The story about the little boy Zakaria sounds amazing. How he wants to be a paramedic.
Isnt it hopeful that he has not succumbed to the situation he finds himself but is resilient and positive. We can only but imagine what it’s like for children to live in tents freezing cold, hungry, family killed and deeply traumatised. But to find survie this and want to help others - that’s remarkable.
« Everyone working at the hospital knows the boy. He is, of course, still a child and not a qualified medic but he is always hanging around, waiting for an opportunity to help someone, in the hope he might receive some food or money in return.
Sometimes he helps carry equipment for local journalists, other times stretchers with people injured or dying.
When there is a quiet moment he helps clean the blood and dirt from the ambulances.
There is no school for him to go to and he is the only person in his family making any money. He doesn't stay with them as they have little food or water, he says, and instead lives on his own at the hospital and sleeps where he can. One night it's in the CT scan room, another in the journalists' tent or the back of an ambulance.
There were plenty of nights he fell asleep hungry.
As much as they try, hospital staff can't keep him away from the chaos of caring for casualties.
Zakaria idolises the paramedics and wants to be considered part of the team. One of them, Said, takes him under his wing. Whenever he treats Zakaria as a child, he says, the boy gets upset.
«
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y7ndlrl3vo.amp