is until he made a bad call and lost his right hand.In January 2003, at age 23, Haroon joined the Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation (OMAR), where he quickly worked his way up to the rank of team leader.
Nearly two and a half years later, Haroon Hamdard was working in a minefield where he found a cluster bomb. He grabbed it and threw it away from his work area. It exploded in his hand.
After he received emergency medical care and, later, a prosthetic arm, Haroon remained unemployed for six difficult years. He was forced to borrow money from relatives and others to survive. But the self-motivated young man took the opportunity to finish his high school education and in early 2008 received a unique opportunity to go back to work.
With technical leadership provided by Elegant Designs and Solutions (EDaS), Clear Path had just formed the Afghan Mine Action Technology Center, designed to create employment for disabled deminers and fabricate products for the demining industry, and asked the Afghan demining organizations to suggest possible employees. Haroon became AMATC's first employee.
Today, the native of Khewa District, Nangarhar Province, in eastern Afghanistan, makes flail hammers (used on front-mounted tractor drums to set off mines) and other products the center sells to demining outfits. The proceeds are used to support rehabilitation programs for other landmine accident survivors.
Haroon's own income allows him to travel home each weekend and take care of his family, including one son. He continues to repay the loans he took during his years of unemployment.
"Now that I am earning a salary, I do not have to borrow money from others," he said. "I can support myself and my family and am not under any pressure, like I was before."