Afghan clouds and mountains/ Kabul

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00:00

SARA: The chaos and pace of Kabul can’t cover it up. It’s everywhere. Evidence, if any were needed, of the ravages of war.

00:36

Music

00:46

Khania in wheelchair at hospital

SARA:  And among the broken, a little boy named Khania. The nine year old is a long way from home, but he and his father Lalo are hoping the long journey will be worth it. They’ve travelled for days to throw themselves at the mercy of this place – the Red Cross Orthopaedic Centre in Kabul.

00:50

ALBERTO CAIRO: You have to put people back into society,

01:13

Alberto Cairo

give them the means to go back into society to do something. This is essential. It’s life. It is something that cannot wait.

01:16

Alberto Cairo walks through workshop

Music

01:23

SARA: For the next few weeks, Khania will come under the wing of an extraordinary man and his extraordinary staff. Alberto Cairo is known here as the “Angel of Kabul” and many of his staff have had to overcome the same plight as the little boy.

01:27

Alberto Cairo. Super:
Alberto Cairo.
Dir. Kabul Orthopaedic

ALBERTO CAIRO: In Afghanistan the society gives pity. It doesn’t give the rights. This is the problem.

01:50

Music

01:55

Patients at workshop

SARA: Life for the able bodied in Afghanistan is hard enough, so consider the struggle for those with disabilities. Each day another twenty people are maimed by land mines - and many, many more people crippled by other injuries, disease and birth defects have been left to fend for themselves.

02:00

And that’s why this place is so important. The International Red Cross estimates there are up to eight hundred thousand people with physical disabilities in Afghanistan. The Red Cross Orthopaedic program reaches just over ten per cent; many thousands more are isolated without help.

02:26

Cairo with patient

Alberto Cairo is a physiotherapist giving hope to those who thought they had lost everything.

ALBERT CAIRO: I’ve seen people standing up for the first time crying. You could see the tears in the eyes.

02:46

And then we joke because it’s a very dramatic moment and sometimes very difficult because some of them they are happy to stand up but they understand that as soon as they move a step, it is very difficult.

03:05

Man falls

So all the hopes that they had can be smashed by this difficult, dramatic moment,

03:16

Alberto Cairo

so we have to find a way always to try and encourage them – “Ah, congratulations, you did very well, so next step…” It’s a very important moment.

03:24

Photos. Alberto Cairo

Music

03:33

SARA: Alberto Cairo arrived in Kabul twenty years ago as an idealistic thirty-five year old. He turned his back on a comfortable life in his native Italy and joined the Red Cross. Since then, he’s worked through the violent regime changes in Afghanistan.

03:37

ALBERTO CAIRO: This is my fifth regime, yeah. The Russians had just gone, and then the Communists, and then

03:58

Alberto Cairo

the Mujahideen and then the Taliban, and now Karzai. So there’s a kind of… yeah, I saw quite many things.

04:02

Khania in wheelchair

SARA: Young Khania has had to bear months of unimaginable pain and trauma. He lost his leg in a land mine blast in January. The explosion killed his cousin and ripped through his family, leaving his father devastated.

04:10

LALO: [Father of Khania] There was blood everywhere. My nephew died instantly. His intestine was out of his abdomen.

04:31

Lalo

My son Khania was blown into the canal next to the road by the force of the landmine. He was almost dead. When we took him from the canal he was unconscious.

04:41

Khania walks with crutches

SARA: Now, months later, Khania is about to learn to walk for a second time in his short life. Soon he’ll be fitted with his first prosthetic leg, but that will be just the start.

04:54

Khania and Lalo on bench

LALO: Do you want shoes?

KHANIA: Yes.

LALO: Or they bring you your own slippers?

KHANIA: No, I want the shoes.

LALO: They have lights – will you like them?

KHANIA: Yes, they flash.

LALO: Will you like that?

KHANIA: Yes.

05:07

Khania gets fitted with sneakers

SARA: Khania has never had a pair of sneakers before. It’s hard to know if the shoes are more exciting than the prospect of a new leg. But these tiny lights are not just for show back in the village. They’ll help Khania to know whether he’s walking evenly.

05:20

Patients at workshop

What you notice about this place is that almost everyone working here has a disability. Most of the staff are former patients, so those helping the amputees are amputees.

