Hopes from the tree

Hosyar Ali Hasan was born and raised in the Kurdish city of Halabja in Northern Iraq. During the Iraq-Iran War (1980-88), millions of mines were laid along the Iranian border. Hosyar Ali lost both his legs while clearing mines, yet he continues to remove mines every day. Over 28 years, Hosyar Ali has collected 2,600,000 mines. Uncle Hussein lives in Merivan, Iran. For years, he smuggled goods across the Iran-Iraq border to support his family. Due to an incident, he quit smuggling, opened a workshop, and began making prosthetic feet for those who had lost limbs to mines. Many people from distant regions of both countries come to Uncle Hussein for prosthetic feet. His customers prefer the wooden prosthetic feet he carves with simple tools over those made from plastic and modern technology.