Afghanistan Dispatch: When Compassion Is a Luxury

By   Anna Badkhen

Bibi Zarifshah, who lost her left leg and most fingers on her left hand when a landmine exploded near her house 15 years ago, is leaving her house in Zadyan, Afghanistan, to apply for disability. Image by Anna Badkhen, Afghanistan, 2011.

The petitioners arrive at dawn and climb the dirt path in silence. Men with arms missing. Veiled women with artificial limbs. Children with faces drawn and prematurely old solemnly leading blind relatives by the hand. Their grim procession staggers toward the provincial office of the Ministry of the Disabled and Martyrs to solicit an annual disability stipend of $120.
Among them is Lojward, emaciated in a black-and-white shawl and on crutches. She labors her way up the slope and, out of breath quickly, lowers herself onto a tall step outside the squat concrete building, her prosthetic leg outstretched in the packed dust at an awkward angle. Men and women file past, mute and mutilated. No one offers to help her. No one offers water in the heat. Compassion is a luxury no one here can spare.

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