Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/571192
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 16 SEptEmbEr 2015 7 News refugees' agony lingers 16-year-old Mahmoud Abdullah Bakr from Al Hasakah, Syria, suffers from Thalassemia, a life-threatening blood disorder. He had to flee his country after the hospitals had no more blood and is now living in an urban settlement in Mamzawa, Northern Iraq with his uncle´s family. Mahmoud´s own parents are still living in Syria. He needs bone marrow transplant. In photo Mahmoud is holding up the doctors' letter stating that the treatment he needs cannot be provided in Iraq and that he must be treated abroad. "Hospitals in Syria are no longer functioning. I was given direct person to person blood transfusions. There's no more blood left. I don't want to leave Iraq, I just need treatment but it 's hard to get it here." Photo: Karl Schembri/Norwegian Refugee Council When war broke out, 32-year-old Mediha (centre) had to flee her hometown of Kobani in the Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, the same village three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, the child whose image of him washed ashore in Turkey touched the world. After a long journey walking to Turkey, she and her family ended up in the urban area of Mamzawa in Erbil, Kurdish Region of Iraq. The young mother lives with her five children and husband in a rented poor shed. Even though Mediha tells us that the family don't even have the money to buy their children clothes, they can't return back to Syria: "It's better here for now... we'll stay here. I can't think of a future back in Syria for now". Ali, Mediha's cousin (left), told me: "One day ISIS attacked our village and our houses. They destroyed our houses. We took our few belongings and children and left Kobani towards the Turkish border. From there we went to Erbil. It's not just us, everyone had to flee from ISIS. They were taking children and women, killing them. All of our belongings were gone, even our cars. Before the coalition air strikes we saw ISIS fighters coming in their cars. They started attacking us and shooting rockets. Then we got the air strikes and our houses were under attack from all directions. We were around 70 to 80 families together. A lot of us left but many also died. We carried only the clothes we were wearing, that's it. Everything else stayed in Kobani. About Aylan Kurdi: "When we saw those pictures we felt so sad for them. We cried. This is all inhuman. Having to leave by sea like that, seeing that child... we all cried for him, we were mortified. The picture of this child says more than all the thousands who fled by sea. So many fled towards Europe, Germany, but this picture touched all the world and the world mourned him. Our friends and neighbours went to Europe but we came here to Kurdistan. Some left by sea, others by land or by plane, I don't know, but I know they left for Europe. We thought of leaving too but you need money to go and the sea route is life threatening. So we said it's better to come to Kurdistan, we'd be among Kurds like us. It's better for us. Why risk our lives to go to Europe? "Our message to the people abroad, God help them, is to look after the refugees, to treat them well. May God stand with them for what they're doing. My message to the politicians responsible is to solve this crisis, help refugees, help us in Syria and Iraq so that we can go back to our beautiful country. I ask all those responsible to urgently reach a resolution to the conflict so we can go back." In the photo: Ali Hajji Rashid (cousin of Mediha), Mediha's children Ibrahim in green (10), Bashar, Rukhia (5). In the background Samira and mother Mediha. Photo: Karl Schembri/ Norwegian Refugee Council Palestinian refugees Tamer Ibrahim and his wife Shedagh want to go to Europe with their five children due to a very difficult life in Iraq. Tamer was kidnapped by ISIS in Mosul, Iraq, before he managed to escape and get to Baharka camp with his family in Erbil, Northern Iraq. He has siblings in Norway, Sweden and the US and wants to find a way to join his brother in Norway. Tamer worked in Mosul as a hairdresser, a profession that is now banned by the new rulers in control there. He told us: "We want to give a future to our children, so they can study and live a life, a real life, unlike ours. We never had anything in our life. Since we were born we've only seen wars and hardships. It 's all about their future. "One feels dead here. If God helps me cross by sea with my children we'll have a life. If we're meant to die then that 's it. We're really dead here. One needs to have some hope in raising his children in Europe where people live full lives, cultured… I'd love that. Photo: Karl Schembri/ Norwegian Refugee Council