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"Now in Germany we only hear the sounds of calmness & peace"
Ahmad and Abdu are Syrian refugees who fled to Lebanon over three years ago, when the war drove them from their home in Aleppo. But life in Beirut was tough for Ahmad, who struggled to find work and had to live in a tiny flat with 10 other family members. And there was no way for Ahmad and his wife to give Abdu, who was born deaf, the medical care he needed.
Hope came when the family heard they would move to Germany, under the country's Humanitarian Assistance Programme. Now they live in the town of Wächtersbach, near Frankfurt. Within months of their arrival, Abdu had cochlear implant surgery for the second time and received two new hearing aids.
Abdu's hearing is now at 90 per cent, and he is learning to articulate his words more clearly – in both Arabic and German. He is a child discovering the sound of peace for the first time.