Children Shot, Bombed and Knifed in Tigray War

MEKELLE, EDAGA HAMUS, ETHIOPIA - Fifteen-year-old Beriha lost one eye in the war and was permanently blinded in the other. 

And like many of the children hospitalized in Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region, she traveled for weeks to get here. Children in the ward had been shot, knifed or hit by shrapnel from heavy artillery. Some lost limbs from stepping on landmines.   "She and her cousin went out to play in the yard," said her father, Gebray Zenebe. "Suddenly, they saw people running. They also ran, and they were both shot."  Gebray and Beriha traveled from town to town searching for a functioning health care center. When they arrived at Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekelle, it took three days for Beriha to regain consciousness. She was shot in the right cheek, and the bullet exited through her left eye.