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Afghanistan has now become home to a new bicycle messenger service, the riders of which are all amputees who lost limbs in two decades of fighting.
(Afghanistan, ANI) Bicycle couriers are now roaming the streets of Kabul -- but this is a service with a difference: all the couriers are amputees, who lost limbs in two decades of fighting. Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, and everyday, people get maimed or killed by these vicous devices. The Disables Cycling Messenger Services (DCMS), an Afghan NGO has come up with an original employment source of income. It is the first time that such services has been launched in the war-ravaged country.19-year-old Mohammad Qaher is one of the lucky beneficiary of this scheme.
One day in 1996, his life was turned upside down."When the Taliban
came to Kabul, I was blown up by a landmine. I lost consciousness, my
friends took me to Wazir Akbar Khan hospital. When I woke up, I realized
I had lost both legs," Qaher said.Qaher managed to get artificial
limbs, giving him a degree of autonomy-- many Afghans remain crippled
for life, without access to proper care.
This new job has changed his life. He now works eight hours a day, seven
days a week, and makes 50 U.S dollars a month.The Afghan Amputee Bicyclists
for Rehabilition and Reconstruction has been active since 1992. The organisation's
aim is to enable disabled Afghans to become productive members of their
community. It's a job for fit young men -- the cyclists have to brave
temperatures in winter, sweltering heat in summer, and breathe noxious
diesel fumes from the thousands of old cars clogging up the streets of
Kabul.
"We don't feel that we are amputees, an amputee can work same like a normal person does, so we don't feel it at all. We have the same ability as a normal person has," Qaher said.Organisers plan to expand the service to other major Afghan cities in the near future.