On a beautiful summer day, Nawal’s family decided to head to the river to have some fun. As soon as they stepped foot out of the house, they heard the familiar sounds of warplanes above them and ran back to find a place to hide. There were fights and bullets all around them. Suddenly, a grenade exploded inside their house. Nawal, barely one at the time, was stuck under the rubbles. The family’s nightmare had just begun.
One of their neighbors ended up pulling her out from under the rubble, and rushed her to the hospital to receive urgent medical help. Her hip was dislocated, and needed to be taken care of. After the events of this day, Nawal’s mother had one thing in mind, getting her family away from Syria, away from the bombs that were falling over their heads.
They made it to Lebanon, but noticed a change in Nawal, who was getting noticeably worse every day. She couldn’t walk due to the unbearable pain she was feeling in her leg. Soon, they discovered the repercussions of that day were much bigger than they had imagined. Nawal couldn’t hear at all, and thus couldn’t speak.
Her parents, devastated by the news, could barely find the money to treat her hip, and were starting to lose hope. Without hearing aids, which were extremely expensive, Nawal could never hear, learn how to speak and have a normal life.
After searching relentlessly for help, they were referred to INARA by the Ministry of Social Affairs in Lebanon. After a first assessment at our partner medical facility, doctors found that her ears are only functioning at about 20%. We fitted Nawal with a hearing aid, and were there when she heard for the first time. We saw her face expression, her smile, her mother’s tears… These moments are forever etched into our memory.
Since that day, Nawal has been going to a speech therapist.
INARA’s case workers, who see her during each follow up she has with her doctors, tell us she can now call her brothers and sisters by their names, and even form small sentences! Her Mother will never forget the first time her daughter uttered the world “Mom”. She is forever grateful to INARA for making her dream come true.
At INARA, our team is dedicated to these children, and seeing them shine, grow, and get better makes all the work we put in as a team worth the while!
