CITY OF WIDOWS
REPORTER: Fouad Hady
I am going back to Baghdad. I have heard all the reports - there is less violence, life is better. Maybe that is true. But, like my other visits, I want to see for myself, go to places you wouldn't see on the news, find out what people are thinking. This is the road to the suburb of Al Rashad. This man sees my camera and starts talking even before I greet him.
IRAQI MAN (Translation): All these streets are blocked off, we are tired of walking, we ‘re tired. No one thinks of us, we have no water, little electricity, they do not pave the roads.
It is an old suburb, but now full of new people displaced by conflict. They support the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
REPORTER (Translation): Peace be with you, hajji.
OLD MAN (Translation): And you.
REPORTER (Translation): How are you?
OLD MAN (Translation): Fine, thank you.
I meet this old man and ask to see where he lives.
IRAQI MAN (Translation): This old man is displaced from Bayah. His wife and children were killed, so he came here to Rashad. We now give him lunch, dinner… they are all good people here. We give him money, shave him… We sent him to Social Welfare, but they didn’t accept him.
REPORTER (Translation): They didn’t, why?
IRAQI MAN (Translation): I don’t know, he has no money or something. They kicked him out, he now lives in this room – these poor people took him in.
REPORTER (Translation): What’s in it?
IRAQI MAN (Translation): nothing, have a look. No windows, no mattress… just a dirt floor.
CHILDREN (Translation): Long live Sadr! America must get out.
The kids chant for Moqtada. They learn this from their parents. They are all so very poor. This little boy plays his drum on the street.
REPORTER (Translation): What work do you do?
BOY (Translation): I am a beggar. Our situation is not good.
REPORTER (Translation): So you beg?
OTHER BOYS (Translation): He begs, and his father has epilepsy, they are poor – very poor.
REPORTER (Translation): You are the eldest?
BOY (Translation): Yes.
REPORTER (Translation): How much do you earn?
BOY (Translation): 5, 10…
REPORTER (Translation): You keep it or give it to your mother?
BOY (Translation): I got this for her today.
REPORTER (Translation): What do you say to people?
BOY (Translation): Can you give me a quarter?
This woman wants to show me where she lives.
REPORTER (Translation): How many people live here?
WOMAN (Translation): in our family there are 15. a family of 15 living in this house. 15 people in two rooms and the kitchen – that is how we live. Sometimes the water is clean, sometimes muddy. Is this acceptable to God? It is the country of the Tigris and Euphrates, the country of civilisation, oil and wealth and yet we have nothing. When she wants to shower she hangs two blankets to keep out the chill and she gets out shivering. You go straight by the fire to warm yourself and your children. We have nothing.
REPORTER (Translation): That is a child’s bath?
WOMAN (Translation): In this country of wealth, she will die of cold. No oil for heating, no heater. I’ll take her out of the bath and wrap her in a blanket. That is all I can do. Look at us, maybe you will have pity on us.
I see this woman kneeling in the dust.
REPORTER (Translation): Go ahead of me, we would like to talk to you.
OLD WOMAN (Translation): I am an old woman and have a son in jail, two sons, one in jail in Dawosh. He wants me to visit but I don’t have the fare. My daughter is sick and I have nothing. I swear.
REPORTER (Translation): Who bought you the wheelchair?
GIRL (Translation): My mother.
OLD WOMAN (Translation): We bought it for 50,000 dinars from Mahmoudiah, before the downfall… during Saddam’s era.
REPORTER (Translation): Wasn’t she given a new one?
OLD WOMAN (Translation): No. Not yet.
REPORTER (Translation): What is wrong with her?
OLD WOMAN (Translation): She is disabled, she gets a pension of 50,000 dinars, what would it do?
50,000 dinars a month is only about 55 Australian dollars. Outside, this old man is angry.
OLD MAN (Translation): The water we drink… that is where we get our water. You drink from here, look at the pipe. I will speak up, I don’t care. Isn’t water seeping into the pipe? You drink this water… I swear to God.
REPORTER (Translation): How is it different now from before?
OLD MAN (Translation): There is no difference at all. Even when there is aid, a few take it all and these poor people are starving.
I don't know how these people survive. And what is the future for the children in this new democracy?
YOUNG MAN (Translation): They want us to vote for a government and they want to displace us from our homes. That same government wants to displace us.
People are squatting here and they are Moqtada supporters - that is two marks against them as far as the government is concerned.
YOUNG MAN (Translation): Seven cars came the other day and they said “Leave, we can’t do anything for you.” We are living in a jail – who would choose to live in a jail? Here, in the old women’s Jail.
I can't believe what he says, but I go to see for myself. This is the outside of the prison, but it is hard to get a good look so I climb onto the roof. These are some of the old cells where people are now living.
MAN (Translation): It has sections, one for life sentences, a political prisoners section, a 15 years and over section… for women only.
And here the cells where people were kept awaiting execution. Back on ground level, I get a closer look.
MAN (Translation): That was the execution room, we fixed it up and live in it. This was the execution area, from the beam up to here. It is small – that’s it, it’s clear.
It is dark in here, this room of lost souls. Women were hung here.
