DERIK, Syria (North Press) – On a mulberry tree’s branch in the middle of a house in the city of Derik, in the far northeastern Syria, a mother hangs her child’s medicine bag in an attempt to protect them from summer heat, but it seems that this will not work due to the increasing temperature.
Two days ago, the 34-year-old helpless Iman Ma’mi resorted to feed her paralyzed child on tea instead of milk, being unable to offer for milk price.
In Derik, Ma’mi, who experienced displacement several times, recounted woes of displacement and how they ended up in this dire condition.
In a house that lacks almost all aspects of life, laying on a tiny foam mattress, the bedridden little girl, Dijla, is crying, trying to call her mother.
Although Ma’mi told North Press that the girl is six years old now, she sounds to be three due to the shape of her slender body.
The mother, who knows but little Arabic, stressed that what her family has suffered during the frequent displacements is nothing compared to her daughter’s health condition, which is constantly deteriorating.
We are paying the price
Dijla was supposed to go to school this year and spend her time playing with her peers, but, unfortunately, things did not go as planned.
Three years ago, Dijla was living with her family a “normal life” in Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) until Oct. 9 2019, when she received a piece of shrapnel in her head while her family was trying to protect themselves from Turkish shells, according to Ma’mi.
In October 2019, the Turkish forces supported by the Turkish-backed Syrian armed opposition factions, also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), launched the “Peace Spring” military operation.
As a result of the operation, about 300.000 original inhabitants were forced to flee their houses, as others were killed and wounded.
The incident turned the life of the child and her family around, as it caused her paralysis in the limbs and brain dysfunction that caused her growth, speech and movement problems.
The mother remembers those moments very well. When they were trying to escape to the town of Tel Tamr, a Turkish helicopter shelled them and Dijla was hurt.
“He [Erdogan] targets the children, causing their limbs to be amputated and to be beheaded…..victims were mostly innocent civilians,” the mother said.
“What is the fault of children?” she wondered.
She recalled the state of terror they experienced at the time, saying, “War experience that we had was very harsh.”
She stressed that memories of war still haunt them, including displacement, poverty, homelessness, and living in dire conditions. These are the results of the military escalation, according to the mother.
Insufficient medication
The family fled to Tel Tamr, but the town was also pounded by the Turkish forces, so, they went to the city of Hasakah where the child received treatment for a month in a hospital there.
The mother said that they moved then to the city of Qamishli, hoping to find someone who can help in the treatment of Dijla.
After the family failed in obtaining the needed support, they moved to the city of Derik to go to the Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRI).
But because they were unable to cover the travel costs, they were unable to travel, according to her.
Ma’mi did not lose hope and went to Damascus a while ago, after some people donated money to her.
In the Syrian capital, doctors told the family that their daughter’s health can develop, but that requires treatment for a year at least and taking medication continuously, Ma’mi added.
“But our deteriorating economic condition does not help us to treat her, and my husband cannot offer for the treatment,” she stressed.
Dijla’s father works for the Internal Security Forces of North and East Syria (Asayish), and he makes about 250.000 SYP (equals about $64) monthly. The family lives in a rented house, and pays 100.000 SYP per month as a rent.
Frequent displacement
Speaking of their displacement during the Syrian war, the mother said that at the beginning of the war, they fled from Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in the city of Aleppo fleeing the Free Syrian Army factions’ risk to the city of Manbij and they settled there for a while.
After that they were forced to move to the city of Kobani after those factions took control of Manbij. They resorted to Turkey, looking for a better life. However, they did not manage to improve their condition, so they made their way back to Sere Kaniye after a month, where the family’s displacement journey ended.
In the medicine bag hanged on the branch, there are only one or two types of medicine, while the girl needs many, one of which costs 200,000 SYP (about $50) and the other 100,000 SYP.
The treatment of the child is expensive, especially for a family that has been displaced several times and has not settled in ten years, she added.
“I demand nothing, but to treat my daughter,” the mother concluded.