30 July 2012
Muaad Al-Maqtari, the Yemen Times
The tribes of Al-Zuriaka exist in hidden villages
within the Al-Makatara mountainous ridge in Lahij governorate, in south Yemen.
There, unprecedented physical impairments exist, ones that remain largely
unseen.
In Al-Azraka village in Zurikat Al-Sham, there
is a small cottage where Sharifa Mahyoob, 75, lives with her three daughters.
Her daughters grew up disabled.
The family’s story was documented by the Ma'an
Foundation for development, which paid a visit to Al-Azraka to distribute food
aid and to conduct statistical analyses on the disabled.
In a recorded document, Mahyoob said her eldest
daughter, Katiba, 30, lost her vision much too soon in life, and her ordeal was
exacerbated when she fell from a high place, fracturing her back and paralyzing
half of her body.
Jooz, Mahyoob’s middle daughter, has a similar
story to Katiba's. She lost her sight as well, though she is five years
younger. Mahyoob is afraid Jooz would face the same fate as Katiba.
Jawhara, 20, is the youngest and was exposed to
a different impairment. Mahyoob said her daughter Jawahara was unable to endure
the pain that her two sisters bore. She went mad knowing nothing of what is
around her. This became particularly heightened following the death of her
father six years ago.
These three daughters have an elder brother,
35, and younger brother, 18. Mahyoob
said the eldest son is blind and the younger one is mentally unstable.
Mahyoob alone is responsible for handling this
plight. She is the sole source of income for the family, all tortured souls in
a hollow cave that none remembers but death.
A multitude of handicaps
Fatin, Sifyan and Syeon all suffer from
rachitic and glaucoma.
Mansour Al-Asbahi, a Ma'an Foundation employee
who visited them, said these three handicapped persons lack food, health care
and a suitable residence.
The situation worsened when their father
committed suicide and their mother died from grief.
Rachitic, an inflammation of the spine, is the
biggest hindrance in this village.
Raseel Ali Saif, 22, and his brother Rafee, 20,
suffer from rachitic as well. This led their father to flee to Aden 15 years
ago. The mother died five years ago.
These two boys have nobody to help them but
their grandmother, who said she does her best to care for them along with their
sister, who continuously weeps for lack of food. Food support is seasonally
delivered to them.
Amen Al-Masani, a pediatrician in Khalifa
Hospital in Al-Turba, south Taiz, said hundreds of children in these villages
suffer from impairments in relation to childhood, parenthood and nutritional
diseases.
Al-Masani said he thought people in these
villages were unable to face these problems, which triggers further suffering.
He said cases of impairment are increasing in
the villages, calling for a medical study to detect the reason of the prevalent
diseases in these villages.
Rahma Afeef, 8, was born with two
interconnected heads. Al-Masani said the two heads do the same job. This child
was not exposed to a qualified hospital test to diagnose the case.
Al-Masani said glaucoma, blood diseases and
respiratory diseases threaten the lives of these village residents.
Abdu Al-Rakeeb Sweileh suffers from a
psychological imbalance because of the daily hardships he encounters as he
cares for his disabled child, Kabeel, who appears emaciated from the lack of
food.
Mentally disabled and kept in caves
Documents from the Ma'an Foundation indicate
that there are a large number of mentally unstable people in these villages.
Poverty is the primary reason for psychological instability for those who have
nobody to care for them; most only take one meal a day.
Nokta Mohammed Abdu, 29, and her siblings Abdu,
Maleeka, Bushra and Shahd are mentally handicapped and homeless, residing in
mountainous caves. Their mother, who used to help them subsist, lost her vision
and is unable to help.
Some mentally disabled people are fastened with
chains and kept in the mountainous caves. Locals said Azal Al-Maqtari used to
have a clinic; handicapped flocked to receive medical help. Unfortunately,
Al-Maqtari could not endure the situation of those disabled. She committed
suicide, poisoning herself..
According to the foundation, there are
approximately 800 cases of people suffering from a disability; the total number
of the population is about 10,000.
Drought forms the major problem in these
villages where drinking water is not safe.
The locals have no choice but to drink from
this water; otherwise they would perish because of thirst.
Agricultural products are unavailable.
According to Zaeem Al-Maqatari, the head of Ma'an Foundation, 70 percent of
people in this village live only on one meal a day.
The locals prefer to emigrate in order to look
for food, water and medicine. Because the capable leave the village, the
villages become housing estates for the sick and the handicapped.
There is no medical organization that diagnoses
their diseases and provides them with medications.
The population of Al-Makatara is estimated at
60,000; this means there is one doctor for every 1,416 families and one medical
center for every 2,000 families.
Doctor’s assistants, nurses and medical guides
don’t exceed 80 people working in 19 unqualified medical units.
The medical workers in these centers receive
cases that cannot be diagnosed by doctors and psychologists; they have no
medicine to offer.
Fadl Al-Asbahi, an employee in the field of
education, said the rehabilitation of the disabled is scarcely available due to
the absence of a specialized foundation.
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