SABAH (42)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

Interviewed and Compiled by Fatemeh Doustkami
Translated by Natalie Haghverdian

2020-12-29

SABAH (42)

Memoirs of Sabah Vatankhah

Interviewed and Compiled by Fatemeh Doustkami

Translated by Natalie Haghverdian

Published by Soore Mehr Publishing Co.

Persian Version 2019

Besides me, Belgheys, Dr. Mostafavi and Dr. Sa’adat were willing to go to the fronts. Although I had great passion to go to the front, I was worried that the soldiers might see us and get angry and send us back. We had lots of arguments and disagreements regarding staying in the city. Although after the supporting statement of Sheikh Sharif on the twelfth day, nobody said anything to us and nobody questioned our stay in the city. Some of the soldiers and army members wanted to send the women and girls out of Khorramshahr but Sheikh Sharif said: “If they are captured, they will be just like Hazrat-e Zeynab.”

Sheikh Sharif’s argument enlightened our hearts in that difficult situation. If he had not said those words and supported our stay in Khorramshahr, we would have been obliged to leave the city. Our persistence to stay in the city had become stronger after the talks of the Imam on the eight night of the autumn. He had asked all to stay and defend[1].

The next day the number of injured referred to the office increased. I had to travel between the office and Abadan Emdadgaran hospital many times with the injured. This hospital was called Lion and Sun before the Revolution. It was a hospital with primary facilities and generally wounded people who had fractures and flesh wounds in no need of specialized equipment and treatment were referred there.

The situation of the hospital was chaotic. I did what I could; I changed the bed sheets soaked in blood and cleaned the rooms. The scene of injured soldiers trembling bodies who had lost a lot of blood due to severe wounds, will be forever in my mind. Their bodies shook so badly that you could hear the sound of their teeth. In such cases, we tried to cover them with blanket or bed sheets to keep them warm.

It was almost noon that a team of five came to Sheybani’s office from Tehran. The person in-charge of the team was Dr. Sadeghi. The rest were also physicians. One of them was assistant surgeon and the other one who was the youngest, had brought his wife and left her in Abadan. During the war, different medical boards had come to Khorramshahr from different provinces, but all of them had only endured the situation for one or two days and had returned to their cities. Although it was a few days that we were all suffering stomach ache and cramps due to the use of river water and really needed doctors and treatment but we were not really happy with the arrival of Dr. Sadeghi’s group. We all knew that they would only stay for one day in Khorramshahr and will leave the city with the first bombardment. But we were wrong. Dr. Sadeghi took his team to the front on the same day. We really liked their courage and sincerity. It was obvious that they were not like the rest. They were stationed in the office of Dr. Joulazadeh who was a general practitioner after they returned from the frontline. Dr. Joulazadeh’s office was located exactly behind Dr. Sheybani’s office in Fakhre Razi Street.

Shahnaz was feeling very bad because of drinking the river water. She had the history of stomach aches and even hemorrhaging, but this time her condition was really bad; worse than the rest of us. She constantly complained that she feels as if somebody has put a knife in her stomach and is cutting her liver off. She scratched the floor in pain. I took her to Dr. Sadeghi’s office. Doctor examined her and said that it is probably her appendicitis and has nothing to do with the contaminated water. When I told him about the history of her stomach aches, he wrote some tests. He told that I must rush her to the hospital and do the tests for diagnosis.

We did the tests in the hospital and after examination and review of the lab tests, they said that it is not appendicitis and the problem is her sensitive and use of contaminated river water. The doctor advised her not to use river water and take the prescription and she will feel better soon.

When my problem with Shanaz was solved, I went to see the injured we had referred to hospital a few days ago. I had heard the news of the martyrdom of an injured hit by shrapnel to the head in the customs. I went to see the others and ask how they were feeling.

Little by little the number of the injured increased and the hospitals of Abadan did not have the capacity to handle them. We had to take our injured to Darkhoin field hospital. Although it was very far from Khorramshahr but we had no other option.

In the evening of fifteenth day of autumn, I took a 25, 26 year-old injured to Darkhoin hospital. Before entering the hospital, since the area was military, we had to hand over our weapons. I handed over mine and we entered.

His foot had been injured and fracture. I do not remember whether it was his thigh or his leg. I just remember that his reaction and manner was very interesting for me and was different from others. From the moment he was brought to the office until the moment we got him to the hospital, he whispered “Thanks God” in Arabic and Farsi all the time. When we got him to the hospital and the doctors examined him, it was the same. When the doctors treated him, Belgheys and I went to check on him. He lifted his head and looked at us and said: “sisters, you should appreciate these moments as much as you can. We are all very close to God in these difficult moments.”

