Mine Kafon

Massoud Hassani is an Afghan product designer who fled to the Netherlands with his family when he was a young boy, after the death of his father. Filmmaker Callum Cooper created a short film about him and his efforts to remove landmines from his home country. The film is now a semifinalist in the Focus Forward Filmmaker Competition. Hassani based his idea of toys he and his friends used to build when he lived in Afghanistan. They would created objects that would roll across the desert powered by wind to race them, but the danger of remaining landmines caused Hassani's mother to prevent him from playing outside. In order to keep the citizens of his homeland safe, Hassani developed a larger rolling device with many legs that can be propelled entirely by wind and is made of materials costing only 40 euros.

Video entered into the contest by Callum Cooper

This idea is an incredible example of Occam's Razor; the simplest idea is the cheapest and is very effective. His product is based on homemade toys from his childhood, and is designed to keep other children safe. As seen in the video, it can essentially be constructed and used by almost anyone. Currently, it costs about $1200 dollars to clear a single landmine. Hassani's idea is cheap, effective, and reusable for three or four mines. The only issue is that this can only be used under certain conditions, which are a relatively flat terrain and a consistently windy location. These conditions may not be met in every area that needs a mine cleared. But as far as helping to ensure a safer childhood than he had, Massoud Hassani is doing a wonderful service, and he deserves to be commended for these efforts.

Vimeo page for Cooper's video