Focus on help for war wounded and landmine victims

When a rocket ripped through Baha al-Din Sa'd’s leg, he thought his life was over. The 19-year-old was in one of Saddam Hussein’s conscript military training camps in Mosul, in northern Iraq, when US aircraft attacked it in April. After seven operations, his leg was amputated from above the knee and he resigned himself to a life of unemployment and bachelordom. "I was so depressed and miserable and thought I would have a life without hope. But now I’m hopeful and very thankful," he told IRIN in the northern governorate of Dahuk. That turnaround occurred after Baha al-Din was told about the Prosthetic Limbs Centre (PLC) in Dahuk. He has now been fitted with an artificial leg and is starting to walk again. He grips the parallel bars lightly and moves himself along, the bright green shank of his new leg supporting him well. Until a few days ago he relied on crutches or a wheelchair to move around, having no idea that a new leg could be fitted. But now he is already planning to get a job as a driver and the only thing he thinks he will be unable to do again is play football. PLC NOW IN NEW PREMISES The PLC was set up in 1999, but two months ago was shifted to impressive new, purpose-built premises on the edge of Dahuk city. It was built with funding from the UN-backed Iraqi Mine Action Programme (IMAP) through the Oil-For-Food Programme and the Italian NGO, Emergency. Not only does the PLC fit mine and accident victims with prosthetics but also provides physiotherapy, community based rehabilitation and vocational training. It employs over 90 staff, including technicians to make the prostheses and orthotics, and physiotherapists to fit them. Many of the staff are mine victims themselves. The PLC's executive director, Dr Hamid Muhammad Tahir, told IRIN that since 1999 the PLC had treated nearly 11,500 patients, many whom had lost limbs due to mines or other munitions. Tens of thousands of people have been killed or maimed by mines across Iraq since they were laid there in the 1990s on an estimated 530 sq km of land, according to the IMAP. LANDMINES STILL A FORMIDABLE THREAT The threat of landmines is still formidable in this vast country, where the border with Iran was heavily mined during the 1980-88 war, and subsequently so were areas in the south during the 1991 Gulf War, as well as areas along the borders with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and possibly Syria. Prior to 1991, the Iraqi army had also left vast quantities of munitions littered around the country, and the Coalition forces added to what was already there in the northern and southern no-fly zones. Between 1998 and 2002, over 9.7 million square metres of land were cleared by the IMAP. Known mined areas in northern Iraq include a five-km deep strip along the borders with Turkey and Iran. Moreover, many mines were also laid in the northern governorates of Dahuk, Arbil and Sulaymaniyah, where numerous battles were fought over the past three decades. According to the Mine Awareness Strategy in Northern Iraq prepared by the UN Office for Project Services, one-quarter of all the villages in northern Iraq had been adversely affected socially and economically by landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO). In 2001 alone, about 30 people per month were involved in UXO accidents. Northern Iraq is still littered with such UXO due to more than three decades of war, both between Kurdish forces and Saddam Hussein’s troops and between Kurdish factions. Moreover, because the area was adjacent to hostile countries, thousands of mines were laid, Hamid said. "The problem of the Kurdish people is that we are surrounded by enemies, and they just want to leave us in a bad condition." Meanwhile, although the number of mine victims was decreasing as education reached more people and clearance programmes continued, a steady flow of casualties was still reaching the PLC, as well as former patients returning to have their prostheses replaced. "Whatever they need, we can do something," he stressed. Hamid, a paediatrician, said what brought him the most joy was seeing children who had come to the PLC unable to stand, walking out of it unaided. SUPPORT FOR PLC TO CONTINUE With the handover by the UN of the Oil-For-Food Programme to the Coalition Provisional Authority, the PLC will continue to be partly funded from this source. Emergency will also continue its support, according to the manager of its Sulaymaniyah rehabilitation centre, Faris Hama, who helps oversee the Dahuk centre on regular visits. He told IRIN that Emergency had supplied the machinery and other equipment needed to set up the new vocational training school at the Dahuk PLC. At the school, patients can enrol in six-month courses on carpentry, metalwork, leatherwork or sewing. On completion, they are issued with certificates, as well as funds to help them establish themselves in business. VOCATIONAL TRAINING The 14 students currently enrolled, all who have lost limbs, receive a small weekly allowance, accommodation and food. Faris said retraining victims and helping them in these ways was just as important as getting them back on their feet physically. Without both kinds of help, mine victims often became burdens on their families. "If the people are happy, the programme is successful. When the trainees are thinking about the future then it makes me very happy," he said. One such trainees with hopes for the future is 18-year-old Ibrahim Darwish. As a member of the Kurdish peshmerga fighters two years ago, he was collecting firewood when he stepped on a mine, losing one leg below the knee. His first prosthesis from Arbil was unsuccessful, but in October he received a new one from the Dahuk centre. He also started training in metalwork, learning how to make such things as ladders, trolleys, cupboards and shelves. "If I didn’t have this I would probably become jobless. I can’t be a peshmerga now, but maybe I can get a new job and help my family and get married, own a house and have a guaranteed life," he told IRIN. Back in the physiotherapy room, 35-year-old Uthman Ghazi, has succeeded in accomplishing just that. In 1991, during the Kurdish uprising against the Iraqi government, he fled towards the Turkish border. Searching for the rest of his family, he stepped on a mine, as a result of which one of his legs had to be amputated above the knee. Since then he has worn out four legs and was at the Dahuk centre to receive his fifth. Working in the fields was tough on artificial legs, but the prostheses he has received from the PLC had enabled him to live a normal life, he told IRIN. Having a family of eight children, being able to work is crucial for him. "Thanks to God for this centre and its services. Here I am respected by everyone - the staff are like sisters and brothers to me - and I am very thankful and feel humble because of this," he said.