He was saying these and crying. He was in a beautiful spiritual state; a state which impressed all around him. His cries turned into sobbing and the nurses asked us to leave the room. We said goodbye and left the hospital.

Upon return, I went to claim my weapon. The soldier asked to see my license and when I said that I do not have any, he said that he cannot return it back without it. I explained that I am one of the defenders of Khorramshahr and I need my weapon, but he did not accept. He said that he can only give me the weapon’s confiscation number so that I can refer to Abadan Police and claim it back.

I returned and shared the story with Joneshan. He had connections everywhere; from the Revolutionary Court to the police and …. Jounshan said that there is an individual among his friends called Mr. Mohammadi who is studying in Theology faculty of Tehran University and is here now. As he claimed, Mr. Mohammadi had provided license to carry weapon for Joneshan and the rest of his friends. He promised to talk to him for a license. The next day, I went to Abadan police with Joneshan and he got my weapon for me. Then he told me that Mr. Mohammadi has asked for a three by four photo to start the process of obtaining a license.

We decided to go to take a shower. I had taken a shower in auntie Maryam’s house but the rest needed to take a shower. We came out of the office with the hope of finding a place for shower. We got to the entrance of Jihad. Zahra Hosseini and Ashraf Farhadi, Maryam Amjadi and Belgheys Malekian and I sat on the curb of the street around one hour or more with the hope that a friend would come around. We did not know where to take a shower. It was noon. We were very hungry. I had a little money but it was nothing and I did not know what we could buy with that little money and eat. I told the others: “girls I have some money. Let’s go and buy something.”

Zahra said: “give me the money. I will find something.” She took the money and went towards Kafisheh bazar. A few minutes later, Zahra returned with two loaves of Taftun[2] and a small bag of pickle. I told her: “Zahra, what have you bought, with these pickles our stomachs will be destroyed!”

Zahra said: “Sabah you do not know how delicious bread with pickles is. Try it once. It is very delicious.”

Zahra chopped the bread into the plastic container of pickles and then started eating with hands. She put her fingers in the pickles and ate it with appetite. We all complained. We said: “what kind of eating this is! At least poach your bread into the pickles and then eat.” Zahra answered: “drop it! You are very sensitive! This is the time of war!”

We ate the whole bread and pickles while joking. After a long time, this was the first portion of food that we felt the whole taste of it. In the past we had never had a proper meal. We always had dry bread to eat or if we could get real food, we could not eat it properly as we felt that it belonged to the soldiers. We all liked the bread and pickles which Zahra had highly spoken of.

While we were sitting in the corner of the street having lunch, once or twice we noticed a young man keeping guard at the entrance of Jihad. When we finished our lunch, the young man approached us and with his head down asked: “sisters! What are you doing here? Are you waiting for somebody? It is about two hours that I see you are sitting here.” I said: “we are from Khorramshahr; we are from the team of people who are stationed in Jameh mosque for help.”

Hearing this, the young man became happy and said: “what are you doing here all this time?!”

It was hard to say what we were doing there. It was embarrassing that we had come to take a shower but we had no choice. I said embarrassed: “brother, we deal with a lot of injured individuals and martyrs. All our clothes are soaked in blood. We feel bad when we want to say prayers. Today we had little to do, so we came here to look for a place to take shower.”

The young man said: “my grandmother’s house is nearby. They are not home and have joined the rest of the family. Wait here and I will grab the key. You can take a shower there.”

We were very happy and thanked him. It was not long after the young man had gone, that we saw a car with a few army rangers approaching us. We had seen them before in Khorramshahr. One of the rangers gave a sign and the car stopped. One of them, whom we had seen before in the mosque and office, approached us and after greeting said: “what are you doing here?” I said: “nothing, we have something to do here.” He said: “what… in this situation? You have been standing here for a long time! We are from Khorramshahr and we have a special zeal for our citizens!”

He was talking as if he was the only one who had zeal and we did not understand anything. His demanding tone forced us to explain that we had come to take a shower. As soon as I said that we have come to take a shower, he said: “do you know anybody here?”

We told him about the young man who had promised to take us to his grandmother’s. I had barely finished my sentence that he criticized me saying: “you want to take a shower in a person’s house that you do not know?! In this situation! How can you trust a stranger? If a person appears eligible you think that he is a good person and there is no problem?!”

When he saw our silence, said: “my paternal house is in Abadan. I will take you there to take a shower.”

To be continued …