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CRY FREEDOM.net
formerly known as
Women's Liberation Front
MORE INSIGHT MORE LIFE
Welcome to cryfreedom.net,
formerly known as Womens
Liberation Front.
A website
that hopes to draw and keeps your attention for both the global 21th. century 3rd. feminist revolution as well
as especially for the Zan, Zendegi, Azadi uprising in Iran and the
struggles of our sisters in other parts of the Middle East. This online magazine
that started December 2019 will
be published every week. Thank you for your time and interest.
Gino d'Artali
indept investigative
journalist
radical feminist and women's rights activist
'WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM'
You are now at the section on what is happening in the rest of the Middle
east
(Updates
Sept. 4, 2024)
Click here for the
Iran 'Woman, Life, Freedom' section Updated
Sept
3, 2024
For the 'Women's Arab Spring 1.2' Revolt
news
click here
Updated Sept. 2, 2024
CLICK HERE ON HOW TO READ
ALL ON THIS PAGE
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SPECIAL
REPORTS PALESTINE
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA - FREE PALESTINE
Sept
wk1 P2 --
Sept wk1 --
August wk4 P3 -- August
wk4 P2 -- August
wk 4 -- August
wk3 P3 -- August
wk3 bis2 -- August
wk3bis -- Click here for an overview by week in 2024
When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi
figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da
qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so
called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.
Sept. 4, 2024:
"He can't move at all": A Gaza mother's agony over baby with polio...
and
September 3, 2024: 'Tragic childhood': Gaza children vaccinated against
polio, war continues...
Al Jazeera - Sept 4, 2024 - By Maram Humaid
<<'He can't move at all': A Gaza mother's agony over baby with polio
The mother of the first child with polio in Gaza in 25 years says
displacement led to her son’s illness and paralysis.
Nevin Abu al-Jidyan with one-year-old Abdul Rahman, the first confirmed
child to have contracted polio in Gaza in 25 years
Al-Zawayda, Gaza - Inside a tent near al-Zawayda town in central Gaza,
35-year-old Nevin Abu al-Jidyan sat on the floor next to her youngest
child, Abdul Rahman, who lay in a plastic baby seat. She looked pale as
she gently touched his face, and fanned him with a piece of cardboard.
He was sleeping after a bout of crying. It was a disturbed sleep, and
the child, dressed in dusty clothes, moved his head from time to time.
Nevin's eight other children sat quietly in the small space, furnished
with some mattresses, cooking utensils and other belongings in a corner.
The once-vibrant child, who had just started to take his first steps,
used to play and fill the camp with his spirited energy, but he is now
bedridden. Abdul Rahman, who turned one on September 1, is the first
child confirmed to have contracted polio in Gaza in 25 years. "Not long
ago, my son was constantly moving," Nevin says, tears welling up in her
eyes. "He was so active that his father bought him a small plastic cart
to ride. He was so restless he broke it from all his ... playing." Her
voice breaks as she continues, gently rocking Abdul Rahman. "Now he
can't move at all. My heart is shattered. I can hardly believe this is
happening."
'The world collapsed'
About two months ago, Abdul Rahman developed a high fever and began
vomiting constantly. Worried, Nevin rushed him to Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Hospital, the last functioning medical facility in central Gaza, never
imagining how serious his illness was. For two weeks, he was barely
awake and rather than breastfeeding as usual, he was fed through a drip.
After spending two weeks in hospital, Nevin brought her son, who had
started eating again but with difficulty, back to the family's tent.
Doctors suspected a serious illness and sent samples to Jordan for
testing. A month later, Nevin received the devastating news over the
phone: Abdul Rahman had polio. "It was like the world collapsed around
me," she recalls. "I couldn't believe it. The doctors confirmed the
diagnosis and told me to prepare all my children for immediate
vaccination." She was stunned, and although she could barely comprehend
what was happening, she remembers being terrified that her other
children could develop the same illness. A few hours later, medical
teams arrived to vaccinate her children and their neighbours, fearing
the virus might spread in the crowded tents. "Everything was a blur,"
Nevin tells Al Jazeera. Questions raced through her mind: "My child has
polio? Will he be paralysed? What can I do? How do I protect my nine
children?"
