Before the outbreak of the war, Mukhtar - the son of the countryside - dreamed of visiting Sanaa, which seemed to him to be a suitable city for space, but he changed his mind when the war robbed the city's safety and made it vulnerable to bombing by the planes of the "Arab coalition" led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, since March 2015 up to date. Mukhtar canceled his desired visit in 2017, to the city of Sanaa, which has always surprised him and he has never visited, but he preferred to stay - according to him - in the remote village surrounded by mountains because it is safe and far from the buzz of missiles and the sound of war explosions.
Mukhtar, a citizen in his forties, from Al-Dhalea governorate, and when he spoke to "Khuyut", his tears fell unwillingly. "It was my first visit in my life to Sana'a, to the hospital, which I did not expect," he says. At the beginning of 2018, armed confrontations erupted in the city of Damt - north of Al-Dhalea governorate, between the forces of the internationally recognized government and the forces of Ansar Allah group (Houthis). As a result, the citizen, Mukhtar Ahmed Saleh Abdul Rahim, was subjected to a physical disability after shrapnel lodged in his head and his fingers were amputated which caused him paralysis in his limbs and kept him at home.
On a cloudy morning in October 2018, Mukhtar went out with his sheep and went with them every day to the mountain overlooking the village to graze, as these sheep are his only source of income. Little did he know that a war he had always fled from would befall him. In a moment that he described as a nightmare, he suddenly found himself holding an explosive device that he saw lying in front of him, and as soon as he picked it up, it exploded in his face, leaving him with a disability that will accompany him for the rest of his life.
The conflict between the two parties to the war continues, and with them the suffering of civilians with disabilities who lost their limbs due to the war and its remnants continues, in addition to the tragic facts that occur whenever the war continues, in the absence of a government role in Sanaa or Aden to support these victims and help them to recover and overcome their disability
With great difficulty, Mukhtar was looking at his hands when they were unable to move, and his features showed a desire to curse the war and its leaders, but he chose to keep silence full of pain as if he condemns it with the logic of loss and defeat. Immediately after his injury, he was transferred to a hospital in the city of Damt, then to another in the city of Dhammar, and he ended up in a third hospital in Sana'a, where his wishes were blossoming with his imagination to visit the city and roam it safely.
As if standing on a rock that is about to fall at the top of the mountain, Mukhtar was talking to “Khuyut”: “My hands were paralyzed, and the shrapnel in my head doubled the paralysis of my entire body, and the doctors said that removing it would expose me to death, and now I am laying on my bed.” He adds: "My treatment in hospitals costed about five million riyals (approximately $8,500), which were paid by benefactors, and the recovery that I was hoping for did not happen."
During a medical return from the village of "Haid Kanna" in which he lives to the city of Damt, Mukhtar looked out of the window of the car parked in front of "Haradat Damt", at the top of the crater near the natural bath in the area. He said that he remembered how he used to climb the stairs and race with his friends whenever they entered the city for shopping. He felt great sadness and nostalgia for his past, which he had always dreamed of returning to, and his present had become a nightmare that reminds him of his helplessness and powerlessness unlike his life before his injury.
In addition to herding sheep, Mukhtar was active in farming, so he can get some money to support his family, which consisted of a wife and four children (3 girls and one boy). When "Khuyut" approached him with a question about his sources for obtaining enough food and medicine for his family, embarrassment appeared on his face, as he referred to relatives and benefactors who supported him.
The conflict between the two parties to the war continues along with the suffering of civilians with disabilities who lost their limbs due to the war and its remnants which also continued. The conflict between the two sides of the war continues, and with them the suffering of civilians with disabilities who lost their limbs due to the war and its remnants continues.
In addition to the tragic events that occur as the war continues, in the absence of a government role in Sana'a or Aden in supporting the victims and help them to recover and overcome their disabilities. Disabilities that will bear witness to the cruelty of the war and the ugliness of the combatants. In this context, Mokhtar confirmed that he has not received any government support since his injury in 2018, until now.
The tragedy will not stop with Mukhtar as long as the war continues, and many have become disabled because of it, and among all this chaos, people will not be given any consideration unless peace is achieved.
