Canadian Wheelchairs Delivered to Help Afghan Civilians Disabled by War

A gift of mobility has been delivered by Canada in the form of 560 wheelchairs to a country torn by war and littered with landmines.

It’s common to see Afghan people of all ages walking on crutches, having lost a leg after stepping on an improvised explosive device. There are thousands of undetected landmines in Afghanistan – many dating back to the 10-year war against the Soviets that ended in 1989.

There is other evidence of the Soviet presence just a kilometre from Camp Shirzai, home to the Afghan National Army. Dozens of Soviet-era tanks – many now painted with graffiti – remain behind barbed wire in a compound, left behind in the rapid Soviet withdrawal from the area.

Russ Hiebert, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Defence, made the presentation of the wheelchairs on Thursday.

“The independence provided by these rugged wheelchairs provides previously unimagined freedom to the recipients,” said the Surrey, B.C., member of Parliament. Hiebert said the executive director of Wheelchairs Federation Canada, one of his constituents, spearheaded the drive to obtain the chairs.

“I’m here to recognize the mostly generous Canadians who have chosen to send donations large and small, to meet the needs of the Afghan people,” he said in a 12-minute address.
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“Like these many generous Canadians, our soldiers and Provincial Reconstruction Team are doing development work without seeking public recognition,” Hiebert added.

During his speech and that of the local doctor, an elderly Afghan man laid quietly in a hospital bed, wrapped in a colourful Afghan blanket. He had lost a leg in a suicide bombing, and was obviously weak.

Hiebert shook hands with the man and talked to him through an interpreter, and despite the difficulties involved, the victim was helped into a wheelchair where he slumped in exhaustion.

“As soon as I fix my arm I will be able to ride it,” said the man, identified simply as Mr. Ramazan by the interpreter.

“I was injured in the last suicide attack in Kandahar city. I thought somebody had shot at me. I lost my leg and hurt my arm in the suicide attack.”

Ramazan had just one wish for the future.

“We need peace in Afghanistan and no fighting, where things are going to happen,” he said.

The doctor from Kandahar’s Mir Weis hospital, Dr. Adbul Qaium Pakhala, told reporters that in 2005, there were 5,176 Afghan civilians who had amputations as a result of fighting or vehicle accidents.

He said more aid like the wheelchairs was desperately needed.

Courtesy of CBC News