Originally published by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Islem Cheriet is a physiotherapist from Montreal who has been working for the ICRC in Yemen since January 2015. Islem recently helped a little girl, fitting her for a prosthesis and teaching her to walk again.
Hayat means "life" in Arabic, but at the age of three, little Hayat has experienced more sorrow than most adults. Her home in the Al-Qaflah area of Amran governorate in Yemen was destroyed in an airstrike. Her much-loved younger sister Dunia was killed. Hayat suffered severe shrapnel injuries and her right foot was so badly damaged that it had to be amputated.
Hayat has just received an artificial lower leg from an ICRC-supported physical rehabilitation centre in Sana'a where Islem works. Hayat had to be carried in to the centre by her father, but when she left she was walking again... and smiling. Meet young Hayat and see how Canadian aid worker Islem Cheriet is helping her walk again in this short video.
The ongoing armed conflict in Yemen has meant that amputations of limbs have sadly become increasingly common as a result of blast wounds and mine injuries The ICRC supports four rehabilitation centres across Yemen where people who have lost limbs can be fitted with prosthesis or orthoses and learn how to walk again through various forms of physiotherapy.
Since the beginning of the year more than 62,000 Yemenis with disabilities have received assistance through these rehabilitation centres.