Returning home to clear the land
In brief
John Alexander Gallego grew up on a farm in Colombia’s Antioquia region, where landmines turned familiar ground into a source of fear. Years later, he returned home as a HALO deminer to clear the land where his family had once been warned not to go. Today, he is helping train a new generation of deminers.
For as long as he can remember, John Alexander Gallego's life has been rooted in the countryside.
"I was born and raised in the countryside. I am proudly a farmer."
Growing up in the village of San José de las Cruces in the municipality of Sonsón, eastern Antioquia, John Alexander helped his family work the land. But during Colombia's armed conflict, fear became part of daily life.
When he was 16 years old, members of an armed group approached his father with a warning. Anti-personnel mines had been laid near the family farm. They instructed him to keep people and livestock away from the area.
For years, the threat lingered. Land that should have provided opportunity instead became a source of uncertainty.
Then, in 2014, a team from The HALO Trust arrived in the community to speak with residents and identify dangerous areas. For John Alexander, that visit would change the course of his life.
Taking the first step
At 18, he left home and joined HALO as a deminer.
"At that time, in 2014, I was a young man with many fears, someone who still had everything done for him at home and had never left his parents' house," he recalls.
Like many young people entering their first job, he was unsure of what lay ahead. But demining offered something larger than employment. It offered the chance to protect families like his own.
After completing his training, John Alexander worked on clearance operations across eastern Antioquia. Then, in 2015, he returned to San José de las Cruces—this time wearing a HALO uniform.
Clearing his family's future
The area where his team was assigned to work was deeply familiar.
"We cleared the same place where my father had been told not to enter," he says. "For me it was very special to do clearance in our farm, to help my family and my community eliminate the fear we had of suspected anti-personnel mines, and to reduce the threat of a child from the community of having an accident."
The work extended beyond his own family's land. HALO teams also cleared areas near neighboring farms, including land belonging to his uncle. In some locations, explosive hazards had prevented residents from safely reaching a water source.
Today, those areas support agriculture and livestock farming once again.
Between 2015 and 2022, HALO cleared nearly 50 acres of land in Sonsón – or nearly 37 football fields. The municipality forms part of the high-altitude páramo region of eastern Antioquia, an area that experienced years of conflict and insecurity.
From deminer to mentor
More than a decade after joining HALO, John Alexander now serves as a supervisor and member of the training team in Colombia.
Along the way, he has earned qualifications as a Non-Technical Survey Supervisor, Manual Clearance Technique Supervisor, Explosive Ordnance Risk Education facilitator, Canine Guide, Instructor, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal operator.
The journey has required sacrifice. Long deployments meant missing important family moments, including the birth of his children.
"I met my first son two days after he was born because I was working in a remote minefield with limited access, far away from them."
Today, he uses those experiences to encourage new recruits who arrive with the same doubts he once carried.
"I share my story with them," he says. "The young trainees come up to me and say, 'I feel like I come from your same family.'"
Last year, every trainee in one of the courses he led successfully earned accreditation as a deminer.
"When we finished the assessments, I told them: We did it, together."
Building safer communities
John Alexander's story reflects the lasting impact of humanitarian demining in Colombia—not only through safer land, but through the opportunities created for the people who carry out this work.
"I was one of the first deminers to leave my municipality to start working in other regions of the country," he says. "I am grateful for all the learning and training, for the places I have worked, and for the experiences I have had since I started my career in HALO."
Humanitarian demining helps communities reclaim land, restore livelihoods, and build confidence in a more peaceful future. Generously funded by the United States Government, this work is helping communities across Colombia recover from the legacy of conflict, strengthening local stability, supporting economic opportunity, and advancing long-term security in rural areas.
