WATCH: 5-year-old Afghan boy injured in war dances to celebrate new prosthetic leg
A 5-year-old boy beaming ear to ear as he danced in a circle has warmed the hearts around the world.
His dance for joy came after he was fitted with a new artificial leg at the orthopedic center operated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Ahmad received artificial limb in @ICRC_af Orthopedic center, he shows his emotion with dance after getting limbs. He come from Logar and lost his leg in a landmine. This is how his life changed and made him smile. pic.twitter.com/Sg7jJbUD2V
— Roya رویا (@roya_musawi) May 6, 2019
Ahmad Sayed Rahman was only 8 months old when a bullet injured him during a clash between the Afghan government forces and the Taliban, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, May 7.
It cost him his leg and also left his sister Salima, who was carrying him then, seriously injured. She has since recovered from the attack.
Over the past four years as he grows older, Ahmad has been fitted with prosthetic right legs in the orthopedic center for free. He comes from a poor village in Logar in eastern Afghanistan, and it takes him hours to travel to Kabul.
One of his physiotherapists, Mulkara Rahimi, captured the boy’s excitement over his new and fourth artificial limb with Afghan music in the background, sharing it on Facebook last weekend.
ICRC spokesperson Roya Musawi posted it on Twitter on Sunday, May 5, and the video quickly went viral. It has 1.2 million views and 40,000 likes as of this writing.
“He [comes] from Logar and lost his leg in a landmine. This is how his life changed and made him smile,” she said in the caption.
His mom Raesa, who has eight more children, hopes he can achieve much with his disability.
“I want him to go to school and become a doctor or a teacher,” she told the Washington Post. “I am so happy. He is a good kid.”
Over 100,000 victims of war have received artificial limbs since the center opened in 1988. It is estimated that 10% of the victims are children.
Visit the ICRC website to learn how you can help children affected by armed conflict. Niña V. Guno /ra
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