As you probably already know, my dear readers, all my stories are about the refugee camps for Muslim women and children in Syria. The story today makes no exception. I want to tell you now, my dear readers, about the plights of Muslim women who are also mothers and struggle to keep their children safe each day and shelter them from harm in what one can easily call inhumane living conditions. It is no secret that the children insider the refugee camps in Syria are exposed daily to a number of risks that is much higher than that a normal child living in a peaceful country would face, and the dangerous circumstances they must face are far greater than many could imagine. You cannot phantom the number of times when small children simply vanished without a trace from the premises of the camps. The surface of the camps is enormous and, when a child exits his mother’s tent without being noticed, it takes only a minute, even less, for him or her to become lost. Many a times, the missing child was sought after for more than 3 or 4 hours. The mental and emotional state of a woman looking for the missing child cannot be put into words, the distress she experiences when she knows perfectly well that beyond the enclosed perimeter of the camp there is nothing, and her child is nowhere to be found. Nevertheless, she goes everywhere, searches, and calls out her child’s name. I really do not wish to ever experience such a feeling. There were many a times when I helped my fellow Muslim Sisters to look for their lost little ones. I have seen the despair on their faces, the fear, confusion and bewilderment of not knowing where they could have vanished. Especially after 3 or more hours of searching incessantly throughout the camp without any result. And, by comparison with these horrible emotions, I have also seen their faces when, finally, their children were found. You could easily see on their faces how the much awaited peace and calm finally took over them.
Nonetheless, the times when children get lost are, probably, the most harmless situations of all the bad things that can happen to them inside the camp. Another danger that mothers had to be aware of was the fact that, at the edge of the camp was a resin swamp / tar pit. If you accidentally fell into it, even with a tiny bit of your body you would be completely drawn in and sink into it, without anybody ever founding your body again. I closely averted that danger with one of my own children. The worst part is I only found out about the incident after a year it occurred. I will tell you a little bit about it in the following. When my eldest daughter was about 12 or 13 years old, she decided to take a stroll in the camp. She found the swamp to be quite interesting, so she decided to touch its surface with her foot. Needless to say, she slipped and started to sink inside it. Blessed be Allah that one of the Muslim Sisters saw her and helped her out of the swamp. My daughter was already panicked and thought that was the end of her life. When she finally told me about it, a whole year later, I felt so afraid as I realized I might have lost her and never be able to see her again, without even knowing or ever finding out what had happened to her. Even writing about it now, my whole body began to shake uncontrollably and I felt Goosebumps all over.
Another peril for the children were the vehicles used by the soldiers inside the camp. Some of them, a sort of small pick-up trucks, passed through the camp at high speeds. Others, like the trucks used to fill the water tanks were slow, but that did not make them any less dangerous. Children, especially boys that were older than 8, used to cling to the backs of these vehicles and take a ride with them that way. But this sort of “fun” was dangerous, as they could easily slip and get run over or fall and break something. And there were many situations in which young boys got hurt that way or even killed.
I will now tell you, my dear readers, about such a tragic accident that I witnessed and that got stuck in my memory so poignantly that, even now, many years later, I cannot recall it without shedding tears.
The tragedy struck in one of the days in which in the camp a water truck entered. These vehicles have huge wheels and are extremely heavy. The boys, as usual, gathered round behind it and started clinging to its back. One of the boys either pushed another one, or the second simply tripped by himself, but he fell to the ground. In the meantime, the heavy truck was backing towards the water tank, and the driver could not see all the commotion behind the vehicle. Practically, when the boy fell, his head was caught right under one of the wheels of the truck. He died instantly. The boy was only 13 or 14 years old. Those who witnessed later said they were so shocked by the sight that they simply got sick and started throwing up instantly. The boy’s mother ran towards the truck and arrived before the doctors. At the sight of her son she fainted. After she came to her senses, she started to weep and she crashed to the ground completely. For a long time, nobody managed to calm her down.
To lose your child is probably the most horrific and tragic thing for a woman and I say this from my own experience. I know what it means to witness a tragic death of someone who is part of your body, whose blood is your blood. It means utter despair, it means facing the fact that you will never see again the one person who is the closest and most important individual to you in the entire world. Nothing can compare to the pain of losing someone you love dearly. You try to continue your life, to live on and overcome the grief you face, telling yourself that this is only another test of your Faith, that is was Allah’s wish and that you have to stay strong and proud. Moreover, you cannot forget your other children, whom you have to continue to raise and educate, no matter what the circumstances might be or life might bring. I truly do not wish such trials to anyone on this earth. May Allah Protect and Bless each and every child on the planet, so that no mother has to face the pain of losing a loved child. May it be that not mother has to mourn her beloved child. I ask Allah Almighty to Bless and Protect all Muslims, regardless of age or gender.
Asira
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