Gaza: Our Sunny Boy

There is an 18-year-old boy whom I call ‘Sunny Boy’. He always comes to the Al-Awda hospital in northern Gaza wearing the same black T-shirt printed with the words ‘Sunny Boy’. And his smile seems to get wider every time I see him. 

 

Sunny boy is an orphan who grew up in an orphanage in sub-optimal conditions. His teeth are not healthy. His two front teeth are brown in colour and half-chipped. Dental care is provided privately in the Gaza Strip and it is expensive for ordinary people.

 

Israel tightly controls the import of fuel and other essential goods into the Gaza Strip. There is a shortage of electricity, which is supplied by Israel, with a maximum of 4 to 5 hours per day. Residents there do not have enough clean drinking water, and the water they receive is too polluted with salt and sewage. The water tanker comes in every three to four days, and people come with buckets and bottles to fetch water home. This scene reminds me of the time when Hong Kong faced water shortage in the 1960s. In those days, fresh water was supplied once every four days, four hours each time. Hong Kong people took bottles in various sizes to fetch water. Fifty years later, we in Hong Kong enjoy access to running water, yet in Gaza, it is a daily struggle for the population to have clean water. Sunny Boy participated in the demonstration at the northern fence dividing Israel and the Palestinian territory on Friday, July 13. He sustained an open fracture on his left ring finger, a subcutaneous gunshot wound on his right thigh, and a 10-cm wound on this left thigh which cut through the deep muscle. We immediately performed wound debridement surgery for Sunny Boy in the operating room. As his left thigh wound was large and deep, we recommended him to come to our out-patient clinic for wound dressing every other day to reduce the risk of bacterial infection. 

 

I still remember clearly what happened during the first wound dressing session. He sustained no fractures from the injury, and should be able to walk with a walking aid. However, Sunny Boy was so afraid to see his wound. He was so nervous that he dared not move and insisted on lying in bed. He asked his two orphan friends to lift him from the bed onto the wheelchair.

 

As an orthopaedic surgeon, my objective is to encourage patients to walk as early as possible, so they can gradually be self-reliant. On that day, I asked Sunny Boy to walk on his own from the bed to the wheelchair. The wheelchair was two metres away, which could be reached by walking seven steps. I requested his two friends to stand aside and encourage him. Of course, medics were standing by to offer him protection in case he would fall. After some encouragement, Sunny boy slowly and reluctantly took his first step. It took him five minutes to complete the task and reach the wheelchair! The friendship between Sunny boy and I began with this challenge.

 

Two days later, Sunny Boy came to the clinic by himself. I was so proud of him, it was like a triumphant return of my son! Even if he still felt pain, with a very time-consuming wound care, and could not take a shower by himself because of the many bandages on his wounds, I saw a smile on his face. From then on, whenever he comes to our clinic, he asks me to check on the wound on his left thigh. He then asks for a tongue depressor with cream on, so that he could moisturise the other wounds himself. 

 

Sunny Boy is a cheerful young man full of positive energy! Even though the road ahead is uncertain and his life may be full of thorns; he will always keep the smile, and face the challenges positively. “Go, Sunny Boy! You can do it! Keep going!”