Poverty, disease, displacement added insult to injury

SHARVIN MUSTAFA –ARIF SULIMAN/AFRIN

Mohammed Mustafa Bakr, 80, and Saleha Bakr, 61, has spent their lifetime in Miskê village in Rajo district . They were parents of six children. Three of them emigrated abroad to seek a living so that they could support their parents and others preferred serving their country by joining Asayîş forces and regiments.

The family suffers from the poor living conditions. They secured  their daily livelihood from working in agriculture, and after leaving the village due to the Turkish occupation of their city, they could no longer work or even secure their daily requirements.

On 18 March 2018, the elderly couple headed toward to al-Shahba camp in Keştar village, searching for safe shelter which were denied by the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries from Afrin.

The couple suffer illness , without a supporter to help them

She has been suffering from thyroid disease in her neck for 30 years, initially suffering from a small fatty mass in her neck, showing no interest in what she was suffering, and her difficult living situation prevented her from visiting a doctor to monitor her condition.

As the days passed, her condition is getting worse day by day and with the help of relatives and neighbors, she was able to visit a doctor and discovered that she had thyroid disease in her neck and had to undergo surgery to recover from the disease.

At first the mass was not large, but seven years ago the size of the mass in the neck increased until it exceeded tens of centimeters and encircled her neck, until the shape of the neck turned into a spherical mass.

She is currently suffering from shortness of breath, which affects her sleep, inability to eat as well as blood flow from her nose from time to time, taking her condition into consideration, she must perform surgery as soon as possible.

In addition to Saleha's condition, her husband, Mohammed Bakr, suffers from torn ligaments in his right hand, which prevented him from moving his right hand.

Sherawa district and al-Shahba canton suffer lack of medical staff specialized in intractable cases, and the lack of availability of medicines and treatment for such diseases. According to the medical point in the camp where the couples are living, the case of the couple need to be rapidly relieved to other areas for surgery.

Al-Shahba camp suffers from a lack of resources, and humanitarian and relief organizations do not provide support and assistance to the people of the camp, where more than 100 families live, most of them have been displaced and are living in poverty-stricken conditions.

(T/S)

ANHA