When Al-Monitor visited the clinics in June, Hoda was welcoming a young Syrian woman who thought she was pregnant. “She is 20 years old. She has a 1-year-old son and is afraid to be pregnant again,” Hoda explained. “What we try to do at Zhyan is also cultural work, not just medical. We try to speak with women, especially Syrian refugees, telling them not to have children at this difficult period, when conditions don’t allow them to raise children in good health and safety.”
With its local partner, Al-Mesalla Human Resources Development Center, the project sponