Mirza Gul family featured in Time magazine
Earlier this year, ECI started a fund for seven children from the same extended family in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan who had suffered multiple amputations from a landmine in their yard. At the family's request, ECI used the funds to hire a teacher and pay for school supplies so the children would be able to continue their education.
This week, photojournalist Andrew Quilty recounts the children's recovery in a photo essay for Time magazine which made the cover story of the international edition. In the article, the family emphasized the importance of the children's continued education.
An excerpt from the article: "Their recovery continued into the fall, and settled into a routine. They studied together in the mornings and played outside in the afternoons. The children realize now their education is more important than ever. 'There is certain work we can’t do now,' Abdul Rashid told TIME. Hamisha Gul put it more bluntly: 'Without education, they are nothing.'”
ECI thanks the Lamia Afghan Foundation, the Kabul Orthopedic Organization and ICRC for providing for the children's medical care.
In the early morning hours of April 29th, in the rural province of Nangarhar, not far from Jalalabad city, 10 children from the Mirza Gul family were playing outside their home. The night before, Afghan government soldiers had been fighting the Taliban nearby but by morning, all seemed quiet again. The children noticed a strange object on the ground and gathered around it as though it were a new toy. Two of the younger children picked it up to examine it. The eldest of the children, 16-year-old Jalil, recognized it to be an unexploded rocket from the previous night’s battle. He tried to wrestle it away from them, but the rocket exploded. By sunset that same day, Jalil was dead, along with his 4-year-old cousin, Safwa, her mother, Brekhna, who had been nearby, and another cousin who was only 6 years old. The 7 surviving children each lost one or both legs.
For a detailed account of the story, read the New York Times’ coverage here.
Civilian casualties and landmine explosions increased in 2017 across Afghanistan. One family in Nangarhar province experienced a tragedy in April 2018 that is too much for one family to bear. Even the Chief of Orthopedic Services at Nangarhar Regional Hospital, Dr. Sayed Bilal Miakhel, who has seen his share of amputations, said that he had felt like crying while in the operating theater.
Since the incident occurred, the children have undergone multiple operations to address complications from their wounds. The children have now returned home, but are making frequent trips to the hospital for follow up care. Dr. Najibullah Kamawal, head of the Nangarhar Public Health Department, said each of the children need one-on-one care, and that the rehabilitation and treatment they need requires a better-equipped center. Two of the survivors, Marwa, 4, and Rabia, 7, toss and turn in their beds trying to find a position that will alleviate some of their pain, often in tears. Their siblings and cousins that lie in the beds around them have also shed many tears, some from pain and some from a desire to simply go home. Shafiqullah, 13, who lost both of his legs, pleaded with doctors to let him go home so he wouldn’t miss his school exam and fall behind on his studies.