Syria, her joy is my success

Bushra is twenty years old and is one of the protagonists of the Seeds of Hope program in Syria which also provides functional physiotherapy treatments to 400 patients with war mutilations or handicaps directly and indirectly linked to the conflict. At this age, as they say, you have “your whole life ahead of you” and this was also the case for Bushra, despite the difficulties of living in Syria, a land tormented by years of war, international sanctions and the Covid19 pandemic. Two years ago, however, an accident caused injury to the tendons in her fingers and palm, causing a deformation of her left hand and preventing her from using it even for the simplest actions. After several operations and therapies on the tendons themselves, the movement of her hand had not yet returned efficiently and even the doctors were not sure that she would be able to recover. Despite this and despite the fact that Bushra’s morale was really low, fearing that she would never be able to recover her hand, even from an aesthetic point of view, she began treatment with the operators of the “Seeds of Hope” program in Syria. Initially Mary, the physiotherapist who followed her and who later became a dear friend, started with massages and treatments to relax the contractures. Seeing some improvements, they moved on to deeper massages and small exercises for the joints. With the constant help of the physiotherapist, also essential for instilling courage and hope, Buhsra has now returned to using her hand for all her daily needs, and her appearance has significantly improved. Mary, who also accompanied her from a psychological point of view, today tells us that: “Her joy (Buh sra’s, ed.) is my success” . And Buhsra, who in the meantime enrolled in university, has now returned to living a full life, similar to that of all her peers, ready to look to the future, as one should do at twenty. In Syria, the collapse of public services, especially health services, prevents many people from seeking treatment, especially those who have suffered trauma and need physiotherapy. For this reason, part of the interventions of the Seeds of Hope program is aimed precisely at those who need support to recover their physical autonomy and start being the protagonist of their daily life again.