In February 2001 I traveled to Iraq for the first time. At the invitation of the Society for Austrian-Iraqi Relations I delivered a lecture at the medical faculty of the University of Baghdad. This trip gave me the opportunity to visit several Iraqi hospitals. This way I also came to Basra to the Ibn Ghazwan Mother-Child Hospital and what I found there was deeply upsetting. Greatly distressed I stood over a dying girl, who suffered from leukemia, but was dying of a ordinary complication - a complication which I had been able to treat innumerable times in the course of my professional life, a routine situation in a Western European hospital. At the hospital in Basra, however, everything necessary for treatment was missing: medications, equipment, hygiene and frequently expertise. The lack of a piece of equipment cost nine-year-old Fatima her life. She was the fourth child her mother lost within a few years; numb with grief did she stand near her dying daughter. Never in my life will I forget this situation: At the end of the bed stood a helpless physician, Dr. Jenan Ghalib Hassan, the head of the children's cancer ward and she begged me: "Help us, we lose all our sick children!" 
In the Basra region there has been a continuous rise in the cases of leukemia and cancer since 1996/97, especially among children. According to information from Iraqi physicians about six times as many children with leukemia are being admitted to the hospital as before 1990. During the embargo not even once was it possible to complete a chemotherapy treatment, with the result that almost all the stricken children died within a short time, often only a few weeks after having been diagnosed. In Western Europe, by comparison, the chance of curing childhood leukemia is almost 90%. In the 70's and 80's Iraq had an excellent health care system, which was considered exemplary for the entire region. The domestic policies, as well as the policies of the West towards Iraq have done a thorough job during the last two decades: Iraq, which possesses the second largest oil reserves in the world, now finds itself on the level of a third world country.

Aladdin's Magic Lamp is born. 

After returning to Austria I contacted the Red Cross and it developed that two centrifuges for separating blood were available, exactly the equipment that was urgently needed in Basra. Our relief project was born. I was looking for an appropriate name for the project: it should relate to children and also to the Orient, but it should also express something about the hope that we wanted to bring to the sick children and to their parents with our assistance: "Aladdin's Magic Lamp" was born. That the term "magic" would also be necessary to realize this project was not foreseeable at that time. At times the difficulties which confronted us during the last three years actually seemed insurmountable and demanded the full commitment of our imagination and creativity.

In July 2001 we again traveled to Iraq with the intention to conduct an exact inventory of needs, to not only make the equipment available, but also to assure that it would be operational. It turned out that in order to install the equipment it would be necessary to renovate a part of the Basra blood bank. We gave orders for the work, which was to take a few months to complete. After that we obtained hospital beds, new mattresses and various minor medical devices and articles. When we were about to get the first relief transport ready for shipment it was September 2001. September 11, 2001 put a stop to that. No forwarder would accept an order for shipment into the region. We considered January 2002 as a new deadline . The Archdiocese Vienna donated an urgently needed blood plasma refrigerator.

Collateral Damage

During the first days of January 2002 we applied for an export permit for our relief supplies. Based on the sanctions in force against Iraq since 1991 every importation into Iraq had to be authorized by the UN Sanctions Committee in New York. We thought that it would take two weeks, but the totally unexpected happened: The U.S. representative on the Sanctions Committee vetoed practically all medical appliances. Among others the blood centrifuges and the refrigerator for blood plasma were affected and the relief shipment was thus prohibited. The reason given was that the appliances could possibly be used for military purposes, a more than strange reason. We followed after this may sound incredible, but it is a fact: A correspondence, which took a year and was a desperate attempt on our part to get the relief supplies, which were in our store rooms and were urgently needed in Basra, to their destination. How could one accept an inhuman regulation without contradiction, which denies treatment to cancer-stricken children!  The experience frequently left us dumbfounded. An example was that UN weapons inspectors became involved in the matter. They determined that our equipment was completely harmless and declared that there was no reason not to bring it into Iraq. We undertook to travel to Iraq regularly and to send reports concerning the appropriate us of the equipment to the sanctions committee. The office of the UN coordinators in Baghdad also agreed to check on the utilization. Mr. Edlinger traveled to New York to meet with the  American representative of the sanctions committee, but that conversation ended without resolution. Who among the powers that be was interested that in the meantime children were dying, children for whom help, accumulating storage charges, was on hand in Vienna?

The months passed, a new war was on the horizon and it was clear how it would end. In September 2002 we decided on an other trip to Iraq, to tell the people that we had not forgotten them and to explain to the why we had not brought help long ago. In the course of this trip we were confronted with an other horrifying situation: Kala Azar, a tropical disease, which occurs in the slums of this earth, is transmitted by mosquitoes and had been considered eradicated in Iraq before 1991, as a result of wide-spread mosquito eradication programs. Insecticides, however, were considered as potentially of military use and their importation according to the sanctions regulations therefore not permitted. As a result the incidence of Kala Azar increased steadily. Thousands of Iraqi children were afflicted. Infants, who, because of deficient nutrition and poor hygienic conditions are at high risk,  were especially affected. The medication Pentostam, which has effected a complete cure in all cases, was not available in Iraq and therefore all children afflicted with Kala Azar died. The successful treatment costs about €15. In this case helping should be easy - we thought - and we  committed ourselves to take on the task to supplying  the children's hospital in Basra with Pentostam, in addition to our assistance for the cancer-stricken children in Basra. At that point we could not foresee how difficult it would be to obtain this medication.

