By Khadra Hamdan from Gaza
They look like one, they feel like one, they walk on a double foot , right left, left right
Five months of their life has paved the way for a lifetime of bitterness mixed with sweet.
This is Adly, no its Mansour - the confusion starts. Who is on the right and who's on the left? We're one soul living in two bodies; then laughter begins with Adly whispering to Mansour and Mansour responds with a laugh "we confuse people... there no life with boredom".
Adly and Mansour had two pairs limbs and feet only a short while ago – now they have two. Both lost a leg and a feet. Sometimes they change their sides for the onlookers to see every one of them in toe legs. Sometimes Adly walk on the left side and other times Mansour walk on the right for the viewers to believe he has two feet. Some times it appears that there is nothing wrong with the injury and amputation suffered by the two young men from Al Shuja'iyya neighborhood in Gaza. They are drawn together a lot closer by the injuries, more than the life concerns that could have separate them. They have become two sides of the same soul.
Who are they? And how does life seem with a missing limb? No, we never feel incomplete, they would say. The reader has to expect the same answer from two people who almost agree in everything.
The injury was confusing at first. How are we going to live? Will we go back to walk on the streets in front of people with a missing limb? Would they accept us? Would we be able to go on with a life that used to be so easy, when we did not recognize and appreciate God’s blessings? How would a life with a wife and children look like? How to go up the stairs of the houses, and how to enjoy the air that caresses the eyelids when we don't feel it on our foot?
Questions grow after waking up: "can we ride a bicycle? How do we get in a car, and who would hire a person without a leg?"
The Questions stop for a while when Adly and Mansour realize that it was God's will, and that the blessings they still have surpasses what they have lost.
Adly and Mansour
The truth is that Adly and Mansour are two not one. They were friends before each lost one of their limbs. Their friendship strengthened when both of them sustained the same injury.
Adly Hassan Obaid is a 25-year young man from Al Shuja'iyya neighbourhood in Gaza who worked in an electrical appliances shop. On 23rd February 2011; he suffered from several injuries while trying to recover a child from the Al-Helu family near his home. Child was playing with a group of family children when Israeli bombing started.
People thought that Adly was dead when he was taken to the hospital’s morgue as a martyr. Few hours later, when about to leave, his father discovered that he was still alive.
Adly was seriously injured. He had cuts near his left eye, and shrapnels in his hand, sides and legs. He was moved several times between intensive care and hospital beds, and his left leg has to be amputated, just above the knee.
Adly recovered completely apart from his leg, which he tried to inspect with the other leg. He was told that one of his legs preceded him to heaven. Adly accepted the reality as a will of God.
Mansour, the old friend, visited Adly the most, and tried to ease the shock of his friend.
An year later; he was able to travel to Jordan to get a prosthetic limb fixed. He lost some weight when he returned to Gaza, at the request of his friend Mansour, who insisted him on returning to attend his wedding.
A few months later, the same thing happened to Mansour al-Qurem, 23, when he was hit by flying debree caused by a missile from an F-16, while going to a woman's funeral in Al-Nazaz neighborhood, in Gaza. His wounds were a lot more serious than his friend Adly.
Mansour, was injured with flying rocks after a missile exploded near him. The small pieces of rocks penetrated his skull and other parts of his body. To save his life, doctors had to amputate his right leg from the top of the thigh and his thumb fingers.
Mansour gets constant convulsions in his right hand but refuses to bow to his injuries that may cripple his movement. Mansour challenged his injuries and got married to a beautiful young lady that he keeps on complimenting while waiting for his first child.
One shoe
Adli has lost his left leg and Mansur has lost the right one. Their legs and feet are of same size. Knowing that created a bit of joy, especially when buying a new pair of shoes. They buy one pair of shoes for both, costing them only 25 shekels ($8-9). They split the cost and wear one each of the same shoes all the time.
Praying together, you see two feet not four, riding the bike together, one is changing the speeds and the second is driving, walking a good distance has become a habit that creates a footprint for them in the Gaza space.
One concern
Adly loves a girl and wants to marry her. Girl also has a brother who has lost his leg while raising the Palestinian flag on the electronic wire. He gives his sister hopes, which also fills the heart of Adly.
The girl fell in love with Adly. She assured her parents that she would accept Adly so that no one would reject her brother when he decides to marry.
Adly decided to get married but his dreams stopped as he paid all he had in preparing an unfinished apartment. Things have to wait.
Mansur has set up a room for himself and his wife in his parent’s house. This will do for the time being.
But Mansour cannot install a prosthetic limb while Adly cannot wear the one provided by the Jordanian armed forces.
The basic necessities of life have been made so hard for some to reach.
