Life after the Explosion - Their Words
"I am cheerful on the outside for my son’s sake.
But on the inside I am finding all of this too difficult to bear.
When my son is depressed and lying on the
floor. I will sometimes pick up a pillow and
lie down next to him to feel what he is feeling with him.
I try to be cheerful so he doesn’t feel guilty for my grief.
Only God knows my pain, only God..."
-Mother of Mohammad,
a 14-year-old mine victim who lost
both of his legs above the knee from
a land mine accident 3 years ago.
"What will happen to my family...
to my mother and father?
Why couldn’t I have died?
It would have been better
if the mine had just killed me.
Now I am useless and a burden
on everyone, including myself."
-Ahmed, 13 years old. Both of his legs were
blown off in a land mine explosion.
"I feel miserable. I can’t play football with my friends anymore
or help my mother bring up water from the well.
Why has this happened to me?
I am so disappointed with my life.
I don’t understand why this has happened."
-Ali, 10 years old. He lost one leg and the other was severely injured.
Part of his hand was also amputated.
"My son just sits and stares out the window,
watching his friends playing football without him.
He sits there and cries.
Everyday he watches them and cries."
-Mother of Khalil, 12 year old mine victim who lost both legs
while collecting firewood on the hillside near his house.
There is another Cluster bomb victim who sees her situation slightly different, 17 year old
Rasha lost her lower leg to a cluster bomb explosion this past winter. Her story was
picked up by the local media and ran world wide, when interviewed a second time
Rasha described herself lucky. “I don't have to wait for a leg as people heard of me and
came to help me.” Rasha is getting treatment and physiotherapy before she gets her leg.
Unlike the hundreds of others who lost a limb during the recent summer war and after
she will not have to wait for the government or any of the local services to feel like a
“complete” human again.
“I am lucky, I will be walking soon,”
Rasha declares as she beams shyly
as she poses for yet another photo.
Yes to some extent Rasha is lucky, she was heard,
her pain felt and offers to help her and her family
came flooding in. Sadly there are many more children,
some much younger, who have suffered greater
physical damage, their fate as unknown as they are.

Faced with the decision to feed their families
or to try to find a prostheses they can afford,
for many parents it isn't a matter of choice.
These children are only half of the problem
that needs a solution.

The rest of the problem

Nikola sits on the front steps of his home
where he lost his hand while playing with
a land mine lighter that exploded.

“When I was three, I found a metal object that
I thought was a toy to me.
I found it near the stairs and I hit the stairs with it.
Then is exploded and took away my right hand.
I am not the only one who has got injured from these devices.
There are worse cases. I comfort myself since I see that I am
not the only one hurt by unexploded devices.
There are worse injuries than mine.”

Nikola was fitted with a prosthetic hand,
but two years ago outgrew it.
His family forced out of their home by the war
in Bosnia, his parents unable to find work have been
unable to replace the outgrown prostheses.
These two parts are the whole story, children that are injured that
nobody sees or hears and children who have been seen, but
forgotten.

"We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children."
"The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
... it takes the whole community to raise and care for a child, the international community.
President Jimmy Carter
Pablo Casals
Groups that would like more information about sponsoring one
of these children please contact Dr. Beaudoin at:
jbeaudoin@childsafefoundation-usa.org