-part 1-
Salaam aleikum va rahmatu Llahi. Already a whole year passed since, blessed be Allah Almighty, I left the refugee camp for women and children in Syria. Still, the memories from my captivity there continue to haunt me, with vivid images from the time I was inside the camp frequently appearing in my dreams. After I returned from the camp, I needed to heal physically, not only mentally and emotionally, and I had to give a special attention to my medical treatment. Nowadays, I always keep in my house a wide array of medicine, like I am running some sort of small, improvised pharmacy.
I wish to tell you now, my dear readers, a little bit about the reasons behind my current preoccupation of making provisions and constantly having a well-stocked medicine cabinet in my house at all times. You see, inside the camp, medical care was practically inexistent. To start with, there were no pharmacies. There was hospital, but getting to have access to it was extremely difficult. For example, not even fainting and losing you consciousness was always a good enough reason to be taken to the hospital. And there were many cases in which women and children died because they were not allowed to go see a doctor. Moreover, not even going to the hospital always resulted in getting better.
I, too, had undergone through an experience which clearly revealed the way in which things worked inside the camp’s hospital. I always get sick because of the heat, my blood pressure drops and, if I don’t drink enough liquids, I quickly get dehydrated. As a result, during the summer, there are times when I can lay in bed for 2-3 days at a time and only get up if I absolutely need to, as I have to walk around slowly, holding on to something at all times, so as not to get dizzy. Considering the fact that my condition was not considered serious enough to be taken to the hospital, I was helped by one of the Muslim sisters in the camp, who had a some medical knowledge and, through some sort of small miracle, procured an iv drop / perfusion that would help me recover from my wrecked state (I had been bed ridden for three days straight at that time). It was nothing complex, just a bit of glucose to help me get up. Unfortunately, soon after the perfusion I started to feel extremely ill. I started getting dizzy, I could barely move, I felt all my powers leaving me and even started having difficulties talking. I assumed I had a minor stroke and decided to try and reach the gate of the camp, in order to request to be taken to the hospital. I barely made it to literally drag myself to the gate.
Through the Will and Mercy of Allah Almighty, the soldiers saw the awful state I was in, took pity upon me and took me to the hospital. After I reached the hospital, I had to wait for a very long time until a doctor became available to see me. After he approached me, the doctor asked about my symptoms and sent me to take an EKG. After he looked at the results he simply said I was fine, there was nothing wrong with me, and sent me back to my tent. During the whole time he looked at me and treated me with disdain. The doctor did not even bother to prescribe me at least some vitamins or any other kind of medicine or supplements to help me get a little bit better. When the soldiers brought me back from the hospital, I barely made it to my tent. I sent my daughter to search for the Muslim Sister that helped me before with the perfusion, and asked her to look at the results of my EKG. She told me that there were visible changes from what would have been a normal EKG.
In conclusion, going to the hospital did not do me any good. It did not help at all. And such cases were extremely frequent in the camp.
During the first year, no one was allowed to see us, no one had access to us. None of the international relief, humanitarian or medical aid organization could come inside de camp in order to help us. When finally the organizations were given permission to enter the premises of the camp, they started to distribute medicine out of small vehicles. We would go to the cars, describe our symptoms, and based on that, the people there would give us the right medicine. Knowing there was no other possibility to procure medicine while being inside the camp, I got into the habit of regularly going to these vehicles, and using different names, I would make up all sorts of symptoms and health issues, observed what kind of medicine they had inside the car, in order to take them and keep them in case of any emergency. And thus, I started making provisions not just for myself, but for others as well, and in the event that anyone inside the camp needed some medicine, I would offer and provide them with what I had each time.
And thus, the life inside the camp, through the Will of Allah, prepared myself and my family for all sorts of difficulties.
May Allah Protect all Muslims, Heal them and offer them all the best things on Earth. Ameen.
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