Story of old woman, blind husband displaced from Syria’s Hasakah
The IDP Hadla Sheikho and her husband in a house in the city of Derbasiyah north of Hasakah Governorate – North Press
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – In a room lacking the simplest basic necessities of life in the town of Derbasiyah in Hasakah northern countryside, northeastern #Syria, the 65-year-old Hadlah Sheikho cries over what her life had turned into three years ago and on.
Both her husband and she suffer from the hardship of life and the bitterness of displacement alone with no supporter whatsoever.
While her husband sits next to her, Sheikho said, “War and displacement took my life and made me an old woman. I cannot even work to provide food for either of us.”
In October 2019, Turkish forces and affiliated armed opposition factions, also known as Syrian National Army, launched a military operation called “Peace Spring” against the Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad regions.
As a result, Turkey occupied the two regions and caused the displacement of about 300.000 of the original inhabitants.
After growing old, the displaced woman cannot find a job or leave her blind husband.
“In the past, I used to work and I did not feel myself growing old. It is true that we did not have children and my husband is blind, but we were able to support ourselves in our house. Our house was our kingdom.”
She kept talking about her past and present lives and her anxiety regarding their future.
Sheikho did not stop weeping, while her blind and deaf husband who was unaware of what is going around him, trying to make sure that his loyal wife is beside him through touching her.
She lived a hard life in the past working in fields to put food on the table for both of them. Despite the hardship, but it was a beautiful past comparing to the bitterness of the displacement journey from Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) three years ago.
Sheikho, who is currently living in the town of Derbasiyah, north of Hasakah, unfolds the details of her happy pre-Turkish operation period autumn 2019. She and her husband used to live an ok life despite all of the poverty and difficult living conditions, but it was going fine as many “poor people”.
The huge difference emerges when she compares that simple past life with the living hell that she has been witnessing along with her husband for three years.
“The neighboring women and I used to work in the farms by day laborers,” she said, adding, “We used to work all day long. Despite the hard work and exhaustion, I was able to support my family and take good care of my blind husband.”
At least, the wife was capable of securing food and medicine so she can live with her husband in their own house which was full of simple tools, “We did not need help from anybody.”
When her memories bring her back to her current miserable life, smile on Sheikho’s face disappears leaving the pain features on her face and lips. She starts talking about her displacement journey.
“They attacked us with shells, bombs and bullets. I fled with my husband leaving everything behind.”
She did not even have the chance to take the last look at her house which meant a whole life to her, to walk with the people in the displacement convoys where crying and weeping sounds are everywhere to be heard.
After a long painful march, the IDPs groups reached the town of Tel Tamr north of Hasakah. She stayed in a school designated to be an IDP shelter, lacking the very basic equipment such as sheets, medicine and food.
When some of them thought that the journey had come to an end, shelling renewed over the outskirts of Tel Tamr, pushing Sheikho and her husband to start off a new journey to the countryside and finally to the city of Derbasiyah.
Sheikho stopped there and started talking of her present days. “We lost everything, everything that we built, and now we are living depending on aid and charity that some humanitarian NGOs provide, which are not enough to the simplest needs.”
She added while her eyes filled with tears, “Good people visit us from time to time. Some give us foodstuffs and others give us small amount of money.”