She could be a teenager anywhere. In fact, she’s in a village in northern Jordan, just a couple of miles or so from the border with Syria. She’s one of the more than 600,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan.
“My mum and I were at home, talking on the phone, when a shell exploded nearby”, she says quietly. “Mum was killed and I was injured. I lost consciousness, and when I woke up I was in hospital here in Jordan.”
Roqaya’s matter-of-fact recounting of what happened makes it sound ordinary. She’d actually been very seriously wounded. Both of her legs had to be amputated at the knee. She didn’t know if she’d ever be able to walk again. She was evacuated across the nearby border into northern Jordan.
Not long after she‘d had initial treatment in a Jordan hospital, she was referred to Handicap International, which is supported by UK aid. Our physiotherapists visited her in hospital and started supporting her recovery, providing physiotherapy sessions and arranging custom-made prosthetic legs for her.
Now, less than a year later, she’s walking independently again.
Handicap International and UK Aid
Handicap International emergency teams are working in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, providing support for injured, disabled and vulnerable victims of the conflict. Since the start of the crisis we have helped more than 360,000 people.
The UK is supporting Handicap International’s work with £7 million of humanitarian funding, meaning that our mobile teams can keep visiting people like Roqaya to help them regain their independence and mobility.
To find out more about how the UK is helping support people affected by the conflict in Syria, please visit: www.gov.uk/uk-aid-syria
