Script A Second Life

A CO-PRODUCTION
AL JAZEERA HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRE & MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES/DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (MSF)
One shell hit a water tank in front of us.
I was injured in my cheek,
my left eye came out of its socket.
They put me on a blanket on the floor.
There was no electricity and no lights.
People brought two cars and turned on their headlights.
Then they summoned a doctor from his home.
He said to my dad who was standing there,
you have two options:
either we remove his eye now to stop the bleeding
or we leave it and he may die in the next hour,
or less than an hour.
I was injured on 4 November 2008. I saw a car turning into the street
and at about 11:00 am or 11:30 am, I felt the heat of the flames and small fragments coming towards me.
I remember when I tried to stand, I fell to the ground.
My brother was the first one who came to help me. He took off his belt
and wrapped it around my leg.
The accident happened on 23 August 2015 at about 07:00 pm,
I was leaving the market after buying some groceries for the house like
rice, sugar, potatoes and vegetables.
I was with my friends Abdallah and Abdurrahman.
About 250 or 300 metres beyond the last checkpoint, I heard people shouting:
"Landmine… Landmine."
I thought that if I drove faster, I would be able to escape with my life.
The last thing I heard was landmine, landmine!
There was a plot of land next to our house that was owned by someone else
and was the subject of a tribal dispute.
My wife went into the kitchen and tried to turn on the oven,
then everything burst into flames.
Reda was two-years-old. Wesam was also young
at three, and Wassim was four.

A SECOND LIFE
Produced by Mohamed Sulieman Elfaki Al Shazly
Directed by Armelle Loiseau

What you have just heard are brief moments from the stories of
Abu Wesam,
Qatada,
Hassan,
and Joud.
Life-defining moments that happened in the blink of an eye.
Abu Wesam and Qatada are from Yemen.
Hassan is from Iraq.
Joud is from Syria.
The violence that tore their countries apart
and shattered their bodies, occurred at different times over the past 10 years.
But their journeys to recovery brought them all to Amman,
to the reconstructive surgery hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
where they were given the chance to heal.
For months and sometimes years, they had multiple rounds of surgery
and hundreds of sessions of physiotherapy.
Finally, Hassan returned to Iraq while Abu Wesam, Qatada and Joud
received refugee status that allowed them to stay in Jordan.

Before the revolution in Syria, everything was easy.
When things start to heat up, I would join pro-regime protests for instance
and repeat their views.

JOUD, SYRIAN INJURED TWICE BY A SHRAPNEL AND A STRAY BULLET

I did not take it seriously and neither side mattered to me.

Joud was 15 when conflict broke out in Syria in 2011.
Two years later in 2013, when Joud was still a boy,
the conflict had turned into a deadly war.

On the day of the accident, I was going to meet a friend.
He asked me to come and bring the traditional mate cup and straw.
I went down the road,
I happened to join some people and I got injured.
When I woke up in the hospital in Jordan, I found the maté cup
and straw on the table next to me.
I was really surprised to see the maté glass, it made me remember many things.
The mug and straw come as part of a set.
My mum, may her soul rest in peace, gave them to me. They remind me of her.
Whoever does not have a past does not have a future.
I do not like to talk much about these things.
My father died in 1992 because of the situation back then.
My brother Hussein and I had to --- take on responsibilities from an early age,
when we were about 14 or 15-years-old.
My youngest brother went through the same situation when I got injured,

HASSAN IRAQI, INJURED IN A CAR BOMBING

at about 16 or 17-years-old.
Instead of enjoying his life, instead of completing his education, he had to leave
school and start working to support his family.

Hassan left Iraq for the first time in January 2009.
A couple of months after his accident, the doctors were still unsure if his leg could be saved.
They sent him to MSF's reconstructive surgery hospital in Amman.

On the way to the operating room, I was terrified, I did not know who would operate on me.
They moved me from one bed to another.
When I entered the operating room, I was surprised to hear Fairuz singing!
My medical file was on my chest, the doctor opened it and read my name.
He asked, 'are you Hassan?' I said 'yes'. He said, 'we played Fairuz for you.'
I like how the city looks. Truly, everything is great in Amman.

