It was the summer of 2014, the school year was finished and we had said goodbye to our schoolmates, the following year was going to be our senior year of university. I was sitting home scrolling through my facebook feed when suddenly I came across a post by a classmate and read “pray for our friend Amine who is going through a very dangerous surgical operation” I didn’t understand at first, the words didn’t make sense to me, then I saw another classmate’s post that was similar. I was confused and scared so I called a friend to ask what was going on and he told me what had happened. My friend Amine Delali had had an accident earlier that day that would render him paralized from the neck down. I got together with some friends and we immediately decided to drive to the capital to be there for him after he gets out of the surgical block. On the way there I remember thinking “will he be able to finish the school year and graduate on time? Will he even be able to come back to school? Will he ever be able to walk at all?”

I met Amine in 2011, he had become friends with my roommate, they met on a football pitch. I got to see him play Football shortly after that, he was an exceptionally talented player, inside the field he moved with such grace and confidence and was very hot headed when it got to football; however outside the football field he was a very calm and level-headed person. He had a warm smile and loved to laugh.

When we got to the hospital his family had already been there. His mother was a mess, his father tried to stay calm but it was obvious that it was just a facade. I remember hearing him say “his life is over now” We had arrived just as the operation ended and we could see him. The operation ended but unfortunately his tragic story had just begun.

Y. C.