 |
Mar 26,2006 - Apr 2,2006 |
Getting By on An Arm and a Leg
Italian physiotherapist Alberto Cairo dedicates his life to helping Afghan amputees
By Valentina Benedetti
Originally Published: 2003-12-14
Alberto Cairo, who immigrated to Afghanistan for humanitarian reasons, has an unusual job. Over the past 13 years he's made arms and legs for this country, a country raped by history and by ethnic hatred. Meek-eyed Cairo left Ceva, in the region of Piedmont, to go looking for work abroad, leaving behind the legal profession to become a physiotherapist. "I was looking for a way to be useful to my fellow human beings," he said on one of his rare trips home.
We met him in Capodarco di Fermo, where he was lecturing at a workshop organized by the Redattore Sociale news agency. Its 10th edition was devoted to "fly-by" journalism, the media equivalent of fast food restaurants, giving flavour but no substance.
That's where Cairo, who runs the orthopedic project of International Red Cross, stepped down from his podium and recounted his Afghanistan, and the abandonment syndrome. He spoke of the help that came during the emergency, but dried up before development could start; of the slow, unstoppable agony of NGOs, whose Kabul offices are closing one after another for lack of funds.
"Yet," he insists, "the emergency in Afghanistan is far from over. Opium production is in full swing, and after that the manufacture of prosthetics is the largest industry."
He attempted to use numbers for explaining the ghastly situation of a hopeless country that nonetheless clings to life. The economy is down 25 percent, a kilogram of opium costs $200, and the Red Cross makes 14,000 prosthetic limbs per year. The country has nine million unexploded landmines, which make for a silent humanitarian catastrophe. Most of Cairo's patients are children or farmers who stepped on antipersonnel mines. But diseases also ravage these people, especially poliomyelitis, whose effects last for life. Twenty percent of children die before turning five.
We listened in awe, while the 'Kabul angel' never lost his sad smile. Yet, a solution must exist. From December 7 to 10, the Loya Jirga, the traditional assembly of Afghan tribal lords, held a meeting. "It is a very important and very delicate moment," he underscored, "as they will discuss the new Constitution, and therefore the birth of the new State. At the same time, there are many dark clouds gathering, because the warlords are still in arms, opium production is high, and ethnic clashes are constant."
Page 1/...Page 2
|
| Home / Back to Top |
|
|
 |
|
|
</ td>
