Eight-year-old Asrar sits on a bench outside the hospital in the city of Taiz. She is wearing a burgundy dress with lace. One foot is plastered and the bare toes peek out.
“Does it hurt?”, we ask.
Asrar shrugs and shyly takes his father’s hand.
Father Saleh Mehdi says:
– She is my seventh child or grandchild who has been injured by snipers near our house. In addition, another son has died and I myself was shot when I ran and saved two children a few years ago, he says, pointing to the scars along his leg.
Every step a game of life
He and his family live in the city of Taiz, where the front runs right through the city and where the war has raged for several years. Many have died or been injured throughout the area. Several neighborhoods are completely bombed by the Saudi-backed coalition and others are blown apart by the Iran-backed Houthi rockets.
For those who live closest to the front, every step is a game of life. If you go a little too far to the left or one floor too high, the bullet will come from one of the snipers. It has become part of everyday life.
– Almost every year someone in the family has met. And lately, after the attacks on the Red Sea, the snipers have increased their activity again. In recent weeks, both Asrar and several neighbors have been shot, says Saleh Mehdi.
Sometimes he yells at the sniper, who is hiding 100 meters away, to stop. Sometimes the sniper calls back.
– He shouts that we should give up and leave our homes. But where will my entire family of 25 people go? We have tried to live in camps but we almost starved to death, says Saleh.
Stepped on mine on the way to school
Another huge problem in Taiz is the landmines. A bit away from the bench where we spoke with Asrar is the area’s prosthetics clinic. The staff works on an assembly line to catch up with all patients.
One of those who come when TV4 is on site is a 16-year-old boy who lost his leg in a mine area a few months ago. He is back to get his prosthesis.
– I was on my way to take my degree and there is no other way to school than through the mined valley. This time I stepped on a mine and since then I have neither studied nor graduated, says Mahdi Abdul Halim.
He lives in the part of the city controlled by the Houthis. Actually, it only takes about half an hour to go to the hospital, but since the war the road across the front has been closed.
– Instead, we have to go up a mountain. It took six hours instead of half an hour to get here. It was terribly scary, says Mahdi.
He hopes that the prosthesis will give him back some of his life and that he will be able to study again.
– And work so that we don’t have to be hungry, he says.
Dreaming nightmares about snipers
Asrar says she has nightmares about devils and snipers. She says that she is now trying to get her friends to stop playing in the street. She is afraid that they will be shot too. She wants the war to end. And while waiting for that, she wants a party.
The day she was shot, the family would have celebrated that she was the best in the class. The first thing she asked when she woke up in the hospital was, how’s the party going?
“What do you want at the party?” we ask.
– Nutella, replies Asrar.
Then she gets a hug from dad and a promise of a party – with Nutella.