Missed vaccinations
Since Abdul Rahman fell sick, he has been unable to stand or move his
legs and sometimes has spasms. He also has trouble moving his left arm.
Initially, Nevin thought this was due to exhaustion from being ill. Now
she knows polio has left her son paralysed in both legs. Nevin was
displaced from northern Gaza with her family after Israeli orders to
evacuate. Since then, she and her family have faced one upheaval after
another in the past 11 months since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza
and killed more than 40,800 Palestinians. The family of 11 has been
forced to move five times. The constant displacement, she believes,
prevented Abdul Rahman from getting his critical vaccinations, leading
to him contracting polio.
"The virus hit my son hard," Nevin explains. "When we were displaced, he
was only a month old and missed his vaccinations. We were constantly
moving, and that was an obstacle." She also believes the poor living
conditions contributed to his illness. "The dirty water and lack of
nutritious food are what made Abdul Rahman sick. I think contaminated
water, the kind they distribute to us, is the main reason for the spread
of polio." Polio can spread quickly in unhygienic conditions through
contact with excrement, or in less common cases, through sneezing or
coughing. It can lead to mild, flu-like symptoms but in some cases can
affect the brain and nerves, leading to irreversible paralysis and
sometimes death. The United Nations, along with Gaza health authorities,
has begun a vaccination campaign to give oral polio vaccines to about
640,000 children. The poliovirus present in Gaza is believed to be
vaccine-derived, that is, weakened viruses from oral vaccines have
mutated to cause infections and spread due to Israel's destruction of
sanitation infrastructure. Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children
below the age of five are most at risk. There is no cure for polio.
'His condition is only getting worse'
It pains Nevin to see how listless and tired her once-animated son has
become. Abdul Rahman used to love playing - he now barely smiles when
played with. Nevin's only hope now is to get her son out of Gaza for
treatment. "My husband and I dream of going abroad when the Rafah
crossing reopens," she says. "Abdul Rahman needs supplements ... but his
condition is only getting worse." Nevin spends her days by her son's
side, tending to him. She cries often, and the family is grieving.
Still, Nevin does what she can, massaging his legs daily, hoping they
might respond, and feeding him despite his lack of appetite. But living
in poverty and displacement, Nevin struggles to provide the most basic
necessities.
"My son needs clean, filtered water, but with my large family, I can't
afford to buy bottled water regularly," she shares.
Through her tears, Nevin says, "I just want my son to recover, whether
it's through treatment abroad or here in Gaza. But no one seems to care
right now, and I’m helpless as a mother. All I can do is hope that
somehow he will regain his health."
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/9/4/he-cant-move-at-all-a-gaza-mothers-agony-over-baby-with-polio
and
Al Jazeera - Sept 3, 2024 - by Maram Humaid
<<‘Tragic childhood’: Gaza children vaccinated against polio, war
continues
Some families question the push for vaccines amid eroded trust in the
international community's help.
Deir el-Balah, Gaza - Maha Abu Shamas, 27, has been getting her four
children, all under the age of 10, ready to get their polio vaccines
since the early hours of the morning. Maha, a mother of five, has been
living in a classroom in Deir el-Balah's central Gaza Strip since the
family was displaced from Beit Hanoon in the north last November. "When
I heard about the threat of polio spreading, I was terrified for my
children. When I learned of a confirmed case of paralysis, I felt like
my world had collapsed," said Maha, holding her nine-month-old boy
inside the busy paediatric ward of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the last
functioning medical facility in Deir el-Balah. Gaza's Ministry of Health
last month confirmed the first case of polio - a 10-month-old boy, now
paralysed in the leg - in the enclave after 25 years, following the
detection of poliovirus in wastewater. The United Nations, along with
Gaza health authorities, has begun a vaccination campaign to protect
children against polio, which can cause irreversible paralysis of the
limbs or even death. About 640,000 children under 10 years old will
receive oral drops of the vaccine to protect against the virus which
primarily affects children under the age of five, is highly contagious
and has no cure. The threat of polio has only compounded Maha's worries.
