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Urgent call for donations to fund medical aid and the building of a rehabilitation clinic in Muzaffarabad / Pakistan

THE STORY OF LITTLE ZEESHAN

The photo below, that won the World Press Photo Award, was discovered in a magazine by Sylvia Eibl  in May 2006. The suffering caused to little Zeeshan by his maiming is reflected in his pain-twisted face. The face of the father, who is holding the child in his arms, reveals his fear for his son.

With this photo David Guttenfelder won the World Press Photo Award

After that, the director of Children First repeatedly asked herself whether the child on the photo was still alive. A trip to Pakistan that was already planned posed a welcome opportunity, and she decided to organise a search for the boy in the mountains of Muzaffarabad, a rural district of Pakistan.

And so hundreds of copies of the photo were distributed in the area. Information was sought under the most difficult conditions. All the same, Sylvia succeeded in finding Zeeshan and his family in just 2 days, on an isolated camping site in the mountains of Kashmir, Pakistan.

With the help of an interpreter, Sylvia managed to communicate with Zeeshan and his family. She learned that the child was suffering not only from the amputation of his arm, but also from the pain of losing his only brother, who was killed under the rubble of their own house at the age of 12 during the earthquake in October 2005.

At this meeting, Sylvia also realised that 8 months after the disaster, neither the government nor the big relief organisations had done anything for little Zeeshan. So she immediately decided to help and assume the cost of the medical treatment needed and the rehabilitation measures required.

After 4 months and a lot of time-consuming red tape, Children First got permission for Zeeshan and his father to leave the country so that the child could be sent to the specialist “Arte Ortopedica” Clinic in Bologna. There, Zeeshan at last received adequate medical treatment and a special prosthesis.

Call for donations!

Over 320 maimed children like Zeeshan who became victims of the terrible earthquake in October 2005 need medical treatment and artificial limbs.

Children First is collecting donations to build a rehabilitation clinic in the area hit by the earthquake in collaboration with the hospital in Muzaffarabad, so that artificial limbs and physiotherapy can be provided for the maimed children.

Children First WANTS TO PUT A SMILE BACK ON THE SUFFERING FACES OF THESE SMALL VICTIMS - WE NEED YOUR HELP!