‘Where Is Our Father?’

“It was raining and very cold that evening. My family and I had walked all day to reach a village and seek shelter. It was 1991 and we were fleeing the fighting in our town. 

We needed firewood, so my father and I decided to climb a hill not far from the road. 

I was following my father when, suddenly, he stepped on a mine.” 

Within moments, Amanj’s body was covered in blood. The explosion had thrown him several metres further away. 

“All around was dark, all blurry… I started crying and screaming, then I lost consciousness. When I woke up in the hospital, my legs were gone.” 

‘Where is our father?’, I immediately asked my brother. The mine had killed him instantly.” 

Amanj is a patient at our Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration Centre in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, that we first met in 1998, the year we began offering free prosthetics, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, and vocational training to landmine victims like him.   

Amanj continues to return to the Centre to receive adjustments to his prostheses to adapt to his body, and for physiotherapy sessions too. After 24 years, EMERGENCY continues to be there for Amanj and the thousands of other patients that have passed through the doors of our Rehabilitation Centre. 

“Physiotherapy is important to re-educate the body to perform even the simplest movements of daily life. We encourage Ahmed to always look ahead with his head held high and find a new balance,” explains our physiotherapist Farhan. 

Since EMERGENCY’s Rehabilitation Centre opened, we have built and fitted approximately 12,000 upper and lower limb prostheses.