ACAP assistance for cluster munitions victim - and he measures us up!

As this blog makes clear, I have been working closely with the Afghan Civilian Assistance Program (ACAP) – a USAID-funded program that helps civilians who have been injured or who have lost family members in conflict. One of the ways that ACAP helps civilians is by providing them with vocational training. In Herat we met individuals who had, for example, been trained as tailors and as make-up artists.
This tailor had lost a leg when he picked up a cluster munition in a park in Herat. He received help from ACAP so that he could set up a tailor’s shop. He was a lovely man – soft-spoken and easy to smile. Because of his work, he was now able to provide food to his mother and sisters and he was deeply grateful for this improvement in his family’s life.
He insisted on making both Erica and me a shirt… So we had to be measured up and the materials chosen for us… We all broke out in giggles as he measured around our waists and then (horror) the chest area. We must have made his day!