![Saif is nine years old. He injured his leg at school. He is being treated at MSF’s post-operative care facility, in East Mosul. This is his testimony:
“A year and a half ago, my family and I left my village because it had become too dangerous to live there. With my three brothers and my mother, we went to live in a camp for displaced people. Life in the camp was not easy, but I was still happy because I got to go to school. Then one day, another boy at school through a big rock at me and it broke my leg. First, my mum took me to a hospital in Qayyarah. The doctors there operated on me twice. Then they sent me here, to this hospital in Mosul [the MSF post-operative hospital]. That was almost a month ago. I have had two more operations since I arrived here. My leg is getting better, but very slowly. The doctors tell me it is taking longer because I have bacteria in my body. And these bacteria make it harder for my leg to become normal again. The bacteria can hurt other people too, so the doctors put me in this isolation room and I have to wear a green gown when I go outside. But I like this hospital. I spend a lot of time with the nurses. We draw together and they are teaching me the alphabet; I already know how to write all the letters. It helps make the time pass by faster. When I am bored, I call my brothers on my mum’s phone and show them all the games I get to play here. But still, I am impatient to go back to school. I don’t know how long I’ll stay here; it depends on when my leg is healed.”](https://img.msf.org/AssetLink/a85e40fr5ju01re4r82ad012274xgd2w.jpg "Treating Mosul’s wounded")
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
Independent medical humanitarian assistance
We provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of health professionals, logistic and administrative staff - most of them hired locally. Our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of independence and impartiality. We are a non-profit, self-governed, member-based organisation.
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