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Rasmiyya, 65, wipes a tear from her eye as she recalls the story of losing her leg, as she sits in her tent in a camp for internally displaced Iraqis in Dhuha al-Rawii in Baghdad’s western Mansour district on July 22, 2015.
Originally from Fallujah, months of Iraqi government bombings aimed at targeting militants had made the once 15 minute journey to a doctor’s office a life threatening trip. Without the routine appointments to regulate her diabetes, the blood vessels in Rasmiyya’s leg became incurably damaged and the limb had to be surgically removed above the knee. “I couldn’t get any treatment,” Rasmiyaa said looking away from the bandaged stump tucked under her abyaa. A frail figure, she explained that for weeks as her condition worsened her son Khudayir tried to find ways to move her past militant checkpoints and out of the city. She and her family are now sheltering in Dhuha al-Rawii in Baghdad’s western Mansour district, a small camp of 175 families living in tents built of canvas and wooden stakes atop packed earth covered by woven plastic mats.
- Date
- Credits Ed Ou/UNHCR
- Themes Migration Conflict Health
- Regions Middle East and North Africa Iraq