ICRC credit scheme a new lifeline for the disabled

Sakhi Muhammad, aged 33 runs his small furniture and electronics shop in the Afghan capital, Kabul, despite having lost his right leg to a mine in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar in early 1990s when he was a government soldier. Thanks to an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) micro-credit project, Sakhi is able to feed his family of five siblings and ageing parents. "This is a nice project and has helped us to stand back on our feet," he told IRIN. Sakhi started his shop with an ICRC loan of US $60 in April 2001 and borrowed an additional $100 in October of the same year after repaying his first loan. He recently borrowed $350 to boost his business. "For years we were only doing physical rehabilitation, but the disabled needed to get reintegrated into the society," Najmuddin, the deputy head of the ICRC's orthopaedic centre in Kabul, told IRIN. Some 1,900 people in Kabul, the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif and the western city of Herat are building their livelihoods with ICRC micro-credit support. The agency plans to expand the project into more towns and cities soon. In addition to manufacturing artificial limbs for the disabled and providing them with physiotherapy through its six limb-fitting centres across the country, the Geneva-based agency helps amputees in trying to recover their dignity and livelihoods. This is done through education, vocational training and a micro-credit programme to start up and improve businesses. Caspar Landolt, a communication coordinator with the ICRC, told IRIN that with more than 80 percent of the loans fully repaid, the programme was running well. "Afghanistan is in the process of reconstruction, and we are doing our part," he said. Under the programme, small loans are awarded free of interest. It is up to the disabled to choose and plan their activities. An individual can borrow up to $100 at first. However, clients can get more credit if they pay their dues regularly. A committee of experts, composed partly of people living with disabilities, assesses the candidate's capacities and the feasibility of his or her plan. It also monitors each business closely after it starts operating. Over the past quarter of a century of war in the Central Asian nation of 26 million, hundreds of thousands lost their limbs to landmines, artillery shelling and the unexploded ordnance littering the countryside. Starting in 1988, the six ICRC orthopaedic centres have provided 60,000 Afghans with artificial limbs.