Some amputees in Sierra Leone are turning to farming to combat discrimination, in a movement captured by the Associated Press under the motto "we fall and we rise".

Many of Sierra Leone's amputees were deliberately maimed during the 1991-2002 civil war, one of the defining atrocities of that conflict. Two decades on, survivors say the physical wounds healed faster than the social ones: many struggle to find work, face daily assumptions of helplessness, and rely on informal begging in the streets of Freetown.

Farming cooperatives made up of amputee survivors are now challenging that narrative. Working plots on the outskirts of the capital and in the provinces, members grow vegetables, cassava and rice — the country's staple food — and are pushing for inclusion in government agricultural programmes and input schemes.

The initiative carries national significance: Sierra Leone has made rice self-sufficiency a flagship policy goal, and advocates argue that survivors who feed the country should be recognised as farmers first, not as victims. Access to land, tools and credit remains the biggest obstacle.

Leaders of the cooperatives say the farms offer something beyond income — dignity, community, and proof that disability is not incapacity. They are calling on the government and development partners to include amputee-led cooperatives in agricultural extension and mechanisation programmes.

Source: Associated Press.