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Syrian Girl Forced To Walk Around On Tin Cans As Family Can't Afford Prosthetics

Syrian Girl Forced To Walk Around On Tin Cans As Family Can't Afford Prosthetics

The eight-year-old girl was born with no lower limbs

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

An eight-year-old girl is forced to walk around on a pair of tin-cans as her family can't afford to buy her prosthetic legs.


Maya Ali Merhi, from Syria, was born with no lower limbs due to a condition called congenital amputation - her father Mohammed has the same ailment.

The family live at a displacement camp, and as they can't afford pricey prosthetics, Maya's dad has made a pair using cans filled with cotton, so his little girl can get about.

In a heart-breaking clip which shows the crushing reality for many innocent Syrians, Mohammed tells Syria Charity: "I mounted some plastic on two tins of sardines with which she can go to school.

"My heart suffers when I see her crawling in front of friends, while they play and run."

Talking about the makeshift limbs, he added: "It's hard but those are better than nothing."

Mohammed, who also needs prosthetics, was forced to take his family and flee from Aleppo, and they have since been placed at a camp in Idlib. The area is held by a jihadi group called Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham.

The dad says that he and his family are able to live a quiet life at the camp, but dreams of one day being able to see his daughter walk properly.

Syria Charity

According to the charity Syria Appeal, there are over 13 million people in the country who desperately need aid - of these more than five million are children.

Camps, similar to the one Maya is living in, are 'home' to around three million people, but they often don't have any access to humanitarian aid.

Many more have attempted to flee the country and headed to nearby Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 3540,000 Syrians have died since 2011 when the war began - of these around 106,000 were civilians.

Syria Charity

In 2016, the UN said it would take $3.2 billion (£2.4bn) to help provide aid and assistance to the millions that need it - but getting aid into the country and distributing it to those in need is also fraught with problems.

Source: BBC

Featured Image Credit: Syria Charity

Topics: World News, Syria