His dream was to back to school
December 21, 2020
Mukhtar Abdu Ali Saeed Al-haddad (9 years old) became the only son to his parents and the only brother to his three sisters. Since his childhood, Mukhtar’s dream was to hold his school bag and wear the green school uniform, just like his older brother Ammar, who was one year older, and also like the other children of the village, and to participate in their everyday marathon to their school, which is located 2 kilometers away from the village.
However, the war turned Mukhtar’s and his family’s life upside down, ruining their simple life. In the mooring of Tuesday, September 15, 2015, at 10:00 am, Saudi/UAE-led coalition bombed a rain-waterway bridge located near “Makshalah” village in Bani Saad province, 48 kilometers south of Al-Mahwit governorate. This happened while Mukhtar and his brother were herding sheep near the bridge.
Fragments of the missile that was fired flew everywhere, some of which hit the older brother, Ammar, on the chest leading to his immediate death, and some hit Mukhtar on both his skinny legs and one of his upper thighs causing him to lose one of his legs as it was later amputated.
After those moments, the child’s life has turned into a state of permanent disability; the catastrophe came double: Mukhtar at once lost his only brother and he became disabled which means that running to school is now just a dream that can never come true.
I was dreaming of going to school, with my brother.
When I went to see Mukhtar in the summer of 2018, his father told me about how tragic Mukhtar’s life has become, how traumatized he was about losing his brother, and the state of panic that he was suffering from. Not far from his father and I, Mukhtar was standing on his remaining leg, leaning on his crutches, wearing ragged pants and a buttonless shirt revealing his chest. I asked him about his old dream. He answered in a shaky throaty voice:
“It’s over! I don’t have any dreams! My dream was to go to school with my brother, but now I don’t want anything anymore. My brother is gone; my leg was amputated; I can’t walk properly; the school is very far; I don’t want anything anymore!”
The school year was approaching
Mukhtar told me his version of the incident of his injury and his brothers’ death by saying:
“On that day, my brother, Ammar, and I were herding near the rain waterway and we were thinking about who would herd the sheep when we both go to school, as the new school year was approaching.
My brother told me he would arrange it with our mom to make herding an afternoon chore, after we are back from school. However, suddenly, fighter airplanes flew above our heads and blew the bridge off.
“Some people who were riding a pickup truck (Toyota) on the bridge were immediately killed. My brother and I ran toward the other side of the waterway; nevertheless, fragment form the missile flew our way killing my brother and injuring me in the legs. I couldn’t move and I started screaming when I saw that my brother’s chest was cut open as a result of the fragments that hit him. Then I lost consciousness and didn’t know what happened until I woke up in the hospital, missing a leg.”
I dream of death
I repeated the question to Mukhtar: “What do you want to do now?” He replied with bitterness: “Nothing! I want nothing. I want to die so I can meet my brother in heaven and be with him.”
