“We are both sick,” offered Ismael Hussein Ali, 74, explaining why he and his wife, 65, were heading to Dohuk, in northern Kurdistan. A retired brigadier general who served in the Iraqi Army under Saddam Hussein, Mr. Ali was wobbly on a wooden cane as he felt his way across a rough patch of gravel and trash. The couple’s son Hisam was ahead, pushing his mother in a wheelchair that rocked across the uneven ground, threatening to pitch her out of her seat. Boys with dirty feet ferried the family’s five suitcases in a wheelbarrow. It was still early, but the temperature was already pushing 100 degrees. Violence had forced the couple from their home in Sinjar, a town in Nineveh Province, to Mosul. They had decided to relocate once again in part because the food and fuel shortages had become so challenging, and also because they needed regular medical attention unavailable on the other side. “I was crying when I left,” Mr. Ali said of their flight from Sinjar. “I’m still crying.”
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 02:23:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015