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13 March 2008 |
Nour, Naël and Naima suffer from painful, disabling wounds and were not properly treated. They have entered the MSF post-operative care programs.
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Nour speaks to a MSF psychologist.
© Valerie Babize / MSF |
Nour (photo above) was foraging for wood with her father at a former settlement near the Israeli border. Their cart was hit by Israeli army fire and Nour lost the use of three limbs. She was treated in Gaza and Israel and is now participating in the MSF program, where she receives essential treatment that her family could not afford. Nour sees the MSF psychologist every week.
Naël, 14. “I was in the street a few meters from my house. It was September 26. Some friends invited me to play soccer. We started playing, there were about 20 of us, of all ages. I barely caught a glimpse of three masked, armed resistance fighters who passed close by us.
Suddenly I felt the force of an explosion. My body flew up and fell back down. Two of my friends were lying next to me, dead. The others were wounded. I remained conscious. I remember everything that happened, down to the smallest detail. My cousin arrived right away. He thought I was going to die.
I was mutilated by the explosion. I lost my legs and one arm. My brother took me to the hospital in a friend’s car. I was shuffled from one hospital to the next. After three months in the hospital, they told me they couldn’t do anything more for me. When I left the hospital, I didn’t really know what I needed. Then I found out about MSF. They changed my bandages every day and I started physical therapy so my muscles wouldn’t weaken. I see a psychologist regularly because I get flashbacks all the time and I can’t sleep at night anymore.
I used to dance the Dabka, the traditional Palestinian dance. I danced every day for five years. I belonged to a dance troupe and I was supposed to go on tour abroad. I went back to school two weeks ago in a wheelchair. I have easy access to my classroom. I’d like to be a computer engineer.”
Naïma, 43, wounded in a hospital. “I was at home when I heard that there had just been a huge clash with shooting, missiles and bombs and that my nephew was dead. I was very frightened. I didn’t know what to do so I went to my brother’s house to find out if it was true. We went to the place where it happened. We saw blood and immediately went to the hospital.
I took a deep breath and I went inside. The police were asking, “Who is this?” pointing to my nephew, stretched out on the bed. All the women ran to the police. I was pleading with them, “Please, what do you want with him? Please, let him live, please.” As we were speaking, they started shooting in the hospital. People were crying and screaming.
They started pushing us. I was shot first in my left foot. Since we resisted, they went to find reinforcements. They grabbed a metal chair and struck me on the right leg. Then they took a grenade and pulled the pin. It exploded. Shots rained down on us. They kept saying they were going to kill him. I couldn’t breathe anymore. It was as if my lungs were on fire. I coughed, but I was still shouting. Then a man shot me again in the foot. I lost consciousness. The whole family rushed over to protect my nephew. His mother was also shot in the leg, his aunt in the left shoulder, and another aunt was shot in the arm and the chest. My husband was wounded in the foot and thigh. I was the most seriously injured.
They wanted to take me to another hospital but it was too complicated. They needed to remove the bullets that day. I waited two more days and received a little more care and then I was sent home. They told me I’d get another operation a week later but I’m still waiting. They said there was no room because of the high number of wounded. The doctor told me that the grenade fragments could cause infection and that I should cover my wound, but since I have no money I couldn’t be treated. That’s when I met MSF.
Nour suffered a foot fracture and experiences continuing nerve pain. When she would sit down, she always lifted the injured leg to a horizontal position. She could not bend her foot. At the MSF clinic, her wounds were cleaned regularly. The physical therapist worked with her for six months and she gradually recovered ease of movement. Today, Nour walks with crutches. Although her wounds have healed, her fracture has not, but she is able to move around. The work continues.
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