UAE helps Yemen youth be fighting fit
WOUNDED YOUNG MEN RECEIVING TREATMENT ABROAD COURTESY ERC VOW TO RETURN TO LIBERATE THEIR LAND
■ has come back and his recent surgery has been successful,” said Abdullah’s eldest brother Ahmad, who has accompanied him to India.
Surprisingly cheerful despite having undergone multiple surgeries to reconstruct part of his skull, Abdullah is keen to get better and join the fight again.
“They may have injured my body, but my spirit to fight injustice and atrocities has not dimmed. I can’t wait to go back home and take up arms,” said Abdullah with a smile.
Multiple surgeries
Equally keen to join the Yemeni armed forces is 17-year-old Ali Mohammad, who was brought to a New Delhi hospital a month ago on a stretcher, but is now back on his feet albeit with a little bit of support.
“I was stepping into our neighbourhood mosque for Maghrib [sunset] prayers when the Houthis attacked and I was hit by bullets in both my legs. My father and friends were with me and there were other people as well, but thankfully all escaped with minor injuries. Both my legs were badly hurt and I thought I would never walk again,” recalled Mohammad as he walked through the hospital’s corridor using a walker.
The grade nine student, who like thousands of others had to discontinue his schooling due to the war, has had multiple surgeries on both his legs and is responding well to the treatment.
Though still a long way from walking out of the hospital and going back home on his own, Mohammad says he is eager to go back and fight for his country. ■ Another young man whose spirit hasn’t been crushed despite suffering a gruesome injury to his face is Mehran Khazza.
The 21-year-old soldier had his face disfigured and his lower jaw shattered when a hand-grenade lobbed from the Al Houthi side landed on him during close-quarter combat in a central neighbourhood of Aden.
The incident took place in 2016 and since then Khazza has undergone a series of surgeries to reconstruct the lower half of his face.
“My face was like [a] hole after the attack and everyone thought I would not survive. But only Allah decides how long a person can live and when he will die.
“This incident has only revived my faith and renewed by vigour to fight for a good cause,” said Khazza, speaking with great difficulty as his face is still heavily bandaged.
They may have injured my body, but my spirit to fight injustice and atrocities has not dimmed. I can’t wait to go back home and take up arms.”
Family of soldiers
Muammar Abdullah (left) | Soldier
Formerly the captain of an infantry unit in the Yemeni armed forces, he can only have liquid food channelled through a tube and is due for a few more surgeries, but that doesn’t deter the young man who hails from a family of army officers.
Abdullah, Mohammad and Khazza are among a batch of 74 patients who arrived in India early in July to receive treatment courtesy of the Emirates Red Crescent’s mission.
The mission has provided treatment and rehabilitation to more than 3,000 victims of the war in Yemen so far, including 250 who have recuperated in India since April last year.