Children of War Read Online Free Page B

Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) did a
     trauma survey of Iraqi refugees in Syria that was published in January 2008.
     According to the survey, 77 percent of the refugees they talked to had been affected
     by air bombardment, shelling or rocket attacks; 80 percent had witnessed a shooting
     and 72 percent had witnessed a car bombing; 68 percent had experienced
     interrogation, harassment or death threats by militias and 16 percent had been
     tortured. The survey also found that 75 percent knew someone who had been killed,
     and 89 percent suffered from depression.
    Like many Iraqi families, Eva’s family has beenliving with war for generations. Eva and her family live in a
     small, dark apartment in Amman. They are Mandaean Sabians, followers of John the
     Baptist. The word sabia comes from an Aramaic word meaning to be baptized.
    The Sabians have had an up-and-down experience in Iraq, sometimes
     protected by the government and respected by others, sometimes having to hide from
     persecution. There have been times when certain professions were denied to them, so
     they took up what trades they could. Many have passed trades like goldsmithing and
     silversmithing down through generations.
    Since the overthrow of Saddam, many Sabian families have been
     targeted for political reasons, or by criminal gangs, and many have had to flee
     Iraq.
    We came to Jordan on May 5, 2005, after the killing of my father.
     He was a goldsmith.
    My whole life has been war. Really, from the moment I was born. My mother
     was giving birth to me when a missile hit the hospital. This was during the war with
     Iran. It was her first time to give birth, so you can imagine how scared she was anyway,
     and then the missile hitting.
    So I came here in war, and there is still war.
    We lived in Basra, in the south of Iraq, near the Iranian border, not too
     far from the sea. My memories of living there are not very good.
    We are Mandaean Sabians, and we were the only Sabian
     family in our area. It was mostly a Shiite community, and children would throw stones at
     me when I went outside. They also made fun of me because of my teeth. I have had too
     many health problems since I was born. I wasn’t strong like other children. They
     would laugh at me and the teachers would be mean, too, because it took me longer to
     learn. I liked to learn, but it took me longer.
    I went only as far as the third grade in Iraq. Then the health problems
     and the teasing got to be too bad. So I left school. I wish there was a way to learn new
     things here in Jordan, but there is no chance. My mother is a smart woman and could
     teach me, but she is too busy to spend the time. I try to help her by doing a lot of the
     cleaning and taking care of the younger children. When I have some quiet time, I like to
     write down my thoughts. I’m not good at it, but I like to do it.
    My mother says that all the bombing that happened while she was carrying
     me led to my sickness. My head did not look normal when I was born. The bombs brought
     many chemicals with them, and a lot of children were damaged, like me and even
     worse.
    After the war with Iran came the first war with the Americans. Then came
     all the years of sanctions, when it was not possible for me to get treatment.
    The sanctions meant there was no electricity, not enough food for many
     people. We were not a rich family. We had a very simple house, and my father worked in
     someone else’s shop. We had no extras to get us through. We were living like
     ghosts. We tried to stand on our ownfeet, because we are a proud
     family, but it was very hard. There was no good food available. Even the bread was bad
     and dark. The flour was mixed with wood dust and other things to make the wheat stretch
     farther.
    The bombing time was very loud. A bomb fell on our neighbor’s house
     and the whole earth shook. We were scared all the time. We trembled and shook even when
     the bombing had stopped. There was