Thanks to the generosity of a Birmingham mosque charity an eight-year-old victim of war-torn Syria’s savagery has been given a new robot arm.
It was during a trip last year the charity members had met Rayhan.
Little Rayhana’s home in Aleppo was hit by a Government air strike in which her sister was tragically killed and she lost her arm.
Rayhana fled with her family to Turkey where, as refugees, they are trying to rebuild their lives.
After a £15,000 fundraising appeal by Birmingham charity TaskforceGLM she is being given a new robotic arm.
Based at Green Lane Mosque in Bordesley Green the charity has raised more than £4 million in the last three years and even set up an orphanage in Salem, Turkey where hundreds of children, and widowed mums, are being looked after.
Project Manager Ishfaq Ahmed said: “In 2017 her house was bombed by the regime. Her sister was killed and she lost her arm. She then came to Turkey with her family.
“We met her at the end of 2017 in a rehabilitation centre literally minutes away from from the Syrian border in Hatay. She was in a bad way but still smiling.
“When we spoke to her we asked her what we could do to help to which she replied ‘I wish I could have my arm back so I can go back to school and carry on with my normal life’.”
Mr Ahmed said the charity, which is run by volunteers, launched an online appeal and raised the required £15,000 in just 15 minutes.
“She is currently in an assessment centre in Gaziantep where she will be having the limb fitted.
“For myself and the team it’s the small projects like these that make doing what we do worthwhile.”
The group has recently returned from aid trips to Turkey and Lebanon to hand out donations to refugees fleeing the conflict.
