{"id":2569,"date":"2019-11-09T01:37:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T22:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/?p=2569"},"modified":"2019-12-14T00:58:12","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T21:58:12","slug":"2569-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/2569-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Child Prodigy Who Survived an Air Strike in Yemen"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Simon Albaugh – YAN – Hamtramck<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Occasionally, Abdullah Al-Sanabani feels a weight in the place where he lost his arm. It\u2019s been almost five years since an Air Strike in Yemen cost him the limb, but the arm still feels like it\u2019s there to sense something. It\u2019s called Phantom Limb Syndrome, and like most people who\u2019ve lost a part of their body, Al-Sanabani experiences it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back in 2015, there was a bombing over a wedding in the small town of Sanabani – about 60 miles south of Yemen\u2019s Capital City of Sana\u2019a. Around 100 were left dead or injured, including one of the grooms. In an article published by The Independent<\/a>, that groom saved 15-year-old Abdullah\u2019s life by pushing him behind a water tank, at the cost of his own life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the time before the Air Strike, Abdullah was considered a child prodigy. Winner of an international science competition, Ted Talk Speaker in Sana\u2019a, and aspiring director for what would be Yemen\u2019s Space Program: he was nothing short of a child-genius.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s what made the international headlines when the Air Strike first took place. In a series of stories read around the world, Al-Sanabani became an important fixture in the way journalists presented the crisis in Yemen, as if to say, \u2018Here is what could have been lost.\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Immediately after the Air Strike, Al-Sanabani said he lied for hours, waiting for someone to come. But people were afraid to look for survivors because of the possibility of a second Air Strike. Eventually, his father took him to a hospital for surgery. And for the next two years, Abdullah would jump around abroad for medical care.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He moved from hospital to hospital. Starting in King Hussein hospital in Jordan. And then eventually, to Shriner Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. The recovery was long. \u201cA total of a year and a half of recovery and therapy,\u201d Al-Sanabani said. \u201cBecause when you\u2019re burned, you can\u2019t just stitch it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Throughout the recovery, doctors wondered whether he would need to have his arm removed. The burns were terrible, covering around 48% of his body.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThey said maybe the fingers, then maybe the hand, then to the elbow.\u201d Al-Sanabani said. His arm was removed above the elbow. But Al-Sanabani has changed since those days in the hospital.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One of his mentors at the Frontier International Academy says he was one of the brightest students he\u2019s ever had. They worked on projects together, and engineered robots from found objects as part of a group they called the MacGyver Robotics Club.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ghassan Shihab is the Director of After School Programs. He said the biggest obstacle for Al-Sanabani was the language. \u201cHe was eager to learn,\u201d Shihab said. \u201cBecause he knew the stuff in Arabic, but he just couldn\u2019t translate it to English.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cFirst it was a horrible experience,\u201d Al-Sanabani said. \u201cBecause you feel like when the teacher\u2019s talking and the students are talking, you\u2019re not sure what they\u2019re even talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shihab said that Abdullah learned fast. It was only for that first year at Frontier that he was shy. After that, he became the \u201cstar of the school\u201d says Shihab. \u201cIt was kind of weird,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause he wasn\u2019t born here, he wasn\u2019t popular. He didn\u2019t go to the same middle school.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Abdullah eventually ran for student body president. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want a vice president,\u201d Shihab said. \u201cHe wanted president\u2026 And boom, he won. I was like \u2018I can\u2019t believe it.\u2019 And that day, you should\u2019ve seen the smile on his face.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Al-Sanabani said that he\u2019s grateful for the school. The teachers knew when students were trying their best and gave them all the extra help they needed. \u201cAnd that\u2019s how I improved back in high school,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These days, Al-Sanabani is taking classes at Wayne Community College. He\u2019s studying Biomedical Engineering. \u201cIt\u2019s like the engineering of Prosthetics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Al-Sanabani\u2019s dream is to design better prosthetics for anyone to use. Because back in the hospitals, he was trained to use a prosthetic arm. \u201cThe thing that surprised me is that I went to Shriner, one of the best hospitals in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they still use prosthetics designed during World War II.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first dream he had was to start a space program in Yemen. As part of the international science competition, his award was a visit to the NASA Space Program in the United States. After the tinkering in Frontier High School, his focus has shifted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like there\u2019s a lot of good prosthetics out there,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there\u2019s a lot that can get improved. And the people who make the prosthetics aren\u2019t the people who use them.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Abdullah Al-Sanabani is focused on nothing but improving. \u201cYou feel like you own the world when you think you\u2019re improving every day,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd every day, you\u2019re a better person, every day you learn something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

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