Reda is 12 and her brother Wesam is 13.
A fire erupted in their house in Sanaa in 2008,
injuring them so badly that they had to have dozens of rounds of surgery,
first in Yemen, and later in Amman.
The main part of their treatment is now over.

When my father enrolled me in school, many of the girls got to know me.

REDA, YEMENI, INJURED IN A HOUSE FIRE
From day one, everyone in the school got to know me. I talk to everyone at school.
Back in Yemen, I wanted to enrol my kids in a school. However, the kids at school

ABU WESAM, YEMENI, FATHER OF REDA AND WESAM
used to stare at them and mock them. So for three years my kids did not go to school
because of the bullying and the lack of medical treatment.
Life in Aden was full of happiness, it was a city of shopping and tourism,
it was the cultural capital of Yemen. On Fridays, I would take the children out for a picnic

QATADA, YEMENI, INJURED BY A LANDMINE EXPLOSION
or a walk on Abyan beach in the morning.
We would swim or go to the Cisterns of Tawila.
We would go to Aden's gardens and funfairs,
we would have fun.

Qatada was injured in August 2015, just after war broke out in the southern port city of Aden.

Yemen is our country and we cannot live without it
but now it lies in ruins.
There is a forgotten war in Yemen,
This war has destroyed us, it has turned us into victims.
"I am one of its victims: my legs were amputated, my car is gone
and my house was destroyed by a rocket."
After many rounds of surgery,
my condition improved by 70 percent,
the doctors from MSF discharged me.
As I told you before, I used to take a lot of pictures,
I used to have old photos of myself taken before the accident but I deleted them.
After the injury, I took a lot of pictures.
When I was alone in a distant place, I used to look at my old photos a lot
but I do not like comparing my past with my present. It's pointless.
So I decided to delete all my old photos and start a new life,
Some people like to compare their memories of the good times with their memories of the bad times.
I do not like comparing my past with my present.
I prefer to keep them separate.
I like to think of my life now and in the future,
though not far in the future.
Thinking makes me feel tired.

When Reda and Wesam were admitted to the hospital in Amman in March 2013,
their father went with them.
Their older brother Wassim, who was 14, stayed in Yemen
with another brother, Issa.

When I had to bring my children
so that we can be together,
the situation made me both their father and their mother.
The big day came when I saw them in Amman airport.
I was at the arrivals hall
and after most of the passengers had arrived, I started thinking,
could they have sent my kids back? Surely not.
I kept waiting and praying, and then Issa came out. I crossed the security line
because I could not wait for him to come out to me. I hugged him so hard.
I was following what was happening in Iraq.
I heard the news of explosions which happened when my sisters were taking their exam.
I heard that some had dropped out of school because there was not enough money to support them.
It made me sad and angry, I thought about ending my treatment and returning to Iraq. All the time I was receiving
emotional support. My mother would tell me
to think about anything else, except continuing my treatment and returning home fully recovered.
I had never left my family before.
We have been apart for a long time, more than a year.
The separation is difficult.
When I first came here, I did not think that I would ever bring my family here too,
I wanted go to back to Yemen.
My family used to send me pictures of my children, Maher and Maha, of my mother
and my father, of all the family.
When I was at the airport,
the plane was supposed to land at 11 pm
but they were delayed by formalities.
They came out at around 12 pm.
I kept wondering where they were!
I was not able to call them. I waited and waited until they arrived. It was full of happiness.
Maher ran towards me shouting, 'Dad!' he recognised me even in the wheelchair.
Maha was just one-year-old when I left Yemen, so she did not recognise me.
She was surprised when she saw me.
She used to ask, 'where are my dad's limbs?'
Where are his legs?'
Why is dad like that?!'
I really hope that we will be granted residence in another country as soon as possible
in Canada or somewhere else.
We do not want money,
we want education,
we want to have a decent standard of living.
We want health insurance for hospitals if we get sick.
Now, if we get sick, we need a lot of money for private hospitals in Jordan.

