Meet Mark

Tell me more about joining APOPO
I grew up in Morogoro then I joined the team at APOPO. I worked with the Mine Detection Rats in Mozambique for 2.5 years until Mozambique was declared mine free, and now I’ve been living in Cambodia for 6 years.

What is your job?
I started as a field coordinator, setting the Morogoro minefield up, then I became a rat trainer then I was a supervisor. Now I’m the Senior Technical Advisor for Mine Detection Operations.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to help people by becoming a military doctor, but I feel like I have gone down a different track to achieve the same thing. I like to see that I have helped people.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I like sports, particularly football, and music. I listen to RnB and rumba music’s. I like cycling and running too.

Who is your inspirational person?
No-one really. I grew up in a very poor village and I really never saw anyone doing anything that was inspiring. The minefield is only one kilometre from my village and I heard from a friend that they needed casual labour so I applied and got the job helping them to set up the minefield back in 2001.

What is your favourite colour?
Red.

What languages do you speak?
I speak English, Swahili, Portuguese, Luguru, Khmer and a bit of French and Spanish. When I learned both Portuguese and Khmer it was just on the job, I never had any formal lessons.