Rohafza is one of the physiotherapists at the ICRC clinic where she treats women patients, many of whom are landmine survivors. She is a mine survivor herself.
“I was injured 16 years ago when the Russians were here”, she said. “I was going to school one day and I was right outside the door of the classroom when I trod on a mine”.
After a painful recovery she returned to school but there she had to face her classmates’ laughter and jeering as she struggled with her crutches and new artificial leg.
Her experience is not unusual for disabled people in Afghanistan she says. “Nobody wants to be with disabled. Nobody wants to work with disabled. And nobody wants to be disabled themselves”, she said.
After finishing school Rohafza went to a medical university in Kabul. However when the Taliban put a stop to women’s attendance at university she transferred to a physiotherapy course run by an international organisation.
Today she finds her work as a physio very rewarding. “When patients are coming here they are very unhappy and in lot of pain”, she said “but when they go home later they are smiling and ready to enjoy their life”.