Iraq’s Poorest Finding it Harder to Survive

Huda, in the cast, will lose her arm if she cannot get treatment soon. (Photo: N. Latif)


By Sarah Price and Nizar Latif

IRAQ, July 15, (Pal Telegraph) - Asime is 13 and lives in east Baghdad. He has lost both his parents in the last two years, and is now taking care of a sick uncle. With no job opportunities and insufficient help from the Iraqi government, he has had to turn to crime to survive. He hates to steal, but knows that without this, he and his uncle will starve.

"My father died two years ago and then my mother died six months later, so my uncle took me in," he says. "He is poor, but said he wanted me with him because he doesn't have any children, and he knew the orphanage couldn't care for me well. But now, my uncle is seriously ill and cannot work. So, now I have to steal - from shops, or from older people. I steal valuable things, because they can be sold for money.

"I hate to steal. It's bad and I don't have the right to do it. But I have the right to life, and the government doesn't provide enough for me and my sick uncle, so I am compelled to steal, for money and food. My uncle doesn't know what I do. I told him I clean up some of the shops in the market for the money."

But he has been offered work - as part of a gang, which is very active in eastern Baghdad and is known for abducting children of the rich.

"I felt very scared, because this work is very dangerous," he says. "It is reasonable to steal and get the money, but it is not reasonable to engage in terrorist acts for it."

But while he will not turn to kidnapping, he cannot stop stealing. He says he will stop when he can earn enough from a job, or when the Iraqi government will provide enough money to allow him to. But he knows his days are numbered. The Iraqi police will catch him eventually.

Asime is one of approximately 2.5 million children in Iraq who have lost one or both parents due to the war, or sectarian or militia violence. The lack of available work and support from the government or humanitarian organizations has led many children to theft, and some of their mothers to prostitution, just to have food. Those who cannot buy food sift through garbage to find something to feed their families, leading also to health problems that they cannot afford to treat.

Umm Ali lost her husband three years ago. She lives in a very old building in a poor and dirty district in the city of Kut, in southern Iraq. Her apartment has no furniture, does not contain electrical appliances, or cold water to drink to endure the deadly heat of the Iraqi summer.

"My husband was working in the men's clothing store in downtown Kut, when a clash between the Mahdi Army and the U.S. military broke out in the market center of the city," she says. "He was killed in the crossfire. Since then, I have tried to make a better life for my children, but life is very difficult and I cannot provide them with the most basic requirements of life. Sometimes we do not have food for days, and the children have to search for food from the garbage."

Umm Ali talks about the death of her son, Ali, in the photo behind her (Photo: N. Latif)

Sometimes she gets temporary work, which helps feed her six kids, but when she can't work, they find themselves begging for money and help. What money she does get from work lasts only long enough to feed the family for a few days.

In addition to the daily struggles of raising her children alone, she is dealing with a new family tragedy: her son, Ali, 13, was killed by a guided missile that fell near their house, and her daughter Huda, 7, injured by the shrapnel in it, while they were playing outside one day. She could not afford to bury Ali, and had to rely on the help of neighbors and friends. And she has not been able to get medical care for Huda. As a result, Huda's arm is infected, and without prompt medical attention, she could lose it altogether. She says that due to the lack of adequate medical treatment in Iraq, the care Huda has been able to get has not helped her. Her flesh is rotting, and every day that passes without medical attention makes her prognosis worse.

"Our lives were much better when my husband was alive," says Umm Ali. "He was very involved. He provided food and clothing for the family, and solved the problems of my sons, and he was interested in all the details, large and small. But since his death, I think I've lost control of my family, and I worry that they could become criminals and dangerous when they grow up, because I couldn't give them a decent life."

She does get help from some humanitarian organizations, she says, but it's not enough.

"My wish was to see my children get a good education and study in universities and become important people in their community," she says. "But instead they are beggars on the street, and they hardly have any food to eat. They could lose their future and become dangerous to people in their community."

Nisreen al-Musawi, director of the Anwarul organization, which takes care of widows and orphans in Wasit Province in southern Iraq, says, "Widows and orphans suffer total neglect by the Iraqi officials, and the problem has increased significantly over the past three years, especially after the events of community violence, which affected all segments of Iraqi society and the increased numbers of widows and orphans across Iraq."

She points out that while some organizations are trying to help, it is not nearly enough to curb the problems caused by this epidemic:

"We're getting support from some international organizations such as the United Nations and other groups that attempt to provide assistance to widows and orphans," she says, "as well as some support from the Iraqi government, some Iraqi officials, the American forces, and some support from the rich, but the Iraqi support is not sufficient for the needs of this large army of widows and orphans."

She feels that there could have been preventative measures taken to stop this situation from occurring, but that the government did not take care of it when it should have. She fears for the future of these families, as well as the impact it could have on the country.

"Terrorist organizations, militias and al-Qaeda are trying to recruit the largest possible number of widows and orphans to their side in the fight against the U.S. military or Iraqi security forces, and they have succeeded in that because widows and orphans are suffering from neglect in Iraq and suffering from hunger and difficult living conditions," she says. "This is what makes them easy targets for al-Qaeda and militias. There is a huge number of widows and orphans at their disposal."

Umm Mohammed is a widow who lives next door to Umm Ali. The fatigue her life causes her shows on her face and can be heard in her voice. She is the mother of four young boys - Mohammed, 12, Ahmed, 10, Mazin, 8, and Moualk, 3. She has a job cleaning a school nearby so she can provide for them, but comes home so tired she finds it hard to do much more. She is considering taking them out of school so they can work and help her, as school and living costs have risen steeply, and state funds don't cover enough of the expenses.

"The state provides less than $100 per month, which is not enough to take care of the family for three days," she says. "Iraq is a country very rich in resources, sufficient to provide a decent life for all Iraqis. The Iraqi officials should stop the theft of Iraqi funds and channel these funds for the widows and orphans, because we are ready to do anything to get food and clothing."

But she is concerned that her children will also be willing to do anything for money, including turning to crime, and she is very concerned about their future.

"I have many friends who are widows, and they are all suffering from ill-treatment by the Iraqi government," she says. "There are no jobs for them or their children, and they are living in very difficult circumstances. Some of them have to work as prostitutes.

"We do not have the simple necessities of life. We live in apartments built in the sixties, and these apartments may collapse at any moment. We do not have any furniture in my house, and we eat very bad food. Perhaps some animals eat better meals."

With tens of thousands of families living below the poverty level in Wasit Province alone, and no government solution on the horizon, al-Musawi fears the humanitarian crisis will only worsen.