For three years, Joud did not dare leave the house
because he was not an official refugee in Jordan.
That was until Rawan, a social worker from MSF's hospital, took on his case
and helped him get refugee status.

You could say that I got a third life.
My first life was before I got injured.

JOUD, SYRIAN, INJURED TWICE BY A SHRAPNEL AND A STRAY BULLET
My second life was after my injury
and I suffered for three years.
After I got my papers, I started living a third life.
I felt it was a different life.
I do not have as much confidence as before
but Rawan gave me hope.
She gave me a lot of hope and confidence.
I feel more confident now,
I have hope that my life will be better than it is now.
They could not hold a cup or glass
and they could not button their own clothes.
They used to call 'daddy, daddy', asking for my help.
Now they do not need my help with these things, they can manage by themselves.
They can even make their own food, if I am not home,
they can make cups of tea.
Both of my children now write with their left hands.
Wesam's left hand is intact,
so he writes with his left hand,
even if he used to use his right hand too.
Reda writes with her left hand. She still finds it difficult to write with her right hand.
Before, I used to do everything for them.
When I first arrived at the hospital, I made many friends and soon started joining
in the activities.
That happened on the day before the surgery. Then, after I had the surgery
they all came to visit me.
When they have their operations, I will visit them.
I love the hospital,
I go to see the teacher with my homework and books.
I go out with my friends and, if I do not show up, they call me and ask me to come with them.
If you ask anyone who has worked at MSF here since 2013, they will tell you that
these kids were raised here in the hospital.

ABU WESAM, YEMENI, FATHER OF REDA AND WESAM
My face has changed a lot,
the burns were up to here, around my neck, but now there isn't much here.

REDA, INJURED IN A HOUSE FIRE
I want to remember everything that has happened to me,
I do not want to forget.
When I was in the hospital in Amman, I could not leave my room and go out into the street,
I thought people would look at me differently,
I thought my life was pointless.
People used to look at me with sympathy.
Psychological treatment has played a big role.
In Yemen, there is no psychological treatment similar to what MSF provides.
When I first got here,
they gave me psychological treatment.
They told me to go outdoors,
to go out with my children, at least every Thursday.
Psychological therapy played the most important role in the end,
it helped me understand that this disability is nothing,
even if they write on my passport that I am a person with a disability.
I am not disabled, but I have special needs.
I feel better now, I do not pretend.
But truly,
QATADA, YEMENI, INJURED BY A LANDMINE EXPLOSION
I can go out, I can move on my own.

When I go out and move among other people, I feel complete.
And now I am looking for work !

Hassan went back to Iraq in March 2010.
Two years ago, he met the woman who became his wife.

My wife has played a big role in my life,
she accepted my situation and supported me on every level.
I go to work,

HASSAN, IRAQI, INJURED IN A CAR BOMBING
I have ambition and I want a better life.
To be honest, I still have fears about the future.
I haven't gotten over the fact that I am injured.
I think a lot about how I can make sure that
my future and my family's future
is financially secure.
I have fears over the uncertainty of my life and my family's life.
The injury has changed my life.

Before the injury, I was bad-tempered,
violent and stubborn.
The injury has changed my life.
It pushed me away from negativity,
it gave me the opportunity to get to know myself better,
to adapt to my situation and look after myself.
The injury helped me to be positive.

Since 2006, more than 5,000 people have been treated in this hospital.
They have come from Iraq, Syria and Yemen,
and Palestine.
Each new arrival is a testimony from ongoing conflicts.
Each discharge from hospital means a new life is beginning.

CAMERAMAN
Ahmad Amer, Hussein Amri, Mohammad Ghannam, Armelle Loiseau
EDITOR
Aziza Chraibi, Julie Delord
ASSISTANT PRODUCER
Mohamed Meska
PRODUCERS
Julie Santolini, Agnes Varraine-Leca
Directed by Armelle Loiseau

Narrated by Francesco Segoni (English), Assia Shihab (French) and Mohamed Sulieman Elfaki Al Shazly (Arabic)