From Love and Tenderness to Orphanage and Sadness – Ghadeer and Nour Eddin Kanakrieh

Darrya – Enab Baladi Newspaper – Issue 31– 23-9-2012

In a simple, cozy home live Ghadeer and Nour Eddin Kakanrieh, twoinnocent children who suffered great pains and still suffer up till now..

Ghadeer, a twelve-year-old young patient girl, who always wears a smile on her face despite all her pains…

Nour Eddin, an eight-year-old boy, who misses a lot his mum and dad who were killed by Assad troops before his own eyes as Nour Eddin used to be the spoiled child of his mum.

We asked the two kids about what happened with them, and they answered:

“It was on Friday the 24^th of August. We were at our uncle’s house when we received the bad news that our daughter-in-law’s brother was killed by Assad troops. Dad decided to drive her to her family’s house and then drive us home..

After we got on the car, one of our relatives called us and advised us not to go because snipers and tanks were filling the town. However, my dad did not respond to him, rather he said: “Nothing will happen against the will of God”.  My dad got into the car while the sounds of bombing are reverberating higher in the air. When it was only few meters to reach our home, a tank targeted our car, I flew in the air with my brother, we were raised up in the air and then we  crashed into the ground. My brother’s arm was broken and I felt my eye had swollen. At that time, I saw neither my mum nor my dad. I felt that they were dead, but I saw my sister-in-law on fire, she suffered a lot until she was finally dead!!

Meanwhile, I was semi conscious, I heard words like: “collect the money.!!” Later on, I knew that some young men gathered the money that was thrown out of the car and returned them back to us.

We were taken to a field hospital, my brother was screaming out of pain due to bad burns in his neck and body in addition to his broken hand. I started reciting some verses of the holy Quran so that God may reduce our pains.

On the next day, we were moved to another house after they were told that the Assad troops are going to break into the field hospital. We stayed there up till the evening, then we went into deep sleep. To our surprise, when we got up in the morning, nobody was there in the house except me and my brother. Later on we were told that the owner of the house had fled after he heard that the Assad troops are going to break into houses leaving us alone!! My brother started crying and asked for a cup of water but I was unable to move at all. I started calling wishing that someone might answer my calls; unfortunately, nobody answered… we stayed alone without water or electricity. I will never forget that night as long as I live.

Next day, some of our relatives came to pick us and moved us to a hospital outside Darayya. When we left Darayya, the security troops stopped us at the checkpoint and asked us: “Where are you going?? Do you still want freedom?? Is this the freedom you want??

We asked the two children about their feelings after they lost their parents at one time, they answered that they are very sad but they are relieved that their parents are now in Heaven. Ghadeer started crying and said that now she hates their home and does not want to return back because her mum is not there..

Ghadeer lost one eye but nobody told her the bad news, she still hopes that she will get better after one or two months. She suffers from some burns and deformations in her body, while Nour Eddin suffers from burns and deformations in his face and neck.

We talked to their relatives and asked them about the morale of the two kids after this accident. One of their relatives told us that now they are totally different than before. They were lively, active and used to love to play a lot.. but after the sad accident, they changed to become two sad, solitary and introvert kids.