Goto main content

Heba have learned to walk with a prosthesis

Explosive weapons Rehabilitation
Yemen

Heba is a 13-years-old girl. Her home in Sada'a was struck by an airstrike last year. She suffered a serious leg wound and has to be amputated.

Heba with HI physiotherapist Fadia

Heba with HI physiotherapist Fadia | © HI

After an airstrike, Heba was urgently carried to the Al-Thawra hospital in Sana'a. Her wound on the left leg was so serious that she has to be amputated right away.

"When I woke up from coma two days later, I saw myself without my leg, I felt so miserable", she tells.

At the hospital, the HI team explained to her the possibility to get a prosthesis and to walk again. Three weeks later, the team took the measures to produce the prosthesis. She made her first test with it.

She benefit from a rehabilitation program including balance exercises, gait training and strengthening exercises to be able to walk with her artificial leg.

Self-esteem

In Yémen, Heba does balance exercises with her HI physio.

She is now able to go up and down the stairs. "Before, I was in bed and I couldn't stand up, walked or have balance," she says. "I feel so happy to get my prosthesis! I want to go back to school. I hope that I can become a pharmacist," she explains.

In the future, she would like to buy a large piece of land to build a pharmacy and distribute free drugs to poor people.

Where your
support
helps

PRESS CONTACT

CANADA

Fatou Thiam

USA

Mica BEVINGTON

 

Help them
concretely

To go further

"Nowadays, anything can be mined, even a pillow!"
© O.Marikutsa / HI
Explosive weapons Prevention

"Nowadays, anything can be mined, even a pillow!"

Svitlana took part in an explosive ordnance and bombing awareness session organised by HI. Here is her story.

Demining in complex and dangerous environments, the example of Syria
© G. Toombs / HI
Explosive weapons

Demining in complex and dangerous environments, the example of Syria

In Raqqa, HI has been conducting underwater operations to locate, identify and remove explosive weapons. Thanks to these operations, the inhabitants now have access to drinking water again.

Growing coffee on land free of mines
© J. M. Vargas / HI
Explosive weapons

Growing coffee on land free of mines

It took 10 years for Justiniano, a farmer in Colombia, to feel safe when walking on and cultivating his land. Thanks to HI’s demining operations, his plantation is now flourishing.