I've worked on mass graves AMA

[tessiegirl]

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

Ask away!

Absolutely

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.

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

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?

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.

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

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?

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

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.

Wow madam, maybe we have met!

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

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)

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.

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

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!

*sure where to start looking

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.

Sorry Ellibee

What was your salary?

That's brilliant thank you so much!