Berihu Mesele is a former Ethiopian soldier living in Mekele. During the border conflict an aerial strike hit the
Ayder school near his house. Mesele rushed to help injured children in the school: a second strike occurred
while he was helping the children and a cluster munition took away both his legs.

“Before the accident, I had a lot of dreams. After the accident, I lostmy dreams. Now, I have another dream:
not to see other people facing the same problems I have to face inmy daily life, because of cluster bombs,”
said Mesele at the Kampala Conference in September 2008.

Mesele works for the Ethiopian government and is the father of two daughters. He speaks Tigrigna and some
English and has been with the Ban Advocates initiative since May 2008.