Daughter of Sheena (47)

2015-9-6

Daughter of Sheena-47
Memories of Qadamkheyr Mohammadi Kanaan
Wife of Sardar Shaheed Haj Sattar Ebrahimi Hajir
Memory writer: Behnaz Zarrabizadeh
Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company, 2011 (Persian Version)
Translated by Zahra Hosseinian

We got up and came out of the building. It was so smoky and dusty that we hardly could see a few steps away. We didn’t know where to go. “Few days ago, when near the barracks was bombed,” a woman said, “my husband was at home and said that if the situation was bad, do not stay at home and go out to the surrounding valleys.”

After company houses we reached to the barbed wires of barracks. Part of it was pulled away and every time that Samad and I or other women would go there, we would cross it; but then with all children along and the anxiety and hurry, it was hard to cross through barbed wires and pot-holes. Children wouldn’t walk, nagging and making excuses. Half an hour had elapsed since the last bombing. We had been quite far away from the barrack and reached to a river over which there was an old bridge. We stood over the bridge a little and looked at barracks and company houses from there; suddenly we saw several airplanes in the sky. They flew in a so low altitude that we could easily see their pilots. We were sure that pilots have seen us too. We were so scared that we didn’t notice how to run and reach the space under the bridge. Shortly after, we heard the sound of several explosions. A woman was scared. She said: “If pilots see us, they’ll land here and capture us.”

We explained her that the plane could not land on this land, but she did not accept, insisted, and scared others. We were more concerned about a woman who was pregnant. We tried to tell our memories or other things, to reduce her fear; but airplanes continuously were bombing the surroundings. Approximately every half an hour, seven or eight of them would appear and bomb the barracks. It was noon. We had brought neither water nor food, so we had nothing to eat. The kids were hungry and restless. On the other hand, we were worried about our men and they didn’t know where we were, if look for us. A woman, who knew a lot of prayers by heart, began to recite Tawassul. We also repeated with her. The kids were nagging and crying. We had gotten confused. Seeing this condition, a woman got up and said: “Kids and we are all hungry. I’m going to barracks to bring something to eat.” Two or three other people also got up and said: “We also come with you.” We knew it was dangerous. First, we stopped them, but then we accepted and asked them to come back soon, when we saw that situation has calmed down.

As those women left, strange horrors came to us, which was not without a reason; because the aircrafts appeared again shortly after. We were so worried. This time, they bombed the barracks again. Every moment was like a thousand years for us, until we saw the women who were coming from far away. They ran zigzagging. Finally they arrived, with lots of water, bread, fruit and food. Kids, who were very hungry, ate food and a little later slept on our feet.

The more we got close to the evening time, the more we become worried. We didn’t know what awaits us. We performed ablution with the water that women had brought us, and prayed. Moments were passing slowly and bombing of barracks continued.

It had been evening and our anxiety and worry had increased. We didn’t know what to do; going to our house or staying there. We had no choice. Finally, we decided to return. At those moments, the only thing that calmed us was the soft and sad voice of a woman who was praying well.

To be continued…