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Every time I travel to Iraq I do it with the expectation that I will find at
least a hint of an improvement in the living conditions of the people; but I
meet with disappointment every time: So again this time. On April 18, 2005
Bashar (our technician) and I fly to Kuwait to travel on to Basra from there.
There still is no direct cross-border traffic between Kuwait and Iraq and we
have to be taken to the border, cross on foot and then have to be picked up on
the other side. Two hours before we pass through a bomb exploded on the road
between Basra and the border. On the day before our arrival three bombs exploded
in front of the university, when a bus with policemen was attacked. And on the
second day of our visit a bomb blows up in front of the central police station,
injuring seven policemen. The central police station is located on one of
Basra’s main streets, through which we too must pass every day and where there
are always traffic jams due to street closings. One does get a little queasy,
standing squeezed in between all the stopped cars. And later we are going to
hear about the constant fears the Iraqi policemen must live with. Every day,
when they leave the house to go to work, they say good-bye to their families, as
if they were never going to come home again. The fear of death is a constant
companion in their work. It is easy and cheap to get weapons in Iraq: One can
get a hand grenade for 500 Dinars, which is 30 cents.
Sugar water for
babies instead of milk
I spend an afternoon in the
office of the pediatrician Dr. Jenan. For the two tiny rooms,
one the treatment room, the other the waiting room, the doctor
has three separate electrical conduits to make sure that she can
always do her work, since the rooms have no windows. One of the
conduits is from the electrical network, the other two from
separate electrical generators. We were shocked by what we saw
here that afternoon. The number of malnourished children keeps
rising and gives cause for concern. The reason? The women, who
bring their sick children, tell us: Before they received milk
powder with their monthly food rations if they had a young
child. They no longer receive milk powder (no one knows why) and
a can of milk powder (500 g) costs up to eight Dollars in the
store, an amount which for the many unemployed in Iraq is an
astronomical one. Fresh milk is virtually unavailable. Before
the war milk powder cost a few cents. So the women feed their
babies and infants sugar water. This not only reduces the
resistance to infectious diseases, but also can result in
permanent brain damage. More and more children are stricken with
tuberculosis, the number of children with the tropical disease
Kala Azar is on the increase. The number of premature births, of
miscarriages is rising, the birth weight of many newborns is
insufficient. The majority of Dr, Jenan’s patients are younger
than three or four years old, severely underweight and most of
them suffer from severe diarrhea. One child is born without
eyes; he is 18 months old and has the physique of a
six-month-old infant.
The ear splitting noise of
the electric generators has become a part of Basra for me. This
time it hardly ever stops. If there is municipal electric
service it is interrupted again and again. It is no more than
two or three hours a day, for sure. Wealthy people have
generators, which cost a few thousand Dollars. The majority of
people in Basra is poor and certainly cannot afford a generator.
It was April and the temperature was already 105 F, soon it
will be over 120 F. The evening meal is taken most of the time
by candlelight, not because it is more romantic, but because
there is no electricity and if it starts up it is only for a few
minutes. A telephone call to Baghdad is impossible, because an
attack on a telephone exchange in Kut, has disabled all
connections with the Southern part of the country. There is
still garbage in the streets and sewage still floods the roads.
Nothing works and the motivation to work is generally missing.
The quality of the tap
water in Basra is so poor that we will need a sedimentation
basin for the drinking water treatment plant, which we installed
in the children’s hospital. Otherwise the mud will soon ruin the
membranes. 40% of Basra’s population is connected to the water
mains network. The others drink river water, or buy drinking
water from tank cars, 5 gallons for 400 Dinars. That is not so
little for unemployed Iraqis. I hear from physicians that they
have found cholera and dysentery pathogens in this water,
because unscrupulous profiteers have mixed the purified water
with river water to increase their profit. In Basra’s General
Hospital there is no water at all in the obstetric department
and the patients are asked to bring their own water for drinking
and washing up. Many people have worms due to the poor water
quality and the lack of sewage disposal is the cause of many
infectious diseases.
“We have put so much hope
in the elections” say many people “but now three months have
passed already and we still don’t have a government. How can
anything function if the country doesn’t have a government?
We’re doing worse than during the sanctions!” And a woman doctor
adds: “The new Iraq consists of cell phones, satellite dishes
and bananas; that we didn’t have before. Well, and now one can
complain about the government, but that doesn’t get us anywhere
either. Before we just thought that to ourselves and didn’t talk
about it. But otherwise everything is just as before, or still
worse!” The people don’t think much of the many new parties and
they don’t really expect much from the new transitional
government. One hardly sees the British in Basra, if one does,
they are driving through the streets with their submachine guns
leveled, and once we saw British soldiers in front of the
hospital with weapons at the ready. This behavior, which the
Iraqis consider threatening and provocative, I had previously
observed only from the Americans in Baghdad.
