No title

David Gillanders

Freelance

Imagine the innocence of a child. Imagine that child trembling in terror as her parents are savagely killed before her eyes and is then ordered to put her arm on the roots of a cotton tree and watches as it is cut off with a crude machete. Some mercifully faint with the first cut, others bleed to death and those that survive are haunted the rest of their lives by the memories. The rebels in Sierra Leone used this particular form of brutality as a means to intimidate the civilian population. The youngest of victims suffered atrocities in a conflict they did not yet even comprehend. They were taken from the harsh life of an amputee camp in Freetown and introduced into another world. Dr. Matthew Mirones, a NY prosthetic manufacturer, read about their plight and was so moved he decided to start a program to donate artificial limbs to the victims. The first group of eight arrived in Washington, DC in Sept 2000. They came in frilly pink dresses and dire expressions. The story of Sierra Leone’s war victims chronicles their physical and psychological rehabilitation, their assimilation into American society and the tenderness that has surrounded and nourished them. The group of eight amputees traveled to the United States by the humanitarian act of a New York doctor with a desire to fit them with limbs and opportunity. They had endured a particular brand of rebel brutality yet the spirit they maintained in spite of the atrocities profoundly touched their caregivers. Limbs had been amputated but not vitality. The love that surrounds them transcends both racial and cultural barriers to mend wounds inflicted by man’s inhumanity. These individuals put a face on a tragedy shared by so many in their homeland and highlight the challenges they still face. It is a radiant example of the greater good that can be accomplished by the small acts of a few compassionate hearts that are determined to make a difference - one person at a time.

David Gillanders, "No title," in POYi Archive, Item #36716, http://archive.poy.org/items/show/36716 (accessed November 21, 2024).