A very impressive survivor and communicator

viernes, 14 de noviembre de 2008

One of the most moving moments this week for all of us was meeting a most amazing young man. At 12 years old in 1998, Mamady Gassama was playing in a local village field in southern Senegal when he stood on a landmine, planted by the military in the civil war. Rushed to Zinguinchor hospital by a soldier he had few chances to survive. Mamady lost his right leg from the thigh down and suffered extensive damage to his left leg. He stayed in hospital for months and pulled through the psychological trauma thanks to his father who schooled him in the hospital bed. Thanks to support from UNICEF and others he received a prosthetic leg and began the long road to recovery. But the story goes much further. This young man is now 22 years old and is Vice President of an Anti-Mines Association in his region. With UNICEF and SEK support this brave young man took his campaign to the villages to teach young children to be aware of the thousands of unexploded mines in this region. With flipcharts and images they dynamically teach the children how to spot mines, what to do in case of an accident and how to help victims. UNICEF is supporting this with a signage campaign and demining advocacy. Further still this mature 22 year old met us off the bus with over 100 villagers and led a meeting explaining the campaign. He rides a bicycle many miles to spread his message and has reached over 40 villages from the 80 in the region. This was his next village. He speaks French and local Wolof but we were amazed when he greeted us in Spanish (wearing a Real Madrid shirt for us!) and then proceded to translate the villagers answers into English! I asked Mamady where he had learnt English and he said in his village school. How had he become so fluent I enquired? "Because I needed to be fluent to spread my message to the world" he said firmly. Mamady has flown to Geneva to explain his support for the Ottowa Accord on landmines. This boy is 22. This boy lived in poverty. This boy lost a leg. Did that stop him moving forward? He was just driven to overcome his problems by helping others. The villagers respect him, old and young. Within the space of two hours we were in awe of this young man. We have his email and we are going to help him more with his campaign to save lives. Here in Casamance is a hero. Here is this village is a guy who learnt through necessity and captures an audience with his story. And that story was told to me in English by a poor Senegalese village boy. We have so much to learn from these people.