Help Injured Afghan Children Walk Again

The Lamia Afghan Foundation (LAF), in partnership with the Enabled Children Initiative (ECI),  and Children Without Borders (CWB), is hosting a fundraiser to raise one year of funds for the Kabul Orthopedic organization.

 The Kabul Orthopedic Organization (KOO) is a local, Afghan-led organization based in Kabul, Afghanistan that provides life-changing prosthetics and rehabilitative services to Afghan women, men and children living with a disability across the country.  KOO has recently faced drastic funding shortages in light of decreased funding available in Afghanistan over the past few years.

 KOO provides the following services to Afghans via its head office located on the outskirts of Kabul and via its mobile teams that travel to the provinces:

•   Physiotherapy and physical rehabilitation

•   Prosthetics & Orthotics

•   Professional trainings in prosthetics and orthotics

•   In-house production of walking aids

•   Capacity building, educational and vocational training opportunities for persons with disabilities, focusing on women and children

 KOO has served thousands of Afghans across the country over the year, who have been maimed by war or born with a disability.  According to the 2019 Model Disability Survey of Afghanistan done by the Asia Foundation, 80% of Afghans adults have a disability, with a prevalence amongst women, and 17% of Afghan children have a disability.  The organization has been operating since 1996 and is officially registered with the Afghan government, the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs.

 In addition to 34% of KOO staff themselves being persons with disabilities, KOO is headed by two incredible Afghan women, Dr Gul Maky Siawash, the director, and the head of physical rehabilitation, Mahpekay.  Dr Siawash discovered Mahpekay on the side of the road one day when she was just a teenager who had recently lost both of her legs in a landmine explosion.  Over the year, Mahpekay was trained by KOO technicians in prosthetics and orthotics and now leads the program at KOO.  Read more about Mahpekay:

https://maptia.com/ajwarco/stories/the-melalia

 Over the years, The Lamia Afghan Foundation and ECI have had excellent partnerships with KOO to help transform the lives of multiple children with disabilities.  We do not want to see KOO close down, knowing the value and importance of the critical, life-changing services they provide to Afghans with disabilities.

The children of the Mirza Gul family were walking behind their home one day in rural Nangarhar province with their mother when they stepped on a piece of unexploded ordinance which killed their mother and their sister.  It left the seven surviving children with multiple amputations.

 The Lamia Afghan Foundation funded the children’s trip to Kabul to receive state-of-the-art prosthetics from KOO.  ECI funds the children’s in-home education program, as they are no longer able to make the long walk to the local school.


Noorzia Amarkhel visits the Mirza Gul  family children.



The Mirza Gul children learn to walk again.



The Mirza Gul children walk again.

Early in 2018, twelve years old Noorzia Amarkhel was gathering firewood near her home village when she stepped on a land mine and lost both of her legs.  She was sad for months, thinking her life was practically over.  After several months of healing and surgeries, she was taken to KOO for fittings of two custom-made, state-of-the-art prosthetic legs.  She is now happy and feels she has a new lease on life.  She is doing well in a new school where she feels safe and comfortable.  LAF is funding Noorzia’s care and education.


Noorzia Amarkhel shortly after she was injured in a mine explosion.



Noorzia walks into her school.

Please help us support this excellent local Afghan organization run by Afghan women and Afghans with disabilities, who are providing such a critical service to thousands of Afghans with disabilities.  Please help us support KOO so more children can walk again.