05:41

Woman working on prothesis

And there’s something else that sets this centre apart, the presence of working women.

During the time of the Taliban these workshops were strictly segregated. There was one for men and one for women. But that arrangement had an unintended consequence. It meant that, for the first time, women workers had to learn the entire production process from start to finish. Along the way they picked up skills and responsibilities they had only dreamed of.

05:55

Farzana puts on prosthesis

Farzana grew up under the Taliban and in the shadow of war. She stepped on a land mine when she was walking home from a neighbour’s house. Farzana’s leg was blown away in a terrible instant. She was only 14.

FARZANA: I thought a storm had come and blown me into the air. The weather was so hot.

06:29

Farzana

When I opened my eyes, I saw that my leg right leg was gone below the knee – and my left foot and hands were in bad condition. At that moment I thought the whole world had fallen on me.

06:54

Farzana and staff in workshop

SARA: Farzana received an artificial leg from the Red Cross. She was also given a job in the laundry to help support her family. But right from the start it was obvious she was highly intelligent and desperate to be educated.

ALBERTO CAIRO: She asked for only one thing - education.

07:06

Alberto Cairo. Super:
Alberto Cairo.
Dir. Kabul Orthopaedic

She asked me can you help me with my education because I would like to learn, and this is something that I was very impressed by that.

07:26

Farzana and Alberto Cairo

FARZANA: I never believed in myself because when I got the job I was illiterate and had never been to school.

07:32

Farzana

When I came here, Mr Alberto paid for a personal teacher for me. The teacher taught me for two or three hours a day, from grade 1 to grade 12.

07:42

Farzana working on prosthesis

SARA: Farzana finished 12 years of school in only 7 years. She sat with children half her age and patiently worked towards her goal. She’s now the best technician at the Red Cross Centre, and makes twice as many limbs as any other worker.

07:51

Alberto Cairo

(TO CAIRO) That’s remarkable isn’t it?

ALBERTO CAIRO: Unbelievable. I challenge anybody else in the world to do the same. It’s incredible and good quality, without dropping the quality -- this is the point because to make many things is not so difficult but to keep the quality at that level.

08:08

Farzana fits woman’s prosthesis

FARZANA: When I lost my leg, I never thought that one day I would walk and work like a normal person – and support my family of eleven members.

08:24

Farzana

And I’m the only one with an income. I didn’t think I would ever have a job.

08:38

Therapist with Khania

SARA: The therapists helping Khania to get back on his feet know what he’s going through. They were overjoyed when they regained their mobility and so for them this moment is the most rewarding part of their job.

08:45

THERAPIST: It’s clear that I feel very happy. It makes me happy that I’m helping and serving people. I am proud of this.

09:01

Khania takes first steps with prosthetic leg

SARA: There’s nervousness, relief and then joy. Khania has to re-learn what used to come naturally. His father is watching him take his first steps all over again.

09:13

Lalo

LALO: He means a lot to me because he’s my only son, and I’m now white-bearded. What can I do? I love him very much.

09:29

People at orthopaedic centre

Music

09:43

SARA: Most of the 300 staff here have incredible stories to tell about the struggle back from life-changing loss. None though are more astonishing and inspirational than the story of Najmuddin Helal, now Alberto Cairo’s second in charge.

09:51

Cairo with Helal in office

ALBERTO CAIRO: Sometimes I ask for advice when I don’t know what to do and I say what do you think? Because I am temperamental so I have a tendency to explode and to take fast decisions and he tells me, just keep quiet a moment. Calm down, but this is good for me. He’s an inspiration and also he’s a good collaborator.

10:10

SARA: Is it an important partnership for you Mr Najmuddin?

ALBERTO CAIRO: Say yes… [answers yes] But I think we are. We need each other…

NAJMUDDIN HELAL: Absolutely we need each other.

10:31

Helal walks

SARA: Najmuddin Helal is a double amputee. He lost both his legs in a landmine blast when he was 18. After his accident, no one would give him a job because of his disability, so every day for five years he sat on a chair outside his family’s home.

NAJMUDDIN HELAL: I was thinking

10:45

Helal. Super:
Najmuddin Helal   Physiotherapist

would it be possible for me to stand again once in my life? Because for me I did not see anybody without legs before that -- with artificial limb or prosthesis it is possible to walk.

