The details of the day of wounded young man Mahmoud Al-Hawajri have a different rhythm; although he has lost his right leg yet he is trying to adapt to his suffering differently.
Mahmoud 18 was injured on the first Friday of the Great March of Return by an explosive bullet that penetrated his knee and led to the amputation of his right leg.
His day is divided between poultry animals and beekeeping. But what Mahmoud is hoping for now is getting an artificial limb to stand on his legs again without crutches.
One leg
From among the thousands of participants on the Friday of the Great March of Return an Israeli sniper picked up teen Mahmoud and fired an explosive bullet at him while he was standing dozens of meters away from the separation fence.
“The bullet penetrated my left and right knees and exploded” said Mahmoud. “I spent several weeks at the hospital. The occupation denied me a permit six-times to travel to Makassed Hospital until my leg was amputated.”
When he realized that he lost his leg he was shocked. When he first grabbed his clutches he fell off his face until he got used to them later.
Mahmoud’s mother regrets the condition of her son. “His life has changed negatively. He has suffered pain in his leg and back following his injury and he needs treatment. I am crying a lot because of his condition.”
His friend Obeida who was wounded a few weeks ago during the Great March of Return is a regular companion of Mahmoud and he supports him but he sees sadness in his eyes watching young people playing football.
Poultry and bee breeder
Mahmoud spends most of his time in an agricultural plot behind his family’s house. There he has his own world where he is used to beekeeping and feeding poultry in addition to three dogs of various kinds.
Mahmoud says: “In these boxes we prepare all necessary items for bees and we made them frames that they use to make wax and build houses in the form of panels. I have had interest in raising bees for 10 years but this season is bad because of the lack of flowers.”
The farmland behind his house where he spends most of his time with plants poultry and animals is the most important detail in the life of Mahmoud.
He continued as saying: “Here I find pleasure and forget about my wounds. I pray to God to punish the occupation snipers for depriving me of one of my legs. sometimes I sit next to chickens and check the boxes of bees and I always care about three dogs we have been raising since I was a little child.”
Mahmoud’s conversation with the PIC is interrupted by one of the little dogs of a strange breed. This dog missed him during the weeks of his absence from home.
“I have another place on the roof where I keep another dog of a strange breed. It is always attached to me especially since the day I returned back from the hospital” he notes.
Several plants and shrubs are grown and used by the family in the plot of land where they breed poultry where Mahmoud spends most of his time.
Mahmoud fears that he will be unable to complete his treatment and get an artificial limb to help him go about his daily life. Doctors told him to install a limb before the end of the first year of injury.
