Jesús Martínez

I had my accident in 1989 when I was 17 years old and I worked at the Central Market in San Salvador where I sold Seafood. I lived in the town of Apopa, which is located in the North of San Salvador. On that day, Thursday, December 7, I was on my way to my job, and the war had become stronger. There was a group of people who were on the way to their jobs. The Guerrillas had set up landmines all over the road, to prevent the cars from the army from passing by. The guerrillas had placed explosives everywhere. And there were also mines in the ground. There was a group of people walking in line, where supposedly there were no mines. Suddenly I stepped on a mine. The explosion also hurt others.

The mine was powerful, and the explosion severed both of my legs. I was aware all of the time, and never lost consciousness. Because of this it was easy for me to try to kill myself with another explosive that I found there. But this explosive didn’t explode. Later the soldiers from the army arrived and I took a gun from one of the soldiers and told him to kill me please, kill me, I wanted to die. I was desperate.

Then I was taken to the hospital. There at the hospital I could talk to the doctor who performed the surgery. And he told me not to worry, that everything was going to be fine. Then I fell asleep from the anesthetic.

The healing process was very difficult, because I had a high risk of infection in my limbs, and I had to wait until there was no trace of infection. My body and my mind recovered because I had my family’s support and also I met some other disabled people there in the hospital. I saw how they practiced sports happily in a wheelchair. I joined the Salvadoran Association of Sports on a Wheelchair (ASADESIR) in 1993. I cooperate with the National Census of people who were hurt and who have a disability because of the war. This census was held by “El Fondo de Lisiados de Guerra”. This activity helped me to meet many disabled people and I could encourage them to practice any sport.

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