Displaced parents like her already contend with harsh, unsanitary
conditions at shelters like the school where Maha and her children live,
and in Gaza's tent camps, as they try to survive Israel's war on Gaza
which has killed more than 40,700 Palestinians. "The lack of hygiene is
the main feature due to overcrowding, a collapsed infrastructure and a
catastrophic health situation," she explains. "The school I live in is
full of pools of sewage and wastewater," Maha adds. "I can't maintain my
children's cleanliness or health in these conditions." In addition to
taking her children to Al-Aqsa Hospital to be vaccinated, Maha had to
bring her youngest child to the paediatric ward after three days of
having a high fever and vomiting. "This is how most of my days pass in
the war - rushing my sick children to the hospital for treatment due to
the spread of diseases, if it's available," she says. "If this is how we
struggle with minor illnesses like stomach flu, how can we fight serious
diseases like polio?" Maha's life took a devastating turn last month
when her husband was killed in an Israeli air strike near their shelter.
"Now, I'm the sole caregiver for five children. It's overwhelming, but
like thousands of mothers in Gaza, I have no choice but to push
forward." While she welcomes the polio vaccination drive, she points out
that this addresses just one threat posed by the dire living conditions.
"Malnutrition, hepatitis, skin diseases, exhaustion - our children face
a range of threats. The real solution lies in improving living
conditions and ending the war," she says. "We've endured enough."
Loss of faith in the international community
For 31-year-old Hanin Abdullah, the decision to vaccinate her children
against polio was fraught with hesitation. Hanin, a mother of three
young children, was displaced with her family from Jabalia in northern
Gaza, and they now share a cramped space with 25 members of her family.
"In the same classroom, about 40 others are packed in," she says,
speaking at Al-Aqsa Hospital, describing her situation as tragic. The
college where she lives is crowded, sewage pools throughout and there
are long queues for the toilets. The outside walls are black from the
wood fires used for cooking. She says she no longer trusts any action
undertaken by international organisations when it comes to the health of
children in Gaza. "Our children are being killed daily by bombs and
missiles, even in supposedly safe areas. Some are decapitated," she says
bitterly. "This madness is still ongoing and yet, they're talking about
fears of polio only?" Like many displaced families in her shelter, Hanin
initially resisted vaccinating her children. "People here have lost
faith in anything global or Western," she explains. "Some displaced
people around believe conspiracy theories that the vaccines contain
substances planted by Israel and the US to weaken our children." Despite
her doubts, she ultimately felt she couldn't risk her children's health,
especially after hearing about a confirmed polio case in Gaza, so she
brought them to the hospital. "I understand the despair families feel
living under war conditions. We are like the living dead, trapped in
unbearable conditions," she says, holding her baby boy. "I gave birth to
my child last November and since then he has been living a tragic
childhood in the shelter," she says, frustrated.
"He has no proper nutrition, no clothes, no toys. He suffers from skin
rashes and constant fatigue."
For Hanin, the fight against polio is just one small part of a larger
struggle.
"Protecting our children from polio is important, but the real fight is
against the living conditions imposed by war. These conditions are
destroying their mental and psychological health and even their future,"
she argues. "What is the point of vaccinating children and protecting
them from disease, while the war that kills them every day continues?
This is nonsense."
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA>>
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/9/3/tragic-childhood-gaza-children-vaccinated-against-polio-war-continues
Women's
Liberation Front 2019/cryfreedom.net 2024
