Syrian girl begins hearing again with help from Turkish aid group

By Yasin Dikme

SANLIURFA, Turkey (AA) - An 11-year-old Syrian girl began hearing again when a Turkish charity helped her get new hearing aids after she lost hers five years ago while fleeing a barrage of bombs.

Samiye Haj Mustafa, deaf from birth, lost her last hearing aids when she was trying to escape from bombardment in the city of Aleppo during the Syrian civil war. Although she later moved to Turkey, she could not go to school as she lacked any hearing aids.

Unable to buy the hearing aids, her mother Abir Huseyin applied to the Turkish NGO Humanitarian Relief Foundation’s (IHH) Sanliurfa branch in eastern Turkey.

The girl told Anadolu Agency that she was very happy to be able to hear the voices of her mother and siblings again.

“Many people were killed and injured in the bombardments. My daughter lost her hearing aids during a bombardment in Syria,” her mother said.

Thanking everyone who helped them get new hearing aids, Huseyin said: “I asked IHH for help so that my daughter could hear again.”

“They provided two devices in a short time,” she added. “Now my daughter can hear us. The worlds became ours. My daughter is very happy, and her happiness makes us happy too.”

Syria has been embroiled in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

According to UN estimates, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced.

Turkey hosts some 4 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world.