REYHANLI, TURKEY – Grasping the bed sheets, Abu Staif braced against the pain as he lifted and lowered his weight-strapped right leg.

The knee is swollen and there’s a large chunk missing from his lower leg but painfully, painstakingly, he is getting better – thanks to a new mobile physiotherapy unit in the Turkish town of Reyhanli.

Just over a year ago Abu Staif, now 47, was in a barbershop with his two young sons in his hometown of Idlib, northwestern Syria, when an air strike hit a building across the road, bringing down the ceiling and spraying the shop with shrapnel. Staif, his eldest son, died. He was twelve years old.

His other son was lightly wounded but Abu Staif suffered grievous injuries. He lost a fist-sized lump of muscle and bone from his right leg. His left leg was also broken.

The medical care in war-torn Idlib was rudimentary and he soon came to Reyhanli – a border town close to Syria – for treatment. After several operations in Reyhanli, Abu Staif was discharged from hospital. But the extent of his injuries and a lack of money for transportation meant that he could not make it to Reyhanli’s physiotherapy centres and his recovery faltered.

His leg broke three times when he tried to walk using crutches and he grew resigned to being bed-bound as he deteriorated.

All that changed in May this year, when a new mobile physiotherapy unit was formed in Reyhanli.

Finally, the most isolated and badly injured Syrians in Reyhanli could be reached. The treatment has transformed Abu Staif’s life, who can now move around his apartment using crutches or walking-frame. “Now I have hope to live again,” he said, puffing between his exercises.

“We call Reyhanli the frontline of physiotherapy,” said Hisham Younso, who heads the mobile unit.

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