Editor’s note: This blog post originally appeared on www.icrc.org. In this series, we feature some of the global activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
“Hakimullah was admitted to the Mirwais Regional Hospital in Kandahar. He was brought in by an unknown person and was in a bad condition, he could barely move or talk”, said Mohammad Omar Agha, Restoring Family Links (RFL) Field Officer in Kandahar sub-delegation. “He was immediately taken care of and provided with the necessary medical attention his condition requested. Additionally, as the boy was unaccompanied and not able to eat, walk or control himself, we had to hire people to help him with these basic tasks as it is usually the families who take care of food and the different patient needs. We also provided him with toys, books, and stationery.”
In the meantime, the RFL team started to look for the relatives of the young boy. But this task quickly proved to be a tricky one. The boy had speaking difficulties and it was very hard to communicate with him and to know more information. He couldn’t mention his name or anyone from his family. But the RFL didn’t give up and finally discovered a clue that would change everything.
“One day, I noticed a fading code number on his prosthetic leg”, added Mohammad Omar Agha. “ I contacted the organization that had provided Hakimullah with the prosthesis. This is when we finally got the answers we were looking for.”
The team found out that the boy was from the Gizab district in Uruzgan province. As the area is wide and the villages to search are many, the ICRC team sought support from the elders of the communities in that area to facilitate the tracing efforts.
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