to solve the problem has been sagging. Heslop with the United Nations Mine Action Service worries about his organization's ability to continue its operations in the coming year. “We’ve only secured about 30 percent of the funding we need for 2013,” he said. “People have lost focus,” he said.

And focus may be the real value of something like the Mine Kafon.

Email: mwhite@desnews.com