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Syria Amputee Children Forced to Work as they Wait for Artificial Limbs

A boy with an amputated leg in Syria. Asharq Al-Awsat
A boy with an amputated leg in Syria. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Syria Amputee Children Forced to Work as they Wait for Artificial Limbs

A boy with an amputated leg in Syria. Asharq Al-Awsat
A boy with an amputated leg in Syria. Asharq Al-Awsat

With more areas in Syria being swept by the war and thousands having been killed and wounded, especially in the northwest, children have been effected most after being deprived of their basic right to move.

Khalid al-Hussein, a 12-year-old boy, told Asharq Al-Awsat, “I was injured during a raid while going to the market with my father. My father was killed while I was severely injured and lost my foot.”

“I could not see a thing then; the smoke and dust was all that I could see at that moment. Then I found myself on a hospital bed with an amputated foot. I tried to move it a lot but couldn’t; all that I could do was cry”.

Khalid sells ice cream on the street to secure food until he receives artificial limbs.

The number of children who have lost their lives in Syria between March 2011 and March 2020 has reached 29,257 according to figures published by the Syrian Network for Human Rights, while the World Health Organization and Handicap International have documented around three million injuries during the war, including one million children, of whom, 86,000 have been amputated.

“All of my friends are playing, except for me”, says Khouloud al-Hamdan, 9, summarizing her suffering. Khouloud is one of the victims whose lives were destroyed by the raids carried out by the regime and Russia after a missile hit her house, leaving her with serious injuries.

“I wish I could play alongside my siblings and friends, but I cannot because of my injury. My dream is to have new feet so that I could move however I want”.

Dr. Mohammad al-Koli, a specialist in prosthetics, says, “We are working on producing the components [of a prosthetic] in one of our factories and are purchasing ready-made parts that cannot be produced locally from abroad. We then examine the injured child, taking measurements of their injuries.”

Al-Koli adds, “We receive all amputees who are referred to us with a prescription from the liberated areas. The cost of one prosthetic is around 700 dollars, an acceptable price when compared to the costs of imported and smart prosthetics”.

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Lebanon's Public Schools Reopen amid War and Displacement

Children playing in a shelter center for displaced people in the town of Marwaniyah in South Lebanon (AP)
Children playing in a shelter center for displaced people in the town of Marwaniyah in South Lebanon (AP)
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Lebanon's Public Schools Reopen amid War and Displacement

Children playing in a shelter center for displaced people in the town of Marwaniyah in South Lebanon (AP)
Children playing in a shelter center for displaced people in the town of Marwaniyah in South Lebanon (AP)

In the quiet seaside town of Amchit, 45 minutes north of Beirut, public schools are finally in session again, alongside tens of thousands of internally displaced people who have made some of them a makeshift shelter.

As Israeli strikes on Lebanon escalated in September, hundreds of schools in Lebanon were either destroyed or closed due to damage or security concerns, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Of around 1,250 public schools in Lebanon, 505 schools have also been turned into temporary shelters for some of the 840,000 people internally displaced by the conflict, according to the Lebanese education ministry.

Last month, the ministry started a phased reopening, allowing 175,000 students - 38,000 of whom are displaced - to return to a learning environment that is still far from normal, Reuters reported.

At Amchit Secondary Public School, which now has 300 enrolled students and expects more as displaced families keep arriving, the once-familiar spaces have transformed to accommodate new realities.

Two-and-a-half months ago, the school was chosen as a shelter, school director Antoine Abdallah Zakhia said.

Today, laundry hangs from classroom windows, cars fill the playground that was once a bustling area, and hallways that used to echo with laughter now serve as resting areas for families seeking refuge.

Fadia Yahfoufi, a displaced woman living temporarily at the school, expressed gratitude mixed with longing.

"Of course, we wish to go back to our homes. No one feels comfortable except at home," she said.

Zeina Shukr, another displaced mother, voiced her concerns for her children's education.

"This year has been unfair. Some children are studying while others aren't. Either everyone studies, or the school year should be postponed," she said.

- EDUCATION WON'T STOP

OCHA said the phased plan to resume classes will enrol 175,000 students, including 38,000 displaced children, across 350 public schools not used as shelters.

"The educational process is one of the aspects of resistance to the aggression Lebanon is facing," Education Minister Abbas Halabi told Reuters

Halabi said the decision to resume the academic year was difficult as many displaced students and teachers were not psychologically prepared to return to school.

In an adjacent building at Amchit Secondary Public School, teachers and students are adjusting to a compressed three-day week, with seven class periods each day to maximize learning time.

Nour Kozhaya, a 16-year-old Amchit resident, remains optimistic. "Lebanon is at war, but education won't stop. We will continue to pursue our dreams," she said.

Teachers are adapting to the challenging conditions.

"Everyone is mentally exhausted ... after all this war is on all of us," Patrick Sakr, a 38-year-old physics teacher, said.

For Ahmad Ali Hajj Hassan, a displaced 17-year-old from the Bekaa region, the three-day school week presents a challenge, but not a deterrent.

"These are the conditions. We can study despite them," he said.