Summary:
Imagine the innocence of a child. Imagine that child
trembling in terror as her parents are savagely killed before her eyes and is
then ordered to put her arm on the roots of a cotton tree and watches as it
is cut off with a crude machete. Some mercifully faint with the first cut,
others bleed to death and those that survive are haunted the rest of their
lives by the memories. The rebels in Sierra Leone used this particular form
of brutality as a means to intimidate the civilian population. The youngest
of victims suffered atrocities in a conflict they did not yet even
comprehend. They were taken from the harsh life of an amputee camp in
Freetown and introduced into another world. Dr. Matthew Mirones, a NY
prosthetic manufacturer, read about their plight and was so moved he decided
to start a program to donate artificial limbs to the victims. The first group
of eight arrived in Washington, DC in Sept 2000. They came in frilly pink
dresses and dire expressions. The story of Sierra Leone's war victims chronicles
their physical and psychological rehabilitation, their assimilation into
American society and the tenderness that has surrounded and nourished them.
The group of eight amputees traveled to the United States by the humanitarian
act of a New York doctor with a desire to fit them with limbs and
opportunity. They had endured a particular brand of rebel brutality yet the
spirit they maintained in spite of the atrocities profoundly touched their
caregivers. Limbs had been amputated but not vitality. The love that
surrounds them transcends both racial and cultural barriers to mend wounds
inflicted by man's inhumanity. These individuals put a face on a tragedy
shared by so many in their homeland and highlight the challenges they still
face. It is a radiant example of the greater good that can be accomplished by
the small acts of a few compassionate hearts that are determined to make a
difference - one person at a time.
