Mohammed is the embodiment of resilience – a quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever. His sweetness, charm and warmth win the hearts of all who meet him.

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Six years ago, at just 10-years old, Mohammed was playing very close to his home in Yemen when he found a landmine that appeared to be a toy. Picking it up so he could run back home to show his father, the mine exploded, taking both of Mohammed’s arms and the use of an eye. His father, hearing the explosion, came running from their home and saw his son holding up his two stumps crying “Father, Father!” His father said, “I felt like I was insane, like I was going crazy; I was crying and running to my son who has blood all over his body, his arms gone.” When Mohammed saw his father’s distress, he calmed down quickly and said, “I am OK Father, don’t worry, don’t worry” in an effort to comfort his dad. His father later said, “He is so beautiful, so good, and he shows how strong he is.”

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In 2011, MLI’s program manager in Yemen found Mohammad and shared his story with MLI. Through CHAMPS, MLI raised money to provide him with two high-quality prosthetic arms, which were fitted during his trip to the United States when he received MLI’s Survivors’ Assistance Honoree Award at the annual Clearing the Path Gala.  These prostheses allowed Mohammed to feed himself for the first time since the explosion. Since then, MLI has provided him with replacement prostheses, which were required as he outgrew his first pair. Today, Mohammed is in high school and is at the top of his class!