I've worked on mass graves AMA

[tessiegirl]

I helped excavate mass graves in a post conflict country...

Ask away!

[Ellibee19]

That's brilliant thank you so much!

[Whisky2014]

What was your salary?

[tessiegirl]

Sorry Ellibee

[tessiegirl]

Hello Elliebee! Thank you for your message! Fantastic you have career aspirations in this area
My background is in archaeology so I would suggest getting lots of practical experience in the field.
You could also look into interning at companies overseas. We had a few interns at the organisation in Bosnia who had degrees in the area then they we're able to build up experience by also helping out on excavations or even in the office using technology to search for new graves.
Hope this helps.

[Ellibee19]

*sure where to start looking

[Ellibee19]

Hi!

I'm a second year forensic anthropology student, working in mass grave identification and the human rights sector is my career goal. I think the work you do is incredible.
I was just wondering how you got involved in this and what kind of work experience would you suggest could be valuable? I'm not really where to start looking!

Thanks!

[serbska]

Thanks for answering. I’m always in awe at people who do these kind of things for the greater good.

[tessiegirl]

Yes, we were paid for the work we did.

The areas we worked in had to be checked for land mines before work began.

We weren't directly at any risk from those involved. Although you never know if we were being watched. We had police on site at all times.

[serbska]

Did you work in a paid capacity or as a volunteer?

Were you in areas still with land mines?

We’re you at any risk from the perpetrators at any point (I know it’s after the conflict had ended but still)

[tessiegirl]

Yes blueshoes, we identify the victims and return their remains to the family. Look for evidence - some may be more obvious than others to bring the perps to justice.

Depending on the decomposition of the bodies we may be able to establish cause of death. Usually they were shot, which is obvious in soft tissue or sometimes shows in the skull. Blunt force trauma can also show on bones

[tessiegirl]

Wow madam, maybe we have met!

[tessiegirl]

Counselling would have certainly been available although I haven't ever needed it. There are some things that will never leave me. One poignant moment was holding the hand of a victim as I excavated around him.

[tessiegirl]

Ah thank you all...no it really wasn't that long ago...

[blueshoes]

What is the purpose of your work? To identify the victims and return their remains to the family, to look for evidence to nail the perpetrators. Do you try to identify the cause of death?

[AsAProfessionalFekko]

OP and Madam - I hope there's a day when your jobs will be redundant. I can't see it any time though.

[MadamBatty]

I was in Bosnia the same time as you Tessie, I worked on the electricity networks. I met with. People who were excavating mass graves. We may have met.

[8FencingWire]

Are you ok, OP? Seeing that is bound to radically shift some parameters in anyone’s head. Do you guys have some sort of support/debrief/counselling?

[Spudlet]

Were you given support to deal with what you saw - any kind of counselling or similar?

[WingsofNylon]

I don't really have any questions. Just fascinated. Well done to you and your husband for doing such incredibly important but I'm sure harrowing work.

Just last week I had to explain what happened in Rwanda to someone who was born in 1994. It turned my stomach to remember that it wasn't all that long ago and that such horrific acts are on-going globally.

[tessiegirl]

Absolutely

[backaftera2yearbreak]

Unfortunately I turned on the tv at the exact moment a clip of the perpetrators shooting their victims in the back of the head 🙁. Terrible times.

[tessiegirl]

Ah!

[backaftera2yearbreak]

I was a holiday rep so nothing quite as worthy as what you were doing!

[tessiegirl]

Bosnia was one of the countries yes.

What work did you do in Croatia?

[tessiegirl]

No, never worked with Sue Black