Afghan war amputee learns to make prosthetics in Germany

DPA/Hessisch Lichtenau, GermanyNazir Ahmad Ahmad Shah has a smile on his face because despite the bad luck he has experienced in life, he has been given the chance to fulfil a dream in Germany. The 25-year-old is learning how to become an orthopaedic technician at a German college so that he can make prosthetics for other Afghan war victims like himself who have lost limbs. “I grew up in the war,” he said recently at the college in Hessisch Lichtenau near Kassel in central Germany. At the age of 8, Shah was playing in front of his home in Kabul when he trod on a landmine and ended up losing a leg. “My left leg was missing up to the thigh and my right knee destroyed. The war was really intense at the time,” Shah said. When he was a child, he says he did not think the missing leg was so bad. “But when you are 17 to 20 it is very difficult to have a disability. The other boys are doing lots of things, but you...,” he trailed off. He said he was 20 when he finally accepted it again. Six years ago, the charity Children Need Us (Kinder Brauchen Uns) brought him to Germany to receive his first proper prosthetic leg. “It was then that I decided to learn this profession so that I could help other people in my country. I know the country, the people and their needs,” Shah said. But he had a long wait to secure an apprenticeship. “With a disability it is not easy to find work.” The orthopaedists who made his leg put him in touch with the college in Hessisch Lichtenau. “When you hear Nazir’s story, you can’t just stand by. When I heard about his commitment, it was clear to me that I would take him,” said Alf Reuter, chief executive of the company where Shah is apprenticed.  Reuter is also on the board of the German Federal Trade Guild Association for Orthopaedic Technology. “The biggest problem was the work permit,” Shah said. After the authorities learned that Shah intended to return to Afghanistan after his training, he was allowed to start his course. “We are training him free of charge,” Reuter said. Shah’s living costs are paid by the charity. Shah started his training in September 2014, but it will be some time before he is actually building prosthetics for himself. First he is working with splints and wheelchairs, and he will devote himself to prosthetic construction at the end of the course. Reuter is training five young people to become orthopaedic technicians, but Shah does not get any special treatment, he says: “Our people have to perform, whether they have a disability or not.” Shah said he is very happy that his colleagues support him at college and in his free time. The International Committee of the Red Cross is one of the aid organizations that is helping war victims in Afghanistan, running seven prosthetic centres that help to rehabilitate amputees and others with disabilities. “The centres help disabled people to regain their place in society by supporting people to train for a career, with microcredit or with home schooling for children,” said Marek Resich, spokesman for the Red Cross in Kabul. Only last year, the Red Cross registered 1,300 new patients with amputations and produced more than 17,000 prosthetics. There are bomb attacks in Kabul almost every day and, despite the aid that is on offer, many victims are not properly cared for, Shah said.  For example, the prosthetics available from the organizations in Kabul are too heavy, he said. “It is my wish to help my fellow Afghans. People who have a good leg walk with two crutches. They need help so that they can move better,” he said. Shah is not due to return home until he has finished his training in 2017. “Otherwise there’s a risk that I could not return,” he said. “I do feel a little homesick and that is quite difficult,” he said, but added that he regularly calls home to talk to his parents and nine siblings. “My parents are illiterate. Everyone is so proud of me.”