Last year, Hala al-Shami launched a medical initiative aimed at connecting amputee children from around Eastern Ghouta with local doctors. Children were bussed to a clinic and given access to much-needed physiotherapy, exercise space and even — when possible — prosthetic limbs, with parts smuggled from central Damascus through tunnels before being customized in underground workshops.
The children's stories were a testament to the incessant bombardment that Eastern Ghouta has experienced since falling from government control in 2013. But now there are added risks — from the ground as well as the sky.