It moves me every single time but I usually remain composed.
That wasn�t the case with Zab Mohammed whom I met in the civilian post-op ward at the military hospital in Kabul. My encounter with the 18-year-old simply pulled out the rug.Maybe it was the ghost I saw in his eyes, the ghost of the accident that happened just 25 days ago when a landmine in his hometown in Nangaher Porvince snuffed out his leg above the knee and took away a portion of his hand.
Maybe the statistics finally sunk in. Survivors like Zab come into hospitals around Afghanistan at the rate of hundreds per month and that their numbers won�t go down any time soon because of the renewed fighting with the Taleban.
Maybe it was his youth and the realization that he was just three years younger than my oldest son, that he could have passed for a senior at our local high school or the son of a neighbor.
Maybe it was just at that moment that Clear Path�s newest program became immediate and personal. It was, after all, my first time in Afghanistan. The program started two years ago.
My three-day visit was intense. Winter is harsh in Kabul. The city was raw from a recent bomb attack on the German embassy. Security seemed other-wordly. Downtown is a maze of road blocks, sand-bagged army posts and roads lined with huge concrete buffers. On the tour of our partners, I was given a flack jacket. Our two Nepalese guards packed pistols and machine guns. The car we drove was armored, including the tinted windows and back hatch. Getting things done here is challenging to say the least.
That gave me even more respect for what Kristen, Martha, Peter, Zabi, Arahim and Shalima have been able to accomplish.
The CPI survivor assistance program is part of a larger project funded by the U.S. State Department�s Office of Weapons Removal & Abatement through a subcontract with DynCorp Intl. Under its task order, Clear Path works with several Afghan partners to provide services to landmine accident survivors like Zab.
Once Zab�s amputation has healed and his residual limb is ready, he will be transferred to the Kabul Orthopedic Organization next door where the WRA program has funded prostheses, physical therapy and other recovery services to more than 6,000 landmine accident survivors and other Afghans with disabilities since it started in 2007.
KOO treats 500 civilian patients per month. Four out of every five are landmine accident survivors. Most of them make their way to Kabul from the provinces at great personal expense but the treatment is free and KOO hopes to bring its services closer to the survivors by setting up facilities in other parts of the country.
That would be a blessing to Fazal Mohammed. The 20-year-old was injured by a suicide bomb attack that set off a landmine while he was waiting with other young men for construction jobs in Jhore Province six months ago. His spine was fractured and he is no longer expected to walk. KOO gave him full-leg orthoses. When I met him and his brother there, he was relearning to stand using the parallel bars. It took the pair 36 hours to get from their adobe village to Kabul by car. They had to rent a special bus because Fazal had to lie flat during the trip. The cost exceeded $350, a fortune in Afghanistan. He�s going home with crutches, a wheelchair and a slew of physical therapy exercises. He hopes to become a shopkeeper at some point but it may be as a single man. His fianc�is not so sure about the wedding anymore. Yet in the midst of telling me his tragic story, he managed to grant me a smile. He hadn�t lost all hope.In the coming days I hope to describe the work of Clear Path�s other partners.
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