It all began on a quiet day seven years ago, when Kenan Malkic, then 11, was playing soccer with some friends in his Bosnian hometown of Maglaj. The war in Yugoslavia was still raging, but the fighting was light that day, so Malkic decided to have fun outside. But, in a split-second, his life changed forever: Malkic stepped on a landmine buried only yards from his house. He lost both arms and one leg and was given little chance to survive.

Malkic’s story is a familiar one in the former Yugoslavia, since hundreds of thousands of active landmines remain buried throughout the war-torn area. Over 30,000 landmines still surround Malkic’s town of Maglaj alone. As a result, thousands of children and adults are killed or maimed each year. To make matters worse, the victims who survive the explosions live with poorly fitted prostheses or none at all because of lack of supplies and technology in the former Yugoslavia.

In Malkic’s case, however, concerned Staten Island residents made sure his future would be brighter than he expected, providing him with state-of-the-art medical care and prostheses and sponsoring his studies at the College of Staten Island.

“If it weren’t for these people,” Malkic said, “I would probably be in a wheelchair right now.”

Malkic was spending several months in the hospital in Bosnia recovering from the near-fatal explosion when he decided to write to the Bosnian representative to the United Nations. Elissa Montanti of Staten Island was meeting with the representative when he gave her Malkic’s letter. Moved by the heart-wrenching account, Montanti began immediately recruiting free airfare and medical treatment in the United States for Malkic. In 1996, the Bosnian boy and his mother came to Staten Island and stayed with Montanti while he underwent treatment.

“It was strange,” Malkic said of the first time he got the prostheses. “I was happy but also disappointed. I expected too much, and it took a long time to get used to it and go through the therapy.” Now, Malkic explained that he can do everything everybody else can, though it might just take him a little longer.

To address the ongoing problem of the thousands of others like Malkic, Montanti created the Global Medical Relief Fund, financed by public and private donations including Episcopal Charities, to continue providing for landmine victims. The fund brings amputees from around the world to the United States to receive medical treatment and prostheses, provided free of charge by the Shriners Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. The patients then stay several months for recovery and check-ups at the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin at Mount Loretto on Staten Island. The Episcopal Feeding Ministry, run by Joan Cupo, All Saints, Staten Island, provides the food for those staying at Mount Loretto.

“If it wasn’t for the food or the hospital, we wouldn’t be running this foundation,” Montanti said.
In total there have been 20 landmine victims helped by the relief fund, coming from as far away as Russia and Sierra Leone.

Malkic, now 19, is a special case, however. Ever since first meeting, both Montanti and Cupo have become very close to Malkic and his family. Not only has Malkic come back to visit his Staten Island friends, but he has also worked with the fund to help others like himself. He, Cupo and Montanti have traveled to Bosnia, with funding from Episcopal Charities, to find other victims in need of help, and Malkic acted as translator and guide. After he finished school at home, the two women encouraged Malkic to study in the United States, and now he lives with Montanti while studying computer science.

“In my country there is not much opportunity,” Malkic said in flawless English. “I’m looked upon as disabled. Here I can develop myself to my full potential.” His experience at college has been positive, because “everyone treats me as an individual. I joke about my disability a lot, and it’s just normal. Back home people look at me, but here nobody really notices.”

Montanti and Cupo, with the help from Malkic, continue to strive to raise money and help more people around the world. “As soon as there is money, we go and get the next person,” Montanti explained. All you want to do is just help.”