"Whoever Brought the Medicine, Saved My Life ..."

By Guy Hovey, ACT field communicator

May 13, 2003

As a U.S. Abrams tank thundered up the road during the fall of Baghdad, looters were already taking advantage of opportunities provided by the fighting. Today, so many weeks later, no one can say why the tank crashed through the wall of the Al Rashid psychiatric hospital. However Dr. Abdul Heelo and his staff are sure of what happened next: a large group of men poured in through the gap left by the tank. The intruders raped ten female patients, stole equipment, destroyed much of the building and its records, and rendered the hospital incapable of providing much-needed psychiatric care for its patients.

What happened to Al Rashid hospital is just one example of how Iraqi society is breaking down in the post-Saddam power vacuum. Caught in the middle of all this are the ordinary people of Baghdad. In the streets, shops, markets, churches, mosques and hospitals, everyone asks the same question: "When will the Americans bring security?" Many people say that security has deteriorated rapidly in the past weeks. Gunfire usually breaks out at night as gangs of looters fight each other while at the same time trying to avoid U.S. army patrols. U.S. soldiers now guard many public buildings, but many say it's too late: the damage has been done. The fruits of the looters' activities can be seen on sale in the markets around Baghdad.

Although there are stocks of medicine in the city, hospitals and medical centers such as the Mansur Hospital have run out of many drugs. The drugs are in one of the six (out of seven) medical warehouses that survived the war and looting, but established systems have broken down. There are no mechanisms for requesting drugs, processing the orders, and delivering them. Doctors try to set up ad hoc arrangements but are fighting a losing battle.

However, the news is not all bad. Several members of Action by Churches Together (ACT) and their partners are active in assisting these institutions. ACT member Diakonie Austria has helped ease the burden with a shipment of medicines that was brought in by Middle East Council of Churches convoy and then distributed to hospitals in the Baghdad area. Among the institutions that have benefited is the Al Kinder hospital. The hospital caters for surgical as well as non-surgical cases and has wards full of people wounded during the war as well as afterwards. The hospital is typical of many, having lost much of its equipment to looters. Yet staff continue their work and care of patients, despite personal danger and their uncertain future within the health service.

A health worker who did not wish to be named said that he was extremely grateful to Diakonie Austria for the medicines. Without the help, "I don't know what we would have done, we had run out of antibiotics and anesthetics as well as basic health care items." These comments were echoed Djeba Hamid Shah, a patient who doesn't know who shot him during the fighting in his neighborhood,. He recalled, "When I came to the hospital, I was losing a lot of blood and the doctors stabilized me." However, needed drugs soon ran out and Djeba's wounds started to become infected. "Whoever brought the medicines have saved my life. I thank them and God," said Djeba.

Rehana Kirthisingha of Christian Aid, another ACT member, tells how in Kirkuk after the collapse of the regime, water ministry workers returned to their posts and received back at least half of the equipment that had been looted from the water and sewerage plants. Many communities in Baghdad have organized themselves into self-help groups and a feeling of community solidarity is in evidence as they face the challenge of an uncertain. Religious divides in some areas have been crossed for the common good.

Father Bashar sheltered 300 families – both Muslim and Christian -- at St. Elya Chaldean Church the night the U.S. army entered Baghdad. Families still come to the church compound to collect clean water from the church well whilst supplies to their own homes continue to be disrupted. These good inter-faith relations have been strengthened by the common hardship the communities are experiencing.

Relief continues as several ACT members continue to support those in need. However, even with the best efforts of the NGOs and the Iraqi people, it is difficult to see how Iraq will not spiral further into anarchy without a significant change in overall security and the re-establishment of civil society. Those lawless segments of society that are taking criminal advantage of the current instability threaten to fragment society itself. At the moment, Iraq appears to be on a knife edge. Only the next few weeks and months will reveal which way it will fall.

Source: Action by Churches Together, http://www.act-intl.org.

Guy Hovey is the Head Of Mission for UMCOR/Bosnia and a credentialed correspondent for United Methodist News Service in the Middle East. He is seconded to ACT as part of UMCOR's support of the global church's response to the crisis in Iraq. Mr. Hovey has provided leadership for all the churches in the name of UMCOR, in a similar assignment in Afghanistan. UMCOR's professional expertise is an asset which we share with the greater church in our effort to be in global mission.

How to Help

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is one of Action by Churches Together's (ACT) partners in this humanitarian response. ACT is an ecumenical coalition that includes many groups, such as the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) and Church World Service (CWS). One hundred percent of your tax-deductible gift to Advance #623225 "Iraq Emergency" will be used for this response. The generous giving of United Methodists to the One Great Hour of Sharing supplements the cost of Advance gifts. Give through a local United Methodist church or send financial contributions to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Call 1-800-554-8583 to make a credit card donation.