Against injustice and violence.

I am deeply convinced that once a law causes serious injustice it is one's duty to violate that law. The struggle against an inhumane decision of the UN Sanctions Committee lasted for a year. The embargo, which at first was undoubtedly justified, had destroyed an entire people, corroded its society and "destroyed the soul of the people", as the Archbishop of Basra put it. It had not as much affected the regime as especially the weakest of the society: sick children. It was essential to oppose this: In November 2002 we sent the relief supplies, which the sanctions committee had permitted us to import into Iraq, by ship in two containers to Basra. The "forbidden" appliances left Vienna on Christmas Day by air. 

Naturally there were difficulties with the Iraqi authorities too. This started at the border already, where we had to conduct hour-long discussions and where we stubbornly refused the veiled demands for payment of bribes. There were endless bureaucratic procedures to be performed and permission to bring the relief supplies to Basra was always preceded by a personal conversation with the Iraqi Minister of Health. One could never be certain of the result of such a conversation - and yet, we never paid a single Dollar in bribes and we brought all our relief supplies to their destination. 

The moor in the country in January 2003 was devastating: a people the lived in panic fear of the threatening war and that could express that fear only hiding behind shielding hands. The war had started long ago in the form of psychological warfare. Air raid alarms were a daily affair in Basra. The sirens howled day and night. Our trip at the beginning of January 2003 was overshadowed by many questions and doubts. Would the war start, perhaps even during our stay? Four weeks later I leave Iraq with mixed feelings: our mission was successful, all relief supplies have arrived, all appliances were working. One question dwarfed all others: will a war in the immediate future destroy everything that we had built up so laboriously? Was it right to bring the relief supplies to Iraq just now?

Than we shall live in the dark..

The political situation became more and more aggravated, war seemed unavoidable. Barely four weeks after my return I again traveled into the war zone: In Amman 1120 lbs of medications awaited shipment to Basra, a donation of the German Churches. Vital, cancer-inhibiting medications, urgently needed in Basra. February 15, 2003 brought the largest peace demonstration in our history, it is said that on a world-wide basis 15 million people in over 700 cities were on the march for peace - a good prelude for my trip, which began on the day after. The following seven days were to exhaust the limits of my patience to the extreme. The Iraqi authorities, which had always produced strange flowerings, were completely paralyzed. Finally I did get permission from the office of the minister to bring the medications to Basra.

The first time in 12 years she felt like a physician again, said Dr.Jenan on the day after my arrival. Proudly she showed me the therapy protocols: all medications necessary for the treatment of leukemia were now on hand, the first time in 12 years. The woman, who probably had seen more children die during the last 12 years than any general in the world, was fighting tears of emotion. If I had left this hospital in the past always with feelings of impotence and helplessness, I began to feel hope for the first time. It was hope in the face hopelessness, because it hurt to leave Basra. I don't know the answer to the question that is being asked so often:When are you coming again? We all know that there will be war again and soon. It is not easy to be able to leave and to leave friends behind. Fear, no panic hovered over the land and paralyzed everyone and everything.

On the eve of the war.

When I returned to Vienna on February 28, 2003 I found 130 packages of Pentostam, the medication for Kala Azar, for which I had waited for four and a half months. Regulations of the British government had delayed the shipment; how many children in Basra had to die of Kala Azar in the meantime because of this?  With this quantity one could treat - and cure - about 500 children. The time for reflection was short: I had to travel to Iraq within the next few days, contrary to all warnings. The medications were urgently needed - who among us could know how long the war would last? I arrived in Basra with one of the last flights from Baghdad on March 10th. A state of emergency is already in force here, physicians are forbidden to leave the hospital, the electric power fails again and again, swarms of airplanes fly over the city. Dread is written on people's faces, they expect the war to start at any hour. The Archbishop of Basra, Gabriel Kassab implores me to leave tomorrow morning. Both of us, Dr. Jenan and I, cry when we say good bye. "Will we see each other again?" - it was Jenan who ask that question. Only a few miles from Basra 300,000 soldiers await the order to march. A few days before the start of the war I leave Iraq by car, since there are no more flights to Damascus or Amman.

People without hope.

On March 20, 2003 at 5:35 a.m.(Baghdad local time) the hopes of all those who had worked for a peaceful resolution of the Iraqi problem during the past months, died. The bombardment of Baghdad had begun, as well as the advance of ground troops from the South. A period of agonizing uncertainty and fear for the friends, who had remained behind, began. Suddenly our relief project gained unexpected popularity.The interest of the media, for which I had wished during the months before, when we tried to point out the injustice of the rules of the sanctions, took up all our time now.

