Translation by Rana Abdul
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian regime warplane hovers and drops its destructive load. Houses get destroyed and buildings fall. People get killed and injured. Others lose their limbs.
Every day this horrific scene is repeated and perhaps every hour in Ghouta of Damascus. As it gets repeated, number of victims increases the dead as well as the ones who survived.
The dead get buried but surviving victims they have to go on with their life without an arm or a leg. Sometimes, they go on without two limbs or more. Those whose limbs are amputated limbs bite on their deep wounds amid besieged which exhausted the Ghouta emptying it almost of all means of life.
At the end of this dark tunnel for those who have amputated limbs, two men stands simple in their education and conversation, but they are great in their determination and insistence on helping those who lost hope to obtain prosthetics that can compensate something for what they have lost.
-Hidden Inventor-
Under his workshop place in the city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta of Damascus and surrounded by his tools bought from his own pocket, Abu Salah al-Dumi works with his partner in hope and determination, Abu al-Izz. They work to produce and install artificial limbs for those who were deprived of their limbs. They insist on offering their services for free which otherwise would cost a significant sum of money.
Abu Salah practiced his profession as blacksmith and became very creative in it. He grew up illiterate. One day he decided to learn to type on the typewriter. He started distinguishing letters and would print something he does not know its meaning. By time, he learned how to read and write and started learning calligraphy and practiced reading as a hobby.
A hidden inventor dressed as blacksmith that’s Abu Salah who participate in war manufacturing when the rebels were unified in his area; however, he decided to leave the war field when rebels fought over power amid widespread factionalism.
The blacksmith continued to follow his passion in work and invention.
He just changed what he is working on. He moved to manufacture artificial limbs depending on Douma al-Khair for Artificial Limbs organization which he founded partnering with his childhood friends Abu al-Izz to be his partner in this voluntary great work.
Abu Salah invested all his energies to produce and install artificial limbs. He relied on his experience as blacksmith in addition to what he learned of physiotherapy and alternative medicine during 20 years. He used this knowledge and these skills to produce and install with simple resources artificial limbs for around 1850 handicapped and amputee without charging any fees or money.
Resources run out
Abu Salah spend on his project from his own money rejecting any conditional funding. However, the war lingered and the regime encroached in his crimes. Injured increased and the money which the blacksmith with the white beard used as a resource is about to run out.
The work pace slowed down and the lack of funding changed the production to one limb a week. Abu Salah with his partner used to produce 3 limbs a week. Some approached Abu Salah and Abu al-Izz and worked with them, but the drained financial resource led to many leaving them alone to work.
Abu Salah who loves invention hates factionalism and does not like to be placed under any category. In his belief, he is just a volunteer to serve people in need. Hence, he launched his workshop to produce and install artificial limbs in June 2013. He celebrated producing the first limb on August 5. He recalls this day accurately and enthusiastically as if it is his own birthday.
You only have to see Abu Salah taking unused things from here and there as well as materials from under the rubble turning it into a raw material for limbs manufacturing. You just need to see the man and his partner and their drive to make it happen as a grieving mother comes into his workshop with her little girl to install for her a limb manufactured by Abu Salah.
Abu Salah does not claim what he makes is parallel to what big companies produce with their modern machinery and resources. But he confirms that those who were deprived of their limbs leave his workshop enjoying an artificial limb that can make them move especially those with amputated feet.
Abu Salah and Abu al-Izz are two simple brave passionate men who love invention. They are a story difficult to be translated into words. Zaman al-Wasl’s videotaped report of their stories can tell more and provides answers for everyone; the literate and illiterate, the paid and volunteers, the lazy and the motivated.
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian regime warplane hovers and drops its destructive load. Houses get destroyed and buildings fall. People get killed and injured. Others lose their limbs.
Every day this horrific scene is repeated and perhaps every hour in Ghouta of Damascus. As it gets repeated, number of victims increases the dead as well as the ones who survived.
The dead get buried but surviving victims they have to go on with their life without an arm or a leg. Sometimes, they go on without two limbs or more. Those whose limbs are amputated limbs bite on their deep wounds amid besieged which exhausted the Ghouta emptying it almost of all means of life.
At the end of this dark tunnel for those who have amputated limbs, two men stands simple in their education and conversation, but they are great in their determination and insistence on helping those who lost hope to obtain prosthetics that can compensate something for what they have lost.
-Hidden Inventor-
Under his workshop place in the city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta of Damascus and surrounded by his tools bought from his own pocket, Abu Salah al-Dumi works with his partner in hope and determination, Abu al-Izz. They work to produce and install artificial limbs for those who were deprived of their limbs. They insist on offering their services for free which otherwise would cost a significant sum of money.
Abu Salah practiced his profession as blacksmith and became very creative in it. He grew up illiterate. One day he decided to learn to type on the typewriter. He started distinguishing letters and would print something he does not know its meaning. By time, he learned how to read and write and started learning calligraphy and practiced reading as a hobby.
A hidden inventor dressed as blacksmith that’s Abu Salah who participate in war manufacturing when the rebels were unified in his area; however, he decided to leave the war field when rebels fought over power amid widespread factionalism.
The blacksmith continued to follow his passion in work and invention.
He just changed what he is working on. He moved to manufacture artificial limbs depending on Douma al-Khair for Artificial Limbs organization which he founded partnering with his childhood friends Abu al-Izz to be his partner in this voluntary great work.
Abu Salah invested all his energies to produce and install artificial limbs. He relied on his experience as blacksmith in addition to what he learned of physiotherapy and alternative medicine during 20 years. He used this knowledge and these skills to produce and install with simple resources artificial limbs for around 1850 handicapped and amputee without charging any fees or money.
Resources run out
Abu Salah spend on his project from his own money rejecting any conditional funding. However, the war lingered and the regime encroached in his crimes. Injured increased and the money which the blacksmith with the white beard used as a resource is about to run out.
The work pace slowed down and the lack of funding changed the production to one limb a week. Abu Salah with his partner used to produce 3 limbs a week. Some approached Abu Salah and Abu al-Izz and worked with them, but the drained financial resource led to many leaving them alone to work.
Abu Salah who loves invention hates factionalism and does not like to be placed under any category. In his belief, he is just a volunteer to serve people in need. Hence, he launched his workshop to produce and install artificial limbs in June 2013. He celebrated producing the first limb on August 5. He recalls this day accurately and enthusiastically as if it is his own birthday.
You only have to see Abu Salah taking unused things from here and there as well as materials from under the rubble turning it into a raw material for limbs manufacturing. You just need to see the man and his partner and their drive to make it happen as a grieving mother comes into his workshop with her little girl to install for her a limb manufactured by Abu Salah.
Abu Salah does not claim what he makes is parallel to what big companies produce with their modern machinery and resources. But he confirms that those who were deprived of their limbs leave his workshop enjoying an artificial limb that can make them move especially those with amputated feet.
Abu Salah and Abu al-Izz are two simple brave passionate men who love invention. They are a story difficult to be translated into words. Zaman al-Wasl’s videotaped report of their stories can tell more and provides answers for everyone; the literate and illiterate, the paid and volunteers, the lazy and the motivated.
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.