Lending a hand — Afghan girl enabled to paint prettier pictures

Published June 20, 2014
Shah Bibi Tarakhail puts her prosthetic arm on a paper cut-out of a circle after writing her name on it. — Photo by AP
Shah Bibi Tarakhail puts her prosthetic arm on a paper cut-out of a circle after writing her name on it. — Photo by AP

Shah Bibi Tarakhail loves to paint.

But less than a year ago, the six-year-old Afghan girl picked up a grenade following a fight between US forces and Taliban back in her village in Afghanistan (near the Pakistan border). Shah Bibi Tarakhail lost her right arm and an eye.

In the pictures below, Shah Bibi is seen with the prosthetic hand US doctors have fitted her with, enabling her to pick up a brush and paint herself a new life. The group that sponsored her visit to the United States says that back in home, though, the girl's new-found celebrity status has earned her death threats from the Taliban.

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