Girl who lost memory learns of sister’s death
A Syrian girl lost her memory when a bomb struck her family’s home on the outskirts of Aleppo in March — killing her sister.
No one told Aya, 14, that sister Iman, 12, had died during the attack because doctors advised the family to let her recover first, according to a new report.
"I thought my sister was very sick and that's why she was not with us or could not speak to me." Aya told NBC News.
"Then mumma told me."
Ibtesam, the girls’ mother, recently broke the tragic news to Aya across the border in Kilis, Turkey, where the family fled to escape their country’s ongoing violence.
"I took Aya to a park and I told her," Ibtesam said to NBC.
"At first she was shocked and did not believe me. After that, she cried and cried and cried."
The teen girl’s memory is improving, but she still does not remember the night of her sister’s death.
"Iman was my friend. And my brother's friend," Aya said.
"I remember her kindness. She did everything for me."
Her last memory of Iman is of the girl riding a bicycle in a busy street. She was nervous about a possible accident.
The family has come to accept that it may be years before they can return home. About 200,000 people have died in the war so far, according to the United Nations.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that Syrian rebels are using “hell cannons,” or mortar bombs made of cooking gas canisters, to kill civilians.
According to Reuters, these bombs killed 311 civilians between July and December of this year — two-thirds of whom died in the family’s home city of Aleppo.
Morning news break – December 15
