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Survivor Stories
Feysal Abdel Kareem Alfaqeh - Jordan
Feysal Abdel Kareem Alfaqeh was born in Jordan in 1959. By 1980, his life was going very well. He had a wife and children, and a good job as a Public Security Officer. In February of that year, he was at the Dead Sea working and he noticed someone drowning. Feysal swam out to rescue him. On the way, he stepped on an antipersonnel landmine. His fellow officers pulled him out, gave him first aid, and took him to a medical center. The journey took two hours and when he arrived he was unconscious. He awoke a few days after the accident to find that he’d lost his right leg below the knee. He was shocked, and hopelessness settled in. His healing process was very painful and difficult.
He couldn’t stop focusing on his amputation. He felt angry and guilty about what had happened to him. Feysal didn’t know how he would be able to continue to live and proceed with a normal family life. He felt isolated from the external world.
In the years that followed, he had a small pension, but it wasn’t enough to support his family. He attended many workshops to learn crafts (tailoring, laundry.) But the working hours were too long with too little compensation, so he kept looking for new, more practical job opportunities.
One day he met a friend who was also a survivor and who referred him to LSN. Faysal visited the LSN office. When he saw how LSN provided economic help, he was very motivated. He and the Outreach Worker came up with a business plan. He decided that a laundry service would be the most profitable and practical for him. Faysal worked hard to find a suitable location, studied the market, and finished all registration procedures that are required to open a small business. LSN provided direct assistance by purchasing a laundry machine. After he opened his business, he did two weeks of laundry for local associations for free. Faysal now knows he can work hard and achieve the dreams of his family and children.
View the next profile: Omar Mohammed
Less than 10 percent of landmine survivors have access to proper medical care and rehabilitation. Please visit our Donate Now section and see what you can do to help landmine survivors around the world.
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