Right: Gul Makai Siawash, the director of Kabul Orthopaedic Organization, briefing journalists on the ongoing activities of the organization.

An awareness day by the UNDP's National Programme for Action on Disability (NPAD) was held on July 12 to brief journalists on the current situation of people with disabilities in Afghanistan.

The primary objective of NPAD is to raise awareness and capacity and to develop government structures for policy development and the implementation and coordination of disability-focused efforts in Afghanistan.

Najibullah Fahim, the Deputy Minister of Martyrs, Disabled and Social Affairs, in his opening remarks said: “Disability is not a new phenomenon that we can overcome in the short term. As long as land-mines and poverty still exist in this country, disability can not be reduced.”

Muhammad Reza, exhibiting his talent to the journalists

Ali Dost, Weaving a rug in a local workshop for the disabled

Afghanistan is one the most mined countries in the world and on average five people become disabled every day. In most cases, a disability of some sort is becoming the main reason why disabled people lose out on job opportunities. The number of people who became disabled as a result of war makes up half of Afghanistan’s disabled community.

Mohammad Reza, who’s 40 years old and a father of six daughters and two sons, lost both of his arms in an electrical shock accident 20 years ago. Reza says he is the only person able to support his family, but he constantly faces problems when looking for work: “For one week I kept going to a shop to try and get the job as I was promised by the manager of the shop.”

Based on the recruitment regulations of the Afghan government, all ministries are obliged to recruit 5% of their employees from people with disabilities, but there is no record if the regulation is implemented or not.

Ali Dost, who’s 35 years old and a father of six children, works in a rug loom workshop: “I lost my left leg because of shrapnel from a mortar fired by the Taliban nine years ago when they were fighting to take control of Kabul. I am paid 500Afs (US$ 10) per month for my work in this workshop.”

In the course of the awareness day journalists were taken to visit two disabled centres including the Kabul Orthopaedic Organization, an Afghan NGO funded by USAID, which is providing physiotherapy and artificial limbs and walking aids to people with disabilities. A second project visited was a workshop which produces rugs, metallic windows, doors, fuel containers and some other metallic essentials.