Rather than try to list all of families whom DAI is supporting, I offer two examples. For more information about specific families, please contact me at david@battlefieldwithoutborders.org or go to the DAI web pages.
On April 1, 2003, a week before the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, Mustafa climbed to the roof of his home in Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood to adjust his television receiver in order to get news about the progress of the American invasion. The concussive force of an explosion from a nearby US bomb strike threw him from his roof. He fell two stories, landing on the cement below. "It felt like the air kicked me" he says. His back broke in two places, paralyzing him from the waist down. He was 21 years old at the time.
Doctors operated on Mustafa three times in Baghdad, inserting a platinum brace to support his back. He lay in traction for months before being released. Soon after these initial hospitalizations, Mustafa began to suffer severe pain. For some reason, his body was rejecting the brace.
From Iraq, he identified a hospital and a doctor in Amman, Jordan who would perform the tests and operations he required including an MRI, since at that time there was no MRI machine in Baghdad. His extended family raised $1500 for the surgery. Doctors in Amman performed surgery to remove an iron screw that had been used in Baghdad to hold his platinum spinal brace in place. The intense pain Mustafa had been suffering had been due to his body's rejection of the iron screw.
Back in Baghdad, Mustafa tried to obtain compensation from the US government. Finally, he received a letter from the United States Department of Defense saying that the US military took no financial responsibility for the injury that they had caused. He continued to wheel himself around Baghdad trying to get help. "I left no door unknocked," he told DAI team members.
Because Mustafa spent so much time soliciting the US military, he became a target for kidnappers and other armed groups. After a failed attempt to kidnap him, he fled to Amman with his fourteen year old brother, Taha, who is his primary caretaker. Mustafa's cousin, who had been supporting him in Iraq, has since been killed, possibly in a continuation of the targeting that Mustafa experienced based on his supposed connection with US forces.
DAI has arranged for Mustafa to receive ongoing physical therapy twice a week until he is resettled. This therapy is necessary to avoid further deterioration of his medical condition. He is also receiving acupuncture treatment on a regular basis at a nearby community health center.
He has been able to locate an apartment closer to the facilities where he is provided care. Because Taha has recently been able to enroll in school for the first time in years, transportation to and from his physical therapy clinic is now being facilitated by DAI. Iraqi team members are working with him to assess and support his ongoing needs until and after he is resettled.
Mustafa is likely to need further spinal cord surgery, perhaps following his resettlement to another country. DAI is committed to supporting Mustafa up to and throughout his transition, and to assisting with arrangements for care following his resettlement as needed.
When Mustafa’s mother came from Baghdad to Amman to visit him in late 2007, she was so struck by the improvement in his spirit and in his physical condition that she broke down in tears. Later she said: "I always knew American people weren’t evil. But now I have proof of it". Read If Irony Were Justice, a poem about Mustafa.
Muna's house in Kut, a village southeast of Baghdad, was struck by a US missile in early April of 2003, during the US invasion. The explosion killed Muna's parents, as well as her four brothers. It also killed her infant child, whose name was "Iraq."
Muna was the only survivor. She had ten pieces of shrapnel in her body, from her big toe to her chest. Three pieces of metal were lodged in her head; the largest was five centimeters long. After three more months of operations, treatment, and physical therapy, Muna regained the ability to sit up and to move around. She still had problems with dizziness, and used a wheelchair most of the time. The doctors said that her case was the most tenuous case in the hospital.
Muna now has only partial hearing in her right ear, and suffers from chronic infections. She lost the use of her dominant hand after the explosion. Her left leg is mostly useless. And the surgery they performed to remove the shrapnel in her head could only remove the two smaller pieces. One piece (the largest) remains deeply lodged in her brain, because removing it would likely kill her.
Because of her brain injuries, she suffers from intense seizures when not medicated, often resulting in harm to herself or others. She dreads being alone, in case a seizure comes and there is no one there to help. With the help of her extended family, Muna was able to travel to Jordan, where she was approached by DAI team members in early 2007. When we first met Muna, she lived in degrading conditions in a rough neighborhood. She was afraid to leave her apartment. Children in the neighborhood had nicknamed her "Beast" because of the violent seizures she had. DAI began to solicit funds for her needs and conduct initial assessments of her medical condition.
With the assistance of DAI team members, Muna relocated to a better apartment, where she is regularly visited by friends and DAI volunteers. Funds donated by DAI supporters in the US have purchased a refrigerator and a new toilet that have greatly improved her level of comfort and self-sufficiency.
DAI has made arrangements for Muna to receive her anti-seizure medication on an ongoing basis, removing a significant factor in her ongoing suffering.
In September, Muna began intensive physical therapy intended to relieve a dislocation of her shoulder caused by ongoing deterioration of her muscles. The physical therapy is combined with electrical stimulation of her muscles, intended to jump-start the healing from damage caused by shrapnel. DAI paid for 10 weeeks of therapy, planning afterward to assess progress and evaluate the potential benefits of contiued therapy. At the end of these sessions, because Muna was so pleased with the care she received and because of the marked progress she’d made, DAI paid a second installment to the clinic for another 10 weeks of therapy. Additionally, DAI is funding neurological tests and treatment intended to address her concerns about the continuing presence of a remaining piece of shrapnel in her brain.
Muna will continue to need extensive medical and psychological monitoring and support. Iraqi members of the DAI team in Amman will continue to work with Muna to assess her ongoing needs.
Mustafa and Muna, both of whom were very isolated when we met them, now have the support and friendship of other Iraqis in Jordan, and have themselves become friends. Read Blood at the Wrist, a poem which tells about Muna and other Iraqis.
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