One day, while Hassan was at his mosque in Tel Rifaat, Syria, he was wounded by a gunshot. With this shot, he lost his arm.
However, his arm was not the only thing that was taken from him by this tragic incident of violence. With it, he lost he felt he lost his dignity and his friends, as he felt too embarrassed to play with the other children. He told us, “I can’t go to school anymore; I can’t even hold a pen.”
That a young, innocent child, has to bear the scars of such brutality is incomprehensibly unjust.
The trauma he has faced cannot be removed, but working with our partners, Physicians Across Continents (PAC) and Koalaa, we are supplying prostheses to people like Hassan, to replace the limbs they have lost. These prostheses provide an ability to take part in the daily tasks they were once barred from, such as holding a pen like Hassan wished to do again.
Hassan was transferred by PAC‘s mobile team to the Prosthetics Centre, and with the efforts of Dr. Ali Sarhan and PAC‘s medical staff, he was fitted with a Koalaa prosthetic. The PAC team told us “Our reward was Hassan’s innocent laugh and his hope that he would get used to the prosthesis and start a new chapter of his life.” To support him in entering this new chapter, Hassan has received psychosocial support and physiotherapy from the team.
Unfortunately, Hassan’s story is not rare.
Before February’s earthquakes, there were an estimated 50,000 amputees in Syria. With the destruction and crush injures caused by the quakes, this number will have grown dramatically.
With your help, we will be there to continue providing people like Hassan with the support needed to once again become “full of love for life”, as Hassan’s doctors described him.
Thank you.
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