Rojava teenager seeks prosthetic limbs

HASAKA, Syria - Fifteen-year-old Kafaa Aziz Mohammed, based in the northeast Syrian town of al-Darbasiyah on the Turkish border in Rojava, is hoping to obtain prosthetic limbs which would enable her to live a dramatically improved life.

Having been born with defective legs, the eldest daughter among eight siblings has been disabled since birth.

Kafaa told Rudaw on Tuesday that she is desperate to have the surgery in order to be able to work.

“I can’t work, that’s why I want to do the surgery. I can’t go to school either. I haven’t studied because I couldn’t go to school.” 

Originally from the Shaddadi district in the Hasaka province in Syria, her family work as shepherds in al-Darbasiyah. Her mother says that when Kafaa was born, doctors had no way to treat her legs.

Now she is grown, they say she should have her legs amputated and replaced with prosthetics.

Delya Isa Abud, Kafaa’s mother, told Rudaw that the proposal would involve cutting off both limbs.

“I am worried that it [the operation] might fail, or that we can’t afford it. We would have sent her overseas if we could.”

Kafaa dreams of being able to walk like an ordinary person one day.

There is a prosthetic center in Rojava, where health workers and specialists are giving help to some of the thousands who have been injured in Syria’s protracted conflict, although some physicians have questioned the quality of the materials.

Twenty-one-year-old Chakdar Reme lost his left forearm during Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring in Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) in October 2019. In October 2020, Chakdar received a new limb at the Qamishli Prosthetic Center in Rojava, which is overseen by the Kurdish Red Crescent. 

Getting the necessary materials is a challenge for the center, as they depend on shipments from Damascus and delays are frequent. 

“Sometimes they are confiscated and we are asked to pay money for their release. We do not know why this happens. Last time, it took us 5-6 months to receive the delivery,” Rebaz Ali, head of the Qamishli  prosthetic center, told Rudaw last year.