Kabul, Afghanistan: Four months ago, while cutting across a field after leaving his job at a bakery on the outskirts of Kabul, Malik stepped on something hidden in the high grass. The explosion was instantaneous, and in that moment, the 17-year-old lost both his legs. But the horror was not over. As he crawled toward help, a second landmine blasted his arms and torso, mangling them.

Landmines planted during Afghanistan's 23 years of war have made it one of the most heavily mined countries in the world and left an estimated 250,000 Afghans with disabilities. While extensive de-mining efforts are underway throughout the country, these devices continue to maim more than 450 people a year, many of them children.

Today, Malik, whose boyish looks make him appear closer to 12 than 17, sits on an exercise mat at the Kabul Orthopaedic Organization. He is learning to pull himself up on the stumps of his legs, which were amputated above his knees. His scars are new, the pain is intense, and Malik can only raise himself so far. But he keeps trying.

When he's ready, Malik will be fitted with prosthetic legs crafted at Kabul Orthopaedic by men and women who have lost their own limbs.

Kabul Orthopaedic has been operating since 1996. Focusing largely on Afghans who have been maimed by landmines, it provides rehabilitation therapy, massage, mental health treatment, and other services. The clinic is sectioned into three units—prosthetics, orthotics, and physiotherapy—and treats upwards of 10,000 disabled Afghans a year.

Most of the patients are young. Like Malik, many are amputees, victims of decades of war. Some are crippled by cerebral palsy and polio—like 11-year-old Sonila, who is being fitted with arm braces so she can use her crutches more easily. Others have bone deformities that make mobility difficult.

Some of the women need physiotherapy due to injuries received when beaten by their husbands or suffered during childbirth when they've had too many children, too quickly. "These women don't know about child spacing," said Dr. Gul Maky Siawash, director of Kabul Orthopedic. "When they come here, we also try to educate them about these things."

In a program unique in Afghanistan, Kabul Orthopedic employs a half-dozen amputees to help design and construct the artificial limbs being fitted on the patients. Among them is Mahkipiy, an 18-year-old caught in a landmine explosion with her father ten years ago. She lost both of her legs—and her father lost his life—in the accident.

"I first came here as a patient," said Mahkipiy. "When my father died, for a long time, I was scared about what we would do. Now I am the only one earning a salary in my family. I have many reasons to be grateful for this clinic."

Kabul Orthopedic opened in 1996 with equipment and support from former Reuters and ITN war correspondent, Sandy Gall, who chairs Sandy Gall's Afghanistan Appeal. Now funded by USAID (United States Agency for International Development) through a grant from the Rural Expansion of Afghanistan's Community-based Health Care (REACH) program, Kabul Orthopedic also continues to receive active support from the Gall organization.

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