The weeks passed and on April 9 Baghdad was occupied against little resistance. On April 27 I left for my next trip to Iraq. At that point the war had not been officially declared as finished, but only isolated fighting was going on. Many public institution had been destroyed by looting. No one could tell how much of the results our efforts was left. There was no possibility to contact Basra and I considered it necessary to verify it in person. Anarchy ruled in Iraq, there was no police, nor any other law enforcement. Looters had tried several times to rob "our" hospital in Basra, but thanks to the courage and commitment of the physicians it remained unscathed. Our fears had not been realized: All our relief supplies are still here, so we don't have to start all over again, we can continue where we left off before the war.

The people whom I found there, however, were changed: The horrible experiences of the weeks before were engraved in their faces, they were in shock, one could say that the entire land was in shock. Although they were all happy to have gotten rid of the regime and to be able to speak freely, but in view of the miserable circumstances of their lives they lacked a vision for the future.

"We envy the dead"

Returning to Austria we immediately started preparations for a relief shipment and at the end of the first week of June everything was sent on its way. The medical care situation in Iraq was miserable, according to the WHO it was functioning at that time only at 20% of its pre-war capacity. After some delays and much trepidation on my part all relief supplies arrived finally in Basra, despite all adverse external circumstances. Three was hardly any electric power in the city and the current fluctuations had damaged our blood plasma refrigerator. After several attempts at repair it became clear the compressor was ruined. Needless to say that a replacement was not to be had in Basra. We would have to bring one from Vienna, on our next trip. We tried desperately to find a way to bring sick children, who could not be treated in Basra, to Austria. But these children and their parents did not have passports and in the entire Iraq there was no authority that could have issued one. During the following weeks we tried an other solution: To bring the children to Austria directly from Basra with a special plane. In the end we did not get permission to land in Basra and so we had to drop this idea. One of the children, who was on our list to be treated in Austria, died in September.

"This is our life..."

Late in the summer Caritas Austria agrees to provide €100,000 for the purchase of medications to treat cancer and in November 2003 I traveled to Iraq for the sixth time in this year. The relief shipment valued at almost €200,000 was already on its long journey to Basra. Seven months after the end of the war, the days in Iraq are routinely marked by violence: Resistance against the occupying powers and innumerable acts of violence against the Iraqis themselves. Despite all this we were successful this time too, to bring everything to its destination. The supply situation in the hospitals is worse than ever. Virtually all relief organizations had left the country and in view of the general lack of security it is almost impossible to keep Baghdad supplied.

We see to it that the floor of the children's cancer ward is redone and we install a play room for the children. Heaters for the patients' rooms are purchased and the compressor in the blood bank is replaced, a cooling unit for the blood centrifuge (a gift of the Austrian Red Cross) in the blood bank is put in operation, also two special refrigerators for the storage of blood products. The fruit of our labors is becoming noticeable and Dr.Jenan says that the mortality of children with leukemia had fallen - since we have regularly supplied medication - from practically 100% to 40%, and this despite this year's war. A success, which makes us truly happy and over which we are entitled to feel a bit proud too. In addition, about 1,500 children were successfully treated for Kala Azar. The balance sheet at the end of this year thus looks very good for our project.  And the clearly visible sign of this success: Where there were only sad, apathetic children before, we now see smiling faces - the reward for all those who have helped us to help.

This time we leave Iraq with four sick children and one parent of each. These children, who could not be treated here are to receive the best available treatment in Austria. It finally had become possible for Iraqis to leave the country: a temporary travel document made it possible and on November 28, 2003 DI Bashar Hindo and I, with Sarah, Zaynab, Qand and Abdelaziz land at Vienna Airport. 

And the future?

How should it continue? The most important is to maintain a continuing supply of medications, since otherwise much would have been done in vain. The fear is that our help will be needed for a long time. Beyond that we would like to work on modernizing the cancer department, for which several pieces of equipment will still be needed. Caritas South Tyrol and Caritas Austria will donate a modern drinking water treatment plant for the children's hospital. It will possibly be put in operation during our next visit, probably in March 2004.

* Renovation of a laboratory and the examination room of the central blood bank in Basra, including replacement of the electric wiring, installation of an air conditioning unit, renovation of the sanitation unit.

"Aladdin's Magic Lamp" is a symbol of peace, in a time bereft of peace in a fought-over, conflict-burdened land, whose inhabitants no longer know what peace is and who have lost all hope. "Aladdin's Magic Lamp" is to bring healing and a chance to live to children, to their parents hope for the future. It is to bring about reconciliation between cultures and religions for a people, which has experienced indescribable suffering from war, dictatorship, exclusion and rejection. For this "Aladdin's Magic Lamp" needs "fuel": Your support and your donation!