Reference :
V-P-AF-E-02615
Date :
17/11/2018
Caption :
Helmand Province. Nessar (on the left), 22 years old, is a tuk-tuk driver. Almost four years before, he lost both legs after being injured by a mine. At ICRC Physical Rehabilitation Centre, he received prosthesis, then he started a new life in the province’s capital city.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
When he goes to meet his family in the outskirts of the city, Nessar drives his motorbike, giving rides to friends. Before he got injured, Nessar was shopkeeper. “We were traveling by car from Babaji to Lashkar Gah when we drove on a mine”, he says. He was 19 years old. The young man woke up at the Emergency hospital three days after the accident still in shock and discovered he did not have legs anymore. I shouted at the doctor: “Why did you cut my legs?”, he remembers. “Few days later, I just accepted I was disabled.” Some of his clients ask him what happened to him and, when he tells his story, no one is surprised. Mines injuries are very frequent as a result of the country’s four-decade war. 45 950 of ICRC’s Physical Rehabilitation patients are like him, limb amputees who need to check their prosthesis regularly and adjust them when needed.
ICRC Website photo gallery 22.01.2019:
More than one million people in Afghanistan have some form of disability. Four decades of war and its aftermath have left the country with one of the highest rates of disability in the world. Remnants of war and lack of access to primary health-care have marred the chances of normalcy for thousands of Afghans. People with physical disabilities often lose their mobility and with it their self-esteem as useful members of their communities. They feel and often are discriminated against. For 30 years, the ICRC has been committed to providing physical rehabilitation and addressing the needs of the Afghan people, enabling them to regain their mobility and reintegrate into communities through additional support of social programmes. Despite this unrelenting reality, Nessar and thousands of others stand up on their feet again and rebuild their future.
Today, Nessar is able to provide for his eight brothers and eight sisters again. He is determined to build a better life for his family and himself.
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
8204x5469
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
