“The day he was born, the doctors told us he’d been starved of oxygen during birth and some of his motor functions had been affected,” Ali’s older sister, Reham explains of her four-year-old brother who has cerebral palsy. “Then and there I decided I would do everything I could to help him. I’m usually the one who comes with him to his rehabilitation sessions.”

Since this summer, Ali has been attending physical therapy sessions at one of our partner’s rehabilitation centers in Zarqa, Jordan with the support of HI’s team. Manal, a physical therapist with HI starts a new session with Ali in the rehabilitation center where Ali seems to feel at home. “He has made a lot of progress since we first met him,” Manal says. “He initially found it really hard to control his movements. He couldn’t hold his head straight, keep his balance, or grip things without difficulty. And he was really frightened. He cried a lot and it took a while for him to get used to our team and the rehabilitation exercises. But we’ve managed to win his trust over time.”

Through a combination of physical and occupational therapy, Ali’s day-to-day life has become much easier. As Manal continues the exercises with Ali, she explains: “After just a few sessions, we’ve helped him stand up straight and hold a pencil in his hand. And he can sit up for longer periods now. When we saw how well he was doing, we talked to our colleague, an inclusion specialist, who confirmed that Ali was perfectly able to go to school like any other child.” This victory exceeded the expectations of both the physical therapist and Ali’s family, and Ali will start preschool next term. “When we first came here, all I wanted was for my brother to stand up by himself. But it never crossed my mind that the sessions would make it possible for him to go to school one day,” Reham adds.  

Reham is proud of the progress Ali has made and is hopeful about his future. “As he grows up, I think the hardest thing for my brother will be realizing he can’t necessarily do everything the other children do, or not as easily. When we talk about what he can do rather than what he can’t, and when he sees that he’s not so different after all, it makes him happy. Ali’s really intelligent and even though he finds it hard to move around, he understands everything we say to him. I know he’s going to be one of the top students in his class.

”When the session comes to an end, Ali’s big sister adds: “I just really hope that he’ll go on improving. I want him to be as independent as possible in his everyday life. Ali deserves to grow up and thrive like any other child his age. What coming here has taught me is that we shouldn’t see his condition as a brake but more as an obstacle, which my brother has every chance of overcoming. And the more time goes by, the more he seems to realize that. That’s what is really important.”

This project is co-financed by DFID & BPRM.

“Firial’s story is very inspiring,” Hamzeh, an HI staff member says of a three-year-old little girl in Jordan. “I’ve rarely seen a girl who loves doing her physical therapy exercises so much and who has progressed this fast. It really encourages us to continue doing what we’re doing.”

Three-year-old Hamad is from Syria. After fighting broke out in his country, his family took refuge in Jordan. Last year, Hamad was injured at home, leaving him with severe burns and unable to move his fingers. Since then, our teams have been providing him with rehabilitation care.

“I’m 32 and every way seems to be a dead end,” Omar explains to Abdelillah, a physical therapist with Handicap International. With shadows under his eyes, Omar looks exhausted as he sits in a small rehabilitation room at Azraq refugee camp. Omar sobs as he tells Abdelillah how he’s feeling. “Sometimes I feel like there’s no future... When will it end? When will it end?”  

Ahmed’s big sister Jamila pushes his wheelchair toward the rehabilitation center in Jordan's Azraq camp for a physical therapy session. Last year, eight-year-old Ahmed, who has cerebral palsy, along with his five siblings and parents, fled Syria. “We had to leave Ahmed’s wheelchair, and carry him all the way,” Jamila says.

Handicap International reached out to Ahmed’s family soon after they arrived, promising a new wheelchair and rehabilitation. This was the first time Ahmed has ever had physical therapy. “Before meeting Handicap International, my brother could not walk or stand," Jamila says. "Now, he’s able to do such things with the help of a walker.”

“He has made huge progress,” Ansam, a Handicap International physical therapist explains. “Maybe one day, Ahmed will be able to stand without a mobility device. He just needs progressive physical therapy.” In addition to physical therapy, our rehabilitation team also provides Ahmed with psychosocial support. One way our team does this is through group activities which help increase social interactions.

“Some of the children do not attend school, so it’s essential that they interact with other children of the same age... especially for children like Ahmed," Ansam adds. "Every game we play has a meaning. Some activities are meant to work as rehabilitation exercises, while others are created to increase their sensation of belonging and their social skills." goal is to help every child feel included.

“I laughed a lot, we should do it more often,” Jamila says of her brother who smiled throughout the group session. “He has never been to school because of his condition. Ahmed takes every chance he gets to spend time with other children.

“He’s a great boy and I want to do everything I can to help him. Whether or not we end up going back to Syria one day, I just wish he could live a good life. Find a job, get married, have children…because he deserves all the happiness in the world.”

In January 2017, French photographer Philippe de Poulpiquet spent two weeks with Humanity & Inclusion’s teams in Jordan and Lebanon. Every day they went out to visit Syrian refugees, including numerous victims of explosive weapons.

This exhibition, supported by ECHO (the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations) gives a voice to these civilians, whose lives were turned upside down in a few short moments. Their stories reflect a terrible reality shared by hundreds of thousands of Syrians since the beginning of the war in 2011.

One of Handicap International's youngest beneficiaries in Jordan is seven-year-old Salam. Now home from a six-month stay in a hospital, after suffering a serious injury to her leg in Syria, Handicap International's mobile team visits her regularly. 

Humanity & Inclusion is committed to supporting people who are fleeing conflict and natural disaster. Whether they are sheltering within their own countries or residing in countries of first asylum as refugees, our teams are hard at work providing basic and specific aid to people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups. Read about our work with refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) as well as our other projects in the 11 countries below.

This life-saving work is possible thanks to the generous support of our donors, as well as key funding agencies such as the U.S. Department of State, IKEA Foundation, among others.

Humanity & Inclusion is an impartial, international aid organization, and we act where needs are greatest. We do not work on refugee resettlement.