Cholera!!!
It so hard to believe that the disease I read about only in history and Biology books is still alive and where? In Iraq! As if Iraqis don’t have enough rproblems.
When I hear the word cholera, the only thing that comes to my mind is “Love in The Time of Cholera” . But Cholera here is not about Love symptoms; it’s the real fatal disease. The one we studied in Biology class, with simple diarrhea that causes 50% death. The Cholera that we read about in history books, when cities are falling down and they are troubled and plagued with poverty.
There were days when I thought that everything will be fine very soon and I’ll go back to Iraq and move on with my life. But those optimistic days are rear now. Every now and then something shocking comes up and washes away all hopes and innocent dreams of mine. It gives me an imagery where problems are seaweed and every now and then they come to the surface.
To stop following the news was the only solution I found few months back. But still, bad news flies so fast and everywhere that you cannot avoid. At the same time I feel guilty I’m not aware of what’s going on in Iraq and the hard times that my country is undergoing.
WHO has announced “10 Sep” and updated “14 Sep” the news about Cholera in Iraq and declared that “In controlling the spread of cholera WHO does not recommend any special restrictions to travel or trade to or from affected areas.” So it’s all about traveling and trading and as long as you can do both then life is still going on. How ironic!
I happen to read a post on a blog I never heard about before where readers were commenting and having an interesting discussion.
“In a chilling reminder of how difficult it may be to maintain those levels, Dr. Mohsin said that chlorine imports had been severely curtailed as a result of recent insurgent bombs that had been laced with chlorine, which in concentrated form can be deadly.”!!!
One of the comments there was
“Donald,
I guess ethnic cleansing was a bad choice of words.
Ramamdi had a population of 435,000 before our invasion, now it looks deserted.
Considering Jordan and Syria now have more Iraqi citizens living there than al Anbar province, why is "peace" there such a "success."
We can't depopulate all of Iraq.” Posted by: alphie | September 12, 2007 at 08:09 PM”
So the US administration or whoever that may be, imposes hypotheses and made their nation believe that Iraq is such a threat, and now Iraqis need democracy. We have this Iraqi proverb that means “they lie and believe their lies”. Peace among Iraqis was never a problem.
What will be the result of “Divide & Rule” thing over the years? The longer it takes the harder it gets. What will be of a country that bled through ages and still bleeding until this moment? Those I guess are questions only history will answer. And still we don’t know who will write this history to know if it was true or just glorified mistakes.
Away from history and questions we are uncertain about their answers; what about the innocents? Those poor people who suffered and still suffering; those who carry pain as much as they carry pride. May God help them.
When I hear the word cholera, the only thing that comes to my mind is “Love in The Time of Cholera” . But Cholera here is not about Love symptoms; it’s the real fatal disease. The one we studied in Biology class, with simple diarrhea that causes 50% death. The Cholera that we read about in history books, when cities are falling down and they are troubled and plagued with poverty.
There were days when I thought that everything will be fine very soon and I’ll go back to Iraq and move on with my life. But those optimistic days are rear now. Every now and then something shocking comes up and washes away all hopes and innocent dreams of mine. It gives me an imagery where problems are seaweed and every now and then they come to the surface.
To stop following the news was the only solution I found few months back. But still, bad news flies so fast and everywhere that you cannot avoid. At the same time I feel guilty I’m not aware of what’s going on in Iraq and the hard times that my country is undergoing.
WHO has announced “10 Sep” and updated “14 Sep” the news about Cholera in Iraq and declared that “In controlling the spread of cholera WHO does not recommend any special restrictions to travel or trade to or from affected areas.” So it’s all about traveling and trading and as long as you can do both then life is still going on. How ironic!
I happen to read a post on a blog I never heard about before where readers were commenting and having an interesting discussion.
“In a chilling reminder of how difficult it may be to maintain those levels, Dr. Mohsin said that chlorine imports had been severely curtailed as a result of recent insurgent bombs that had been laced with chlorine, which in concentrated form can be deadly.”!!!
One of the comments there was
“Donald,
I guess ethnic cleansing was a bad choice of words.
Ramamdi had a population of 435,000 before our invasion, now it looks deserted.
Considering Jordan and Syria now have more Iraqi citizens living there than al Anbar province, why is "peace" there such a "success."
We can't depopulate all of Iraq.” Posted by: alphie | September 12, 2007 at 08:09 PM”
So the US administration or whoever that may be, imposes hypotheses and made their nation believe that Iraq is such a threat, and now Iraqis need democracy. We have this Iraqi proverb that means “they lie and believe their lies”. Peace among Iraqis was never a problem.
What will be the result of “Divide & Rule” thing over the years? The longer it takes the harder it gets. What will be of a country that bled through ages and still bleeding until this moment? Those I guess are questions only history will answer. And still we don’t know who will write this history to know if it was true or just glorified mistakes.
Away from history and questions we are uncertain about their answers; what about the innocents? Those poor people who suffered and still suffering; those who carry pain as much as they carry pride. May God help them.
posted by attawie at Saturday, September 22, 2007
3 Comments:
Even though the innocent people in Iraq and all over the world have a merciful God up in the sky. But we must do somth'n for them.
I felt a bit depressed when I heard of the cholera epidemic in Iraq. It is such a preventable disease. All that is required is to provide clean drinking water. In a comment at BT's blog, I provided a link to a BBC article from last year. It describes an education program in Africa that teaches villagers how to sterilize their water by placing it in plastic bottles and leaving them out in the sunlight for 8 hours. The heat and ultraviolet rays from the sun makes the water safe to drink. It is so easy and Iraqi people could use the same method to end the Cholera outbreak. Here is the link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4786216.stm
I never heard of the book "Love in the Time of Cholera". I read the plot summary. It sounds like a lot of tragedy mixed with a small amount of happiness. Tragic stories have always been difficult for me to read or watch in a movie. I feel so much empathy for the characters. Its hard for me to see them suffer or die.
I follow the news of Iraq nearly every day. It saddens me that there seems to be so little reason for optimism.
I just read the WHO announcements. I'm glad to hear that the number of deaths from cholera is very small. I was worried that it was going to be much worse. Still, this epidemic should never have happened! It is, as you are saying, just one more sign of how bad things really are right now in Iraq.
I think you are right, Bush and his friends probably do believe their own lies. I remember Bush saying a few years ago that he had prayed to God before deciding to invade Iraq. Bush said that God gave him the answer. So, according to Bush, God wanted America to invade Iraq. Well, I have a problem with anyone who uses their religion to justify war and death!
So many innocents have suffered and died. So many loved ones have been lost. I hope that next year will be better for Iraq and its people.
azcThe real problem is curing Cholera since from what I understood from my brother (who is actually a doctor) that curing it is not impossible and even not that hard BUT here is the catch since in our great hospitals in Iraq we lack the simplest kinds of medicine and that is really dreadful so we can only pray to God for a cure since depending on our health care system is useless.
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