Alladin’s Magic Lamp:
Hope amidst the Chaos
Amidst all the chaos it is
nice to hear that the children’s cancer ward, which is being
supported by us, is the best in all of Iraq. Patients come from
far away for treatment, because word has gotten around in the
entire country that medications are available here. The Director
tells us that cancer-stricken children come here even from
Baghdad for treatment. Zaid is here too, the one and a half year
old boy who had been sick with leukemia last year and who had
enchanted us with his laughter. Zaid is still laughing, even
after several cycles of chemotherapy. As before, the children’s
cancer ward is totally dependent on our support. If we had not
helped them during the past years, all the children, without
exception, would have died. And it is not only a few who have
been treated here: last year there were 836 children. A short
while ago the entire sewer system of the hospital was clogged
and as a result all wet rooms of the children’s cancer ward were
flooded with sewage; even a section of the department itself was
flooded. The damage in the wet rooms is enormous and the present
hygienic situation imperils the children, who, as a result of
the chemotherapy, are very susceptible to infections. Quick
action would be necessary here: Repairing the wet rooms and
resolving the sewer problem. I immediately arranged for a cost
estimate, which came to 20,000 Euros. Not a small sum, but if
these defects are not remedied the success of our project is in
jeopardy.
The mothers of Basra refuse
to have their children admitted to the neonatal section of the
hospital, because the catastrophically poor conditions in this
department are well known in all of Basra and only very few
children who are admitted there survive. We hope that this will
change in a few month, because the main reason for our visit is
to initiate the remodeling of this department, which is being
funded by Caritas Austria. It is not easy to find a reliable
company for such an undertaking in today’s Iraq. After
bargaining about the cost for days we are successful: The
contract is signed and as soon as the director of the hospital
has moved the department work can get started. In about two
months it is supposed to be completed – inshallah, as one here
says to everything that lies in the future, i.e. if it is God’s
will.
During those days we were
virtually besieged by parents of sick children and also by sick
adults. We had tried very hard to keep our presence as secret as
possible, but the news that we were here had spread like a
wildfire in all of Basra. Everyone wanted our advice, wanted to
be treated abroad. I cannot give much hope to these people,
because it is not easy to find a place for treatment in Austria.
Many of the people are glad just to have their worries listened
to and I can send a few children to Dr. Jenan for treatment. I
take the diagnoses of a few with me to Austria, hoping to be
able to arrange for treatment there. At this time there is no
other humanitarian organization in Basra that arranges for
treatment abroad. The few relief organizations that are still
represented here are staffed with local personnel and are very
limited in their functioning, because no international relief
organization will send a representative to Iraq: The risk is
simply too high.
They will leave – but
we are staying
At the entrance to Basra
there is an inordinately large sign, which says: “They will
leave – but we’re staying” – meaning the terrorists, who commit
attacks every day all over the country. The people, however,
joke about who might have ordered this sign. That the occupiers
will stay in the country about that the people have no doubt,
while most Iraqis rack their brains how to leave the country to
escape this chaos. The Iraqis see themselves as the ones who
will leave.
Once, when we sit at supper
at the house of the Archbishop, there is a scream from the cook.
Her husband has brought the news that a relative, who had been
abducted, has been found dead. Even though ransom had been paid
for him he had been formally executed. Death is ever-present in
Iraq and for over two years everyone leaving the house in the
morning wonders whether he will see his family again in the
evening. Here in Austria we don’t hear of all the attacks and
murders by a long shot. The death, or the disabling of a man
plunges an entire family into the abyss, for he is often the
sole support of an extended family and not infrequently up to
twenty people are dependent on his income. When Iraqis get
together they have always liked to tell each other jokes that
refer to the current situation. Even if it was strictly
forbidden at the time, even posing mortal danger, Saddam Hussein
naturally was often the butt of those jokes. Now it is the
Americans, the British – even death - that has become the
subject of these jokes. It is a way of coping with the wretched
everyday and the fear that often remains unexpressed.
In the name of the sick
children of Basra we would like to express our heartfelt thanks
to DHL Austria; 500 lbs of reagents for the equipment for blood
analysis of the hospital were shipped to Basra from Vienna free
of charge. We also want to thank this time again Dr. Faisal in
Kuwait who again granted us his hospitality and support. He has
become not only our friend, but also the friend of the sick
children of Basra. IPPNW Germany we offer thanks for their
continuing support (funding of the reagents). We URGENTLY ask
for continued support; primarily we are looking for a sponsor to
fund the urgently needed work at the children’s cancer ward. For
the time being our assistance MUST be continued; the sick
children of Basra need US! |