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Photographer Jo�o Silva is surrounded by family, friends and well-wishers on his return to SA last week. Pictures: Karen Sandison

It’s Joao Silva’s first time at home in Joburg since the day 14 months ago when he stood on a landmine in southern Afghanistan and lost his legs.

He was on patrol with US soldiers at the time, working on assignment for The New York Times.

Running for cover, keeping up with the troops, climbing walls and battling uneven terrain were all part of the daily challenge of photographing combat situations.

And Silva has been doing it for 20 years.

His lens captured violence in SA townships during the early 1990s - a period he wrote about in the book, The Bang Bang Club, co-authored with his friend, photographer Greg Marinovich.

Since then he has dodged bullets in conflicts around the world while working for The New York Times.

But the past year has been challenging in very different ways. After the explosion in Afghanistan, he was airlifted to Germany, and then to the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in the US. He spent five weeks in ICU and had surgery every second day. After that he was moved into a normal ward, and the surgeries decreased to twice a week.

First there was a mechanical wheelchair, then a regular wheelchair. Five months after the explosion his first prosthetic legs were fitted. He still had tubes coming out of him. It was seven months before he really stood upright.

His body was ravaged by infection caused by outside material that entered him during the explosion. Severe internal injuries - such as a blown-up urethra - had to be repaired.

And then last week he was finally well enough to return home.

“I missed Africa. It’s in the water, it’s in the sun. There’s just something. It’s difficult to explain,” he says.

But undoubtedly it was his family that he missed the most. He may have been badly physically affected, but his family - wife Vivian and daughters Isabel, 7, and Gabriel, 5 - have also found it emotionally taxing.

“It’s been a big change in their lives not to have a dad around. They really feel the absence. It becomes obvious when you come back,” says Silva.

Since he’s been at home, he’s been making up for lost time, hanging out and swimming in the pool.

“The kids have become like my shadows,” he says.

But his recovery is far from over. Silva refers to it as a “work in progress”. He still battles with regular pain and uses a cane to walk. In the new year he will resume his rehab in Joburg. And in March he goes back to the US to be fitted with new prosthetics.

“There is no pressure from (The New York Times) to start working. The pressure is my own pressure. But there are certain realities one has to face.”

Whether he will go back to covering combat remains the big unknown. It’s a decision that can only be made when Silva is fully recovered.

“To be honest, it’s probably highly unlikely,” he says.

But covering conflict isn’t limited to combat.

Conflict is full of social and humanitarian issues. The befores and afters. Stories happening on the sideline.

In September he completed his first assignment with The New York Times since leaving Walter Reed. He photographed a Medal of Honour ceremony at the White House and met President Barack Obama, for the second time.

The first time was when Obama was visiting wounded soldiers at the army hospital.

“He remembered details about the first visit and asked about my family,” says Silva.

A month-and-a-half later, Silva completed the 42km New York marathon on a hand cycle after only two weeks of solid training. He took photos and completed the race in under three hours.

In the next few months, he hopes to start shooting for The New York Times’ SA bureau.

As he says drily: “Life isn’t over yet.” - The Star