We spent one Sunday morning at an amputee camp on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone, that housed 231 people, not all of them amputees. The fading sign at the entrance read: "Amputee Camp: WFP Vulnerable Group Feeding Programme—Aberdeen Rd."

We were told that this boy, the youngest amputee in the camp, had his leg cut off below the knee by rebels when he was less than a year old.

Sieh Mansaray, the camp's vice chairman, said that he forgave the people who cut off his hand but that it was difficult to move forward without resources. I read a letter from his son: "Please father, send the following: white tee-shirt, black short trousers, grease, polish, and a belt for Abdul." Mansaray sold his paintings to try to earn enough money to send his son to school, but it wasn't enough.

His friend, a double amputee, voted in the May 2003 election with his big toe. The amputees we spoke with told us that they are gradually being forgotten by their government and the outside world.