MAN (Translation): that is the courtyard, we found clothes here and even their names. They are still here now…Layla Kadhim, Kalthoum Hassan Al-Maliki. Please give this to my family – prayer of need – she asked for prayers. She was sentenced to death. ‘You may read my prayer, weep for my youth.’ She must have been executed, yes and Kalthoum too.
I could weep for my country's lost years under Saddam and the women who rotted in these cells, too small to stand up in. Imagine if you stay here about 15 years. I can’t explain. That is what is really sad about it.And it seems I'm not the first person to come looking at these cells.
OLD MAN (Translation): One woman came to this room, the children were here, she was sentenced to 15 or 20 years – I was not here then. She kept crying, remembering her days here as a political prisoner.
I thought there was nobody in this section, but every part of this prison is being used. I'm glad to be leaving this place, but I've written down some of the names on the wall. I want to find someone who was here to try and understand what it was like and how it has affected them.
On my way I see this crowd. It looks like there is a problem, but it is actually a sign that things have changed in Baghdad. They are preparing free food for Ashura. It is a Shiite festival, which honours the martyrdom of the Prophet's grandson. Nothing like this was allowed in Saddam's time.
My search for a former prisoner brings me to this building in downtown Baghdad. The Political Prisoners Foundation is funded by the government to help former prisoners. First there is a security check. And then, one for women. Haji Anadra is head of the media section. She spent nine years in Saddam's prisons for refusing to join the Ba'ath party and collecting money for families whose husbands had been detained. She has painful memories.
HAJI ANADRA (Translation): A woman usually collects the prisoner for execution, so she immediately hugged her son and he knew that he was about to lose her because of how she hugged him and started screaming. The van was there and the guards as well. What should they do? The child was in the way, they just dragged him off and then did not look after him. They threw him in a cell, locked the door and left. They took her. The boy knew his mother had gone, he was fluttering like a slaughtered bird, even the prison guard was in tears.
She takes me to this small office. This is one of the women who wrote on the wall of the women's prison. She was jailed for five years because her brother would not join Saddam's army. They are also Kurdish - treated harshly by Saddam. All 13 of the family were jailed. Back at her house I meet some of the family. She also remembers the executions in the women's prison.
WOMAN (Translation): On a certain day they would come to her, call her name and we would know it was for execution so we would kiss her goodbye.
She's been hurt by the years in jail and recalls an incident with one of her sisters.
WOMAN (Translation): It was so depressing, emotionally sickening. We were in Zafaraniya Prison, she held on to the prison bars saying “I want to be jailed with you, not get out. I want to be with you. Keep me with you.” I will never forget this incident. Every time I remember it I cry.
Despite the psychological damage she is a survivor and is now completing a degree in political science. She calls it her weapon in life.
Today I have come to another example of the new Iraq. It is a meeting for women widows and relatives of the missing.
GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL (Translation): I welcome you to the first meeting of widows, divorcees and wives of the missing. It was formed around four months ago.
Again, the government is trying to do the right thing. After having their identity details checked, this woman should receive a small government pension, but the number of people who need help is enormous. It is estimated that Saddam, the US invasion and the years of terrorism have created more than 80,000 widows in Baghdad alone. The estimate for the whole country is 740,000. Meanwhile, the government official isn't getting everything her own way. People are now prepared to challenge authority. That is a positive sign. This woman's house was destroyed by terrorists.
IRAQI WOMAN (Translation): We need help with rebuilding. After three years, with a son who works for the government, why am I on the street?
GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL (Translation): We can’t leave everything for the government to do, you too have to help the government.
There is a good mood here and support for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But there is also great tragedy. This woman has lost her husband in a massive car bomb.
WIDOW (Translation): I have five children - we could not find him, not a trace of him. The explosion was so strong it melted the steel. Anyway, they gave us a death certificate. After that I went back to my home only to find that it had been robbed, everything was gone. I went back to live with my mother.
REPORTER (Translation): How do you survive with six children?
WIDOW (Translation): I rely on God’s mercy. Some good people help me.
And these sisters are orphans. There parents were killed in the same explosion.
GIRLS (Translation): Mum and Dad passed away so we live with Bibi. Bibi provides for us, we live in a shelter inside the building – my uncle sells tea, the other uncles are abroad, only my sister and I are left. Bibi is too old to work, we are here to get some money.
But again, as well as sadness, I am heartened. This class is run by the widows association. This woman wants her broken country to prosper.
WOMAN (Translation): I hope that Iraq will regain it’s good name, honestly, Iraq is the most important thing for us. If our country is safe then we are safe – if our country is well, so are we. God willing, security will return and so will peace of mind.
Before I leave Iraq I have come with my brother and his family to this playground. This is his daughter and son. When I look at the kids here I see the future of Iraq - a peaceful country where children can play without fear of violence. Even 12 months ago I couldn't have imagined this peaceful scene, but there is still a long way to go.
Reporter/Camera
FOUAD HADY
Fixers
AYAD HADY
HASSAN HADY
Editors
SLAVICA GAJIC
ROWAN TUCKER-EVANS
Producer
GEOFF PARISH
Translations / Subtitling
JOSEPH ABDO
SUHEIL DAMOUNY
DALIA MATAR
Original Music composed by
VICKI HANSEN