HAJJAH: In a camp for the displaced by war in Yemen’s northwestern province of Hajjah, the father of Mazen faced a painful choice.
Should the use the little money from selling his small land to treat Mazen who had fallen seriously ill and save his life or to buy food and save the lives of his 10-member family?
Six-year-old Mazen suffers from hydrocephalus and acute malnutrition as his stick-like legs are so wasting away that he could not walk any more.
Lying on a wooden bed in his family’s hut in the Bani Hassan area of Abs district, Mazen keeps staring down at the sandy floor as if his swollen eyes could dig a hole for him to escape from the severe pain.
“In early 2015, just a few weeks after the war erupted, I took him to hospitals in the neighboring province of Hodeidah and then we travelled to the capital Sanaa, where a hospital charged me 13,000 U.S. dollars for treating my son,” Ibrahim Kidysh, father of Mazen, told Xinhua.
“I do not have this large amount of money, so I went back with my son to our village to sell my agricultural land to try to make up the money… but the price was very low,” he said.
Not far away from the hut of the family of Mazen, a small hospital provides some health services for the displaced and the residents of the villages.
“The fluid in the skull of Mazen is increasing night and day and he urgently needs life-saving surgery, which is not available here,” Mohammed Saif, a doctor, told media. Part of the northern areas of Hajjah Province, including the district of Abs, is under control of the government forces, while the Houthi rebels control much of the province.
Yemen has been wrecked in civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized control of much of the country’s north and forced the Saudi-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa. –Agenices
