Burning News--Layla Anwar--Arab Woman Blues

Tweet "I called my lovely good friend Nadia, a sunni ( if you know how much I hate giving those sect qualifications) married to a wonderful man , a shia, living in a predominantly shi'a neighborhood in Baghdad.

"She was crying softly on the phone and I could barely hear her speak. Finally her husband picked up the conversation and gave me the news.

"As some of you may know, most of Baghdad has been without electricity for some time now.
Nadia was heating water on some kerosene heater, she wanted to bathe her kids.
She tripped and the boiling water fell all over her legs, arm and chest.

"She cannot get to a doctor because they had already received death threats from the Mahdi & Co death squads and she fears leaving her house. So does her husband. They might never make it back if they go past that front door.

"Her burns have turned to huge pus filled blisters and from what she described, I think the burning wounds are infected now. She cannot sleep, cannot eat, cannot walk from the pain.
Since the nearest pharmacy is a few blocks away and again too dangerous to reach, her husband upon the suggestion of some friend, is applying pads soaked in vinegar on the burns to disinfect them. And of course the burning pain is worsening and the blisters getting bigger and bigger, covering all her legs, her arm and her chest.

"She said:" I feel I have chains around my feet, they are heavy and I cannot feel them anymore,what have I done to deserve this? Baghdad is burning, and I am burning with it."
I listened to Nadia and her husband and was overwhelmed with feelings of powerlessness.
I could do nothing for them. Nothing at all. Powerlessness and rage, a burning rage.

Found on Uruknet.info