Hunger, poverty, and the death threatens her child: a woman displaced from Sahl al-Ghab to “Harem” appeals to international organizations in her testimony to the Syrian Observatory

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights obtained a testimony of a displaced 40-year-old woman named A.H. who lives in a camp in “Harem” area in the northern countryside of Idlib, where she lives with her family of four including the child “Radwan”, who suffers from stones in the kidney and the right ureter, and in her testimony to the “Syrian Observatory” A.H. says that she displaced from her village, Tal Hawash, in the northern countryside of Hama at the beginning of the latest and most violent escalation operation, where she settled in the gathering of “Harem” camps without a breadwinner after the death of her husband since the beginning of the Syrian events.

She says: “I have a family of four, their father left her from the beginning of the events in shelling targeted the village, his death was a new beginning for me in suffering and pain, I never imagined that I would play the role of father one day, I suffered great difficulties from the extreme poverty, raising them properly, and securing their needs, I gave up my right to be a woman, and I started to go through the hard and tiring work to secure their daily needs, and since my husband’s death in March 2013, I have been living alone with these children in a small house he left for us, and I started working in the agricultural land in workshops at the area, with a daily wage of no more than 350 Syrian pounds, which is only the price of a bag of bread and one kilogram of vegetables, I sold a piece of agricultural land that my husband owned to support my children, and I had no other way of earning income, and with the beginning of the recent escalation in the area, the village was subjected to heavy aerial and ground shelling, and all its inhabitants were displaced from it towards the Syrian north, I do not know how I managed to escape with my children, but the crazy shelling forced me to flee with the villagers and I landed in Harem camps on the Syrian – Turkish border, and for days I suffered from being displaced staying out in the open without a shelter until I found a small tent that was sheltering a family from Karnaz town.”

A.H continues: “Radwan is 8 years old and suffering from stones in his right kidney and right ureter, and his health is deteriorating daily, I went to several doctors and hospitals in the Syrian north, but everyone confirms that he needs an operation to remove or blow up the stone in the right kidney which will affect his health significantly and he may lose his kidney as a result, and that he needs immediate treatment in Turkey for this operation, I went to Bab al-Hawa hospital several times and every time his admission is postponed, and now he is in a serious situation, and what makes his health worse is this tragic situation that we live in this tent, it lacks most of the elements of normal life, the tent is very small and worn out, it has been used for 5 years, and it doesn’t protect from the heat of summer nor the cold of winter which became close, moreover, the drinking water is one of the biggest obstacles and difficulties, where I suffer severely to be able to get it, and the amount of water that is distributed monthly is not enough for more than several days, we also suffer from a great shortage of food and the high prices, where all the prices of goods are high and are not suitable for the displaced people’ situation, and we don’t have any source of income after we got out of our homes and couldn’t get anything of our property out.”

Mrs. A.H. appealed through the Syrian Observatory, to all humanitarian organizations and charities to help her and her children, adding: “My child needs treatment outside Syria quickly, every hour that passes makes his health worse, and I demand that he be immediately taken to the hospital and facilitate his entry to Turkey to have the operation and receive the necessary treatment, I also appeal to the humanitarian organizations working in the Syrian north to consider our situation and help improve our living reality, the tent needs to be replaced before the winter starts, we need drinking and usable water in sufficient quantity in addition to food, and improving the situation of the camp in general in terms of drainage and sewerage so we can stay in this camp, and I hope that we all return to our villages and towns soon.”