Lebanon / Syrian Refugees / Nawaf, 15, learns to use his prosthetic arm during his rehabilitation with the assistance of Dr Ahmad Hammoud, from UNHCR partner the World Rehabilitation Fund, in Al Rahma Hospital, Tripoli, Lebanon, on June 18, 2014. Eleven months ago Nawaf was sitting in his room in Reef Hama when a bomb hit the house. His uncle rushed him to the field hospital nearby where he found out that his right side was severely burned and his right arm needed to be amputated above his elbow. When his father came one week later he was devastated to find his only son in such a state “ he was a very happy kid” relates Abou Nawaf, “he used to work the lands with me, go to school, he had such a fun happy spirit and after his injury he changed completely.”

After hearing that people were receiving treatment in Lebanon, Abu Nawaf brought his fifteen year old son to Tripoli and after almost one year without an arm he now has a prosthetic limb with which he is becoming more proficient by the day. The young teenager barely talks maybe because he is weary of strangers or maybe the burns on the right side of his face makes it hard for him to do so, either way, the smile was apparent in his eyes as he was learning to hold pegs and move them with his new arm. “I can see that he is better, he even goes out with his friends sometimes, back in Syria he used to spend two three days with no food” says his father, “of course he is not yet adapted or accepting of his situation but who can blame him. It is hard for me as a father I can only imagine how hard it must be on a fifteen year old” he adds. UNHCR / A. McConnell / June 2014