In 2013, Osama, then a young carpenter in Aleppo, was shot. The injury caused severe complications, including the loss of his right kidney and, several years later, the amputation of his left leg.

His life changed instantly. He could no longer continue his craft, and the world he knew came to a sudden stop.

In 2017, he was referred to the ICRC Physical Rehabilitation Centre. Walking again felt like a distant dream, but with a prosthetic limb and steady rehabilitation, he took his first steps back into life.

In 2018, Osama joined the ICRC as a prosthetics technician assistant. What he once did with wood, he now does for people, shaping comfort, mobility, and renewed dignity.

“The best moment,” he says, “is when a patient walks again and says ‘thank you.’ Their prayers mean everything.”

Married now and a father to a daughter he adores, Osama found clarity in one encounter that shaped him forever when he met a patient who had lost both upper and lower limbs yet continued to push forward.

“That day, I stopped seeing disability as an end. It became a beginning.”

Today, he encourages others to join humanitarian work: “It helps heal others, and it heals us too.”