By Tycie Horsley | Development Director
Thank you for your continued interest in the Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) and our humanitarian programs. Because of the generosity of people like you, we have been able to positively impact the lives of thousands of landmine victims and their family members. We are continuing to work hard in places like Iraq, where the civilian population has suffered incredibly from landmines and other explosive remnants of war. Both young & adult landmine survivors face long-term medical and psychological challenges. As young survivors grow, costly prostheses require replacement, repair, and maintenance. Landmine survivors often suffer psychological distress and require continued medical care & social integration. Unfortunately, these survivors and their families generally are unable to afford this care, and there is little psychological counseling available to children.
Even where rehabilitation facilities exist to provide artificial limbs and other medical care, survivors often lack transportation to travel to the facilities for the multiple appointments required for evaluations and fitting of artificial limbs. Because of their disabilities, landmine/war survivors also suffer high unemployment rates. Specialized vocational rehabilitation is limited, and when offered, is often unavailable to survivors who lack transportation.
Thousands of landmine survivors in Basra, Iraq are facing these issues, so last year, in partnership with the Iraq Mine and UXO Clearance Organization (IMCO) and the U.S. State Department's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA), MLI initiated a program to identify, interview, register, medically support, transport, train and help find jobs for these survivors. This ambitious & comprehensive program has been very successful thus far: over 2,000 survivors have been interviewed, evaluated & registered in the national database of persons with disabilities; 75 survivors have received prosthetic limbs, eyes, and/or orthotic braces; dozens have received special walking sticks and/or wheelchairs; 30 female survivors have successfully completed a sewing course and are now earning an income; and 17 survivors graduated from an air-conditioning repair course and are becoming employed in areas where they live. Additionally, MLI purchased a bus to transport survivors to medical appointments, training, and employment sites; and we provided specialized training to doctors & technicians at a local rehabilitation center to improve the quality of care for those who suffer traumatic injuries. We hope to continue to grow this important program in the coming year and look forward to providing you with updates.
Thank you again for your generous support. Because of you, we are able to help even more people who have been injured by landmines. To learn more about MLI's various programs around the world, including our Mine Detection Dog Partnership Program, please visit our website at www.marshall-legacy.org.
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