or months, the email about Bosno's foot flew through cyberspace. It began as a plea for help from 29-year-old Bosno Zijad, who had lost his foot while defending his hometown in Bosnia. From there his message was forwarded via the Zamir Transnational Net (ZTN) in Sarajevo to Pam Crocker-Davis, an Olympia, Washington-based activist working to help Bosnian students. Eventually, Bosno's plight made its way through the Net to Dan McNamara, a prosthetics technician who agreed to donate his time and to step into cyberspace to re-create Bosno's foot.
Although working across international borders was nothing new to Dan, cybercommunications was. In 1993 he built a prosthesis for a boy in New Guinea. The tracing he received from the medical mission was a rough outline that was weeks old due to snafus in the international mail system. Still, the story had a happy ending. Within a few months, Dan received a photo of the boy smiling as he stood for the first time in his new brace.
In Bosno's case, however, accurate and timely measure-ments were more critical. "I wondered how I could get information rapidly in and out of a war-torn city. Then I remembered that we could weave a new kind of net -- a kind that wasn't readily available in 1993."
Using the Web and relying on support from a worldwide network of people, Dan sent directions on how to make the cast impression he needed. Funds were raised and a willing courier found. Carefully wrapped in newspaper and nestled in a cardboard box, the long-awaited cast of Bosno's foot arrived at Dan's office.
At the end of March,1996, Bosno's new foot arrived in Sarajevo, allowing him to walk tall again.
