Paying the Price: Mothers In Iraq

by, Faiza Al-Araji 

Peace be upon you.

We are supposed to be rational creatures, who organize ourselves to live in harmony, so that peace will prevail for all.  The foolishness and greed of some, however, facilitate wars, bloodshed and the destruction of others.  Their countries are destroyed.  They are displaced from their homes. They live in thwarting conditions like poverty, hunger, moral decay and economic collapse. These things destroy the fabric of societies and embitter the lives of those living in them adversely impacting future generations. 

Now, after more than five years of war and occupation in Iraq, I want to tell the real stories of Iraqi women, Iraqi women, those still living in Iraq, those who immigrated with husbands and children to neighboring countries like Jordan and Syria and those who went ‘west’ to Europe and America.

As a featured contributor at Mombo TV, I will be writing for an audience of mothers around the world. I will be addressing readers from different countries, readers….whom I do not know and who do not know me personally. We are, however, bound by a sense of humanitarianism… if not by language, religion or culture. We share the same Earth…same sky and live under one Lord…God, who created us all…one God… who has no partners and no match.

Today I want to talk about Iraqi mothers and what they have suffered since 2003, when the first troops from America and other allied countries invaded Iraq under the pretext of liberating the country from the dictatorial regime.

 My neighbor in Baghdad lost one of her sons when he was killed by stray bullets. Her husband had a stroke and died due to grief over the loss of his son.  My neighbor had to leave her home and travel to the United Arab Emirates with only one of her sons, while the rest of the children sought asylum in Sweden.  They were young people, newly-graduated from university, and yet they were forced to live elsewhere as refugees.

The wife of the gardener who used to tend the gardens of our neighborhood in Baghdad lost one of her sons. An armed militia attacked them and drove them out of their house forcing the family to flee and live jobless in another village. The once employed gardener now has a heart condition that requires surgery. The family is in need of continuous financial aid because the husband was the family’s primary income earner.

These are just two stories about Iraqi mothers that I know.  More will be shared in the future. Perhaps their stories will shed new insight about what the Iraqi mothers have suffered as a result of the war and the occupation…. They used to live in their houses, facing the difficulties of the past life; the war and the embargo. Life was not easy for them, but at least they used to live peacefully in their homes, with their husbands and children. Now, even that security and settlement has become something of the past….