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After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan-a battle that lasted 20 years and caused the greatest damage to Afghan civilians. Photojournalist Ricardo Garcia Vilanova covered Afghanistan from 2007 to 2011. He wrote about filming those who tried to help in the conflict.
My first memory of Afghanistan is to take a flight via Frankfurt to the capital Kabul before dawn. It was 2007. I worked in Haiti for a few years, and then I decided to go to Afghanistan as a freelancer without any actual tasks. After arriving in China, I was lucky to be able to work on American publications, which allowed me to continue traveling back and forth.
On the first day, I left the terminal building in the dark and watched a few soldiers stand guard on the periphery of the airport, between the barbed wire fence and the concrete blast wall set up to protect the airport from car bombs. Unlike other airports, there are no taxis or any other means of transportation. It seems that I have no choice but to sleep there until the next morning. But then a passenger on my flight, an NGO worker, used a convoy of two armored vehicles to drive me to my hotel.
It was winter, and it was cold at night and there was no electricity. When we drove, the streets were dark and empty, and several checkpoints stationed by the Afghan army marked different entrances to the city.
The outlook seems bleak. Although there is no active war in Kabul, there are other parts of the country, so the atmosphere in the capital is a potential war. For many Afghans, this feeling seems to have normalized.
People wait at the entrance of the Aliabad Orthopedic Center in Kabul [Ricardo Garcia Vilanova]For decades, even before the so-called “war on terrorism,” Afghans have known about conflicts. Twenty years ago, the country was embroiled in a civil war between the Russian-backed National Army forces and the Mujahideen rebels.
Then, as in subsequent conflicts, humanitarians came to help provide assistance and medical services.
In 1988, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) established the Aliabad Orthopedic Center in the capital to provide physical rehabilitation and prosthetics for war wounded victims of fighting, mines and bombs.
Two years later, in 1990, the Italian physiotherapist Alberto Cairo came to work at the center. After more than 30 years, he did not leave, and decided to help those affected by the decades-long conflict in Afghanistan throughout his life.
Three years of care
I met Alberto when I went to Kabul for the first time. The 55-year-old director of the Orthopedics Center was personable, outgoing, courteous, and attentive at work.
When I saw him, my first thought was to know how a person can help others wholeheartedly without expecting anything in return, and cut off from everything he once thought of in Western life. But he is part of the core of those who selflessly help others. This is his life’s mission and legacy.
One of the rehabilitation rooms of the ICRC’s Kabul Centre [Ricardo Garcia Vilanova]Alberto told me that in 1992 he met people who changed his life-his example will continue to change the lives of thousands of others, including those treated through the ICRC treatment centre and working there People.
The person Alberto met was called Mahmoud. He has no legs or an arm. He was sitting in the middle of the street in a wheelchair, trying to escape the nearby explosion with his youngest son.
Although the capital was ravaged by war and the orthopedic center was closed, Alberto invited Mahmoud to come for treatment. After a while, Mahmoud stood up with the help of his new prosthesis.
Once Alberto was able to reopen the center, Mahmood also began to work there.
Since then, Alberto’s policy has been to hire people who are recovering at the center.
A vital service
Aliabad Orthopedic Center is located in the center of Kabul, with views of the mountains that make up the city.
Its main entrance leads to an enclosed deck where people wait when it is cold or rainy. On sunny days when the temperature permits, people will sit on large benches or in the surrounding yard. They are there waiting for their turn to receive treatment, which is completely free.
There are large rehabilitation rooms in the building, some are like gymnasiums, where physical therapists can exercise for patients who already have a certain degree of mobility, and some allow patients to receive initial care. According to the type of disability, a specific treatment method is designed for each patient.
Over the decades, this orthopedic center has expanded its business and opened new locations to help more patients-now there are seven specialized centers across the country. According to the NGO, approximately 10,000 Afghans participate in the ICRC’s prosthetic and physical rehabilitation treatments each year, and these centers provide nursing support to more than 178,000 patients.
Several children await treatment at the ICRC’s Kabul centre [Ricardo Garcia Vilanova]Since the mid-1990s, they have not only helped the war wounded, but also expanded their scope of work to cover anyone with limited mobility. 90% of the patients they treat are disabled due to a congenital illness, illness or accident. In some cases, treatment can last for several years.
Every day, year after year, long lines of people seeking care pass through the gate of the center. Other teams will conduct home visits to reach patients who cannot move or can not go to the center.
In a country like Afghanistan, this is a vital service, where many people do not have the logistics or financial resources, cannot travel long distances to seek medical treatment, and there are no four-wheel drive vehicles that can transport them from those that are usually inaccessible by ordinary cars or taxis. area.
take care of patient
One day, I accompanied several physical therapists on a home visit to the area around the Kabul Orthopedic Center.
The convoy set off early in the morning, traveling with a four-wheel drive driver, planning to visit several houses that day.
Although the distance between the center and the patient may not be that far, some people live in hard-to-reach areas; or houses built on steep streets that can turn into mud on rainy days, making things more complicated. Only a four-wheel drive that advances slowly at a snail-like speed can complete the journey.
In the car that day was Bashir, a physical therapist working in the center of Kabul. He is one of the 90% of the staff working at the ICRC center who was converted from a former patient to a staff member. He was injured in a landmine explosion and now uses prosthetic limbs to walk.
After bypassing several checkpoints that morning, our car finally reached one of the poorest areas in Kabul. In a simple house, we met Ashma, who lived with her father and brother (her mother has passed away). When her family observed from a distance, Bashir took care of her with great attention and patience. When the physical therapist worked with his patients, Ashma’s gratitude was overwhelming.
Physiotherapist Bashir visits a patient at his workplace to check whether his prosthesis is suitable [Ricardo Garcia Vilanova]We stopped at a small garment workshop that day, which was also located in one of the poorest areas of the city. Bashir followed up with a patient working there. Thanks to the prosthesis provided by the center, he can now stand up.
The prostheses used by the ICRC team are all made on-site in handcrafted workshops in seven orthopedic centers. The staff-almost all former disabled patients-hand-made prostheses and adjusted them to the needs of each patient.
The ICRC states that more than 19,000 prosthetic legs, prosthetic arms and other orthopedic devices are produced each year.Alberto has estimated No less than 200,000 people in Afghanistan need artificial limbs.
More than 30 years ago, the war created a demand for such orthopedic centers. In the decades that followed, conflicts changed, participants changed, and ground conditions changed.
But those who have always needed help still need help.
Therefore, the center and its satellite projects in other cities stand tall. Alberto and his dedicated team continue their daily work to ensure that the Afghans who need the most help receive the care they seek.
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