11:07

Children in doorway

ALBERTO CAIRO: His father bought a chair for him and they put the chair in front of the door, on the street so he could see people moving. In the end, people were calling this street, the street where the disabled is sitting.

11:25

Alberto Cairo

You can imagine -- and that was his life for five years. Awful. It’s terrible, this kind of thing.

11:40

Helal on street with Sara

SARA: Najmuddin Helal eventually found the Red Cross. He was given two new legs and fulfilled his dream of walking again.

11:47

Helal

NAJMUDDIN HELAL: When I stand I thought I am on the sky. Really, after one year I was just lying down and then when I stand I was feeling that maybe I am five metres, or ten metres. Believe me, yeah.

12:03

Children on street

SARA: Now another generation plays in this neighbourhood and the street is no longer named as the one where the disabled man sits.

12:20

Helal on street with Sara

Five years is a very, very long time. Is it difficult to imagine now that it was such a long time that you were sitting, not allowed to work?

NAJMUDDIN HELAL: Even now I cannot imagine that I have been for five years doing nothing.

12:30

People/traffic on street

SARA: And so a man trapped, isolated and immobilised by injury is helping others to overcome.

12:46

Helal with children on street

Najmuddin Helal is now a physiotherapist, but the five years of sitting in this street have given him a fierce resolve. He’s determined to fight for Afghans who are still excluded because of their disabilities.

12:56

NAJMUDDIN HELAL: I can imagine how they live and how they fight with their life. And it is not easy.

13:14

Prosthetic limbs in workshop

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13:23

Amputees files

SARA: The orthopaedic program receives 6000 new patients every year. The demand is overwhelming.

13:39

Young disabled men in wheelchairs on street

Now, the war wounded are outnumbered by those with other disabilities. Paraplegics, children born with crooked limbs and disease all line up for help.

13:52

Exterior of Orthopaedic centre/ Patients at centre

In 1994 the Red Cross decided it was unfair to only treat the victims of war in Afghanistan, so it opened these gates to anyone with a physical disability. That meant that families who had suffered in silence for decades, finally had a safe haven.

14:12

Children’s faces

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14:30

Nabila

SARA:  Behind these eyes are 21 years of unlocked potential. Nabila was born with cerebral palsy. She’s highly intelligent but her body is contorted beyond her control.

RAHIMA: [Nabila’s mother] Yes she is clever, she is so clever

14:44

Rahima

but poor Nabila can’t use her hands and feet. She is smart, but what can she do?

15:10

Nabila undergoes physiotherapy on walked

SARA: It’s taken every bit of determination to get this far. Before she received a wheelchair and a walker, Nabila used to walk on all fours like a dog. Her mother carried her from place to place in search of help for 17 years.

15:15

RAHIMA: I used to carry her on my back because there was no wheelchair – and when she wanted to walk we put a cloth on the ground.

15:38

Rahima

She used to walk with hands and feet like this in the yard. She couldn’t go outside.

15:46

Nabila prays

SARA: Nabila was shaken by battles between government troops and the Mujahideen before she was even born. Her mother’s in no doubt that the terror of all the explosions outside caused Nabila’s state.

RAHIMA: So many rockets were coming in every day. They hit here and there.

16:00

Rahima

Life is precious isn’t it? Life is precious. Rockets were crashing… boom… boom! They hit up and down. It happened at that moment.

16:17

Rahima tries to catch taxi

SARA: Rahima has been battling for her daughter’s dignity ever since. Even trying to catch a taxi can be humiliating as driver after driver refuses to stop because Nabila is in a wheelchair. Despite her persistence, there’s little hope Nabila will ever receive an education. No school will take her because she’s too old and her physical disability is so severe.

ALBERTO CAIRO: Children with cerebral palsy they are among the most vulnerable category of disabled because there is very little for them. There is practically nothing.

16:30

Alberto Cairo

The family is left to fend for themselves. There is nothing to do. It is really a heavy burden on the shoulders of the family.

17:13

Rahima with Nabila writing in book

RAHIMA: Don’t laugh, otherwise people will tell you you’re crazy. But you’re not crazy. Thanks to God, you’re really smart.

17:23

SARA: Nabila’s mother is a widow, living on the charity of relatives. Her greatest fear is what will happen to Nabila when she’s gone. Will there be anyone to look after the daughter she adores?

17:32

Nabila/Rahima

RAHIMA: How could I not love her? I love her more than my other children.

17:47

Sara and Alberto with patients

SARA: The patients at the Red Cross are prepared for the reality of life with few concessions. All the amputees need to conquer these obstacles before they’re ready to leave.

ALBERTO CAIRO (WATCHING PATIENT WALK):  it’s difficult, eh?

17:55

Double amputation above the knee. If you have the knee it makes a difference. Now... he’s not fat. Fat people find it so difficult. This is not Afghanistan.... the concrete in this place is not Afghanistan. Afghanistan is there .... and it’s the mountains. So they have to learn they can do everything. And then it’s up to them to know that they can do everything.

18:11

Khania walking

SARA: Khania, the little boy we’ve been following, is making good progress.

18:32

At the end of each day, his leg is taken back to the workshop to make sure he doesn’t take it and leave. Khania has at least a week of practice ahead of him before he can go home to his family. But it’s not just the walking. Khania is changing from a patient, back into a lively Afghan boy. The first carefree smiles are back, and so too is the fun.

18:46

Khania playing

After months of operations and hospitals, the past week has delivered some much needed joy and progress for Khania. But he’s now getting ready to return home to Helmand, one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan - and life for him is about to get a whole lot tougher.

19:14

Helicopter flies over

The desolation of the war in southern Afghanistan awaits him. His family and many others have lost their homes and are now living in a makeshift camp.

19:35

Camp

LALO: I have a problem. I have left my children in a dry desert. Our house is damaged, so we live under a tent.

19:50

Lalo

For months I have left my children under a tent in that dry desert. They call me and say they don’t even have food to eat. Our situation is very bad.

19:59

Lalo and Khania at orthopaedic centre. Khania’s remaining leg

SARA: Lalo is desperate to get back and look after the rest of his family, but Khania’s remaining leg still hasn’t healed yet and the prospect of him living in a camp where it can become easily infected, has the Red Cross staff deeply worried.

20:12

ALBERTO CAIRO: I am upset with the father of this boy because he needs still an operation and they refused.

20:30

Alberto

He needs still plastic surgery but they say no. Whereas I told him this is very bad what you are doing. But what can you do? You cannot force.

20:36

Khania

SARA: But Lalo believes his son has been through enough on the operating table and it’s time to go home to Helmand, not matter what awaits them.

20:45

Mountains/Villages

But the awful truth is that despite the hard work of landmine clearance teams, there are still thousands of mines buried across Afghanistan. The loss of one leg, doesn’t make Khania any less likely to encounter the dangers again.

20:55

Children

LALO: There are landmines outside the house. God, what a tragedy we are facing! Where can we go?

21:19

Lalo

We are all from Afghanistan, so why does God punish us? We’re not happy with them putting landmines around our houses. We’re not happy, but if we tell them not to put the mines there they’ll cut off our heads.

21:25

Children peer from windows

Music

21:41

Group of children/Men

SARA: It’s the civilians who continue to carry the burden of the war. They’re killed, maimed and denied medical care because of the fighting.

21:49

ALBERT CAIRO: This is the curse of Afghanistan. It’s a transit place. Afghanistan has not resources, it’s nothing special but it is in a place that is the conjunction between east and west.

22:02

Alberto

Look at this... from Alexander the Great ‘til now, everybody wants to control Afghanistan.

22:12

Red Cross van passes. Alberto with patients

SARA: The man they call the Angel of Kabul has no intention of leaving. He’s here to stay whether peace ever comes or not.

22:20

ALBERT CAIRO: After so many years, after 20 years that I’ve been doing this job, it’s still an emotion for me. When I know that someone is standing up for the first time, usually I go and I want to be close because with something like that.... they can give me something that I want, to just support them at that moment,

22:45

Alberto

I would say. It’s a very emotional moment, it’s a very beautiful moment.

23:00

Khania walks to Lalo

Music

23:03

Khania has a long journey ahead of him. He’ll be back again and again to the Red Cross as he grows up and he outgrows each new leg.

23:07

Tank

Every time, he’ll venture back out into the hostile country that is his home.

23:17

Mountains

Music

23:27

Reporter:   Sally Sara

Editor:      Simon Brynjolffssen

Camera:   Wayne McAllister

Research: Matin Safi

23:37