PHOTOS: Angola's all-female demining teams blow up landmines — and gender stereotypes

Former professional handball player Catarina Esperanca Sanhala clears undergrowth before searching for landmines in a minefield in Benguela province, Angola. "It's a very different life," says Sanhala. "But I wanted a challenge." (Tommy Trenchard for NPR)

Clad in sky-blue kevlar body armor with a thick protective visor over her face, 22-year-old Catarina Sanhala inches slowly forward, swinging her handheld metal detector slowly back and forth as she goes. The ground is steep and rocky and she moves with careful, deliberate steps. Falling could have consequences far beyond bruised knees or twisted ankles.

A year ago, Sanhala was enjoying a successful career as a professional handball player representing her hometown of Lobito, a port city in western Angola. That life now feels a long way off. Today, she is part of a highly trained all-female demining squad working to rid her country of deadly anti-personnel and anti-tank mines while at the same time challenging traditional notions of gender roles in this southern African nation.