Afghan swimmer dreams of London Paralympics
Afghan teenager Malek Mohammad balances on his hands, readies his
stumps, then dives perilously into the water. The 18-year-old, whose
legs were blown off by a Soviet landmine, dreams of swimming for
Afghanistan in the London Paralympics.
"I hope they select me to participate in the London Games. So I am
just praying," he told AFP at the small pool where he trains in Kabul,
in a nation known better for a deadly Taliban insurgency than
international sporting prowess.
"If I get a medal from the Olympics that will be good for my country,
for my people. Disabled people will be proud of me, my family,
everyone." Malek is one of tens of thousands of Afghan amputees, victims
of three decades of war -- 10 years of fighting against Soviet troops in
the 1980s, civil war and the current Taliban insurgency -- that have
made Afghanistan one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.
In January, the United Nations estimated that in 20 years it had
dismantled more than 500,000 anti-personnel mines, 22,000 anti-tank
mines and 15 million unexploded munitions.
Such weapons killed or wounded 375 people in 2011, according to the
United Nations. Last year, homemade bombs planted by the Taliban along
roads and ditches killed another 1,000 people, the world body said.
Malek's life changed forever in 2005, when he walked into a Russian
mine field near Kabul airport. He stepped on one of them and landed on
another that then exploded.
His mother, Sabza Gul, recalled her shock when she saw him gravely
wounded in hospital.
"He didn't even look human. When I saw my son in pieces like that, I
fell unconscious right in the hospital. I felt like someone ripped my
insides out." Malek lost both legs and any hope of a normal life in a
country where ordinary life was already difficult.
There was one silver lining however.
When the US government's development agency, USAID, heard about his
condition, it managed to get him treated in the United States and he
ended up staying there for two years.
"I learned English, I learned how to swim, how to walk with
(prosthetic) legs, I learned how to make friends," he said.
Malek is covered in scars. Surgeons have yet to remove all the
shrapnel from his body, but his experiences in America turned him into a
huge supporter of the United States, which has nearly 100,000 troops
fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
He met George Bush Senior, the former president, and treasures an
autographed photograph taken with him with the message: "Good luck and
have a great life." AFP |
