Iraq: Children with serious illnesses abandoned

[Barrett808]

Source: IRIN

BAGHDAD, 21 November 2007 (IRIN) - Nine-year-old Faleh Muhammad was abandoned by his family in April 2006. He was left to fend for himself in the streets of Baghdad, and later he was diagnosed with leukaemia.

"I miss my mother… in the last days before they left me, she was very sad. One day I woke up in the morning to find my father and mother had disappeared," Faleh said.

"We were living in an abandoned building near Hay Jamia'a District with three other families. I asked them about my parents and they told me they had left. So I had to work to be able to eat because those families couldn't feed me," he said.

Faleh said he started begging in the streets of Baghdad and one day he had a serious headache and fainted. Helped by passers-by, he was taken to Yarmouk hospital and after two days diagnosed with leukaemia.

"I remember my father saying I was useless because I was rotten from the inside and I never understood why, but now I know that the reason for abandoning me was my disease," Faleh said, adding that his father was poor and could not afford the treatment.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/e43164feb4b730d61334b319ee6f3e6e.htm

[balantz]

1. We are a horror to the world. Thank you bushcheney.

You have really led a humanitarian effort to rid these people of suffering and usher in a new and wonderful day for us all. What kind of god do you really worship?

[rodeodance]

2. Over 1.6 million children under the age of 12 have become homeless in Iraq, according to the country

The Iraqi Red Crescent (IRC) told IRIN the rise in the number of abandoned children was alarming, the result of sectarian violence and drastic socio-economic problems.

An IRC employee, who preferred anonymity, told IRIN many parents leave their children with relatives who already have over 20 children to look after and are later abandoned or forced to work in the streets to supplement the household income. It is not uncommon to see a houses teaming with children.

Over 1.6 million children under the age of 12 have become homeless in Iraq, according to the country's Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. That's almost 70 percent of the estimated 2.5 million Iraqis who are homeless inside the country.

"There are no reliable estimates of how many orphans and abandoned children are in Iraq today but we believe, according to some data collected by local NGOs, that over 8,000 children are in the same or a similar situation to that of Faleh," Mayada said.

as/ar/cb

[ellie]

3. Glad to see we are winning the hearts and minds

of the Iraqis! And not only that all of those repukes and their culture of life have made the occupation a joy to behold!

GOD, I HATE THIS COUNTRY AND THESE PEOPLE RUNNING IT. That's for you, lurking repuke fuckheads.

[aquart]

4. The NY Times once did a terrorist profile.

The main ingredients in creating a future terrorist were political instability and a severe childhood illness. So, basically, we've turned Iraq into a terrorist factory.

[balantz]

5. I fear many won't live long enough to see any kind of future.

;(

[aquart]

6. No, but the few who do will have long memories.

And, really, how many does it take?

[balantz]

7. True.

Walking, or limping bombs of seething hatred.

[aquart]

8. And nobody honest can tell them they're wrong.

[balantz]

9. For sure

The wrong has already been done.

[provis99]

10. how ironic

Under Saddam's socialized healthcare, this little kid would have gotten immediate treatment. But since the transitional authority imposed a free-market, American-style healthcare system in Iraq, kids aren't being treated because its too expensive. They're becoming Americanized, I guess.

[LynnTheDem]

11. WELCOME to AMERICA where all children without $ for insurance are

abandoned!

[boricua79]

12. leukemia, huh?

Sounds like DU poisoning.

We have NO idea how much suffering we have inflicted on MILLIONS of families with that radioactive stuff. We've made their country a radioactive zone for 4.5 billions years....and more and more kids will be born with problems or will have cancer earlier.

It's a slow trickle of non-stop tragedies...for all of eternity to come.

That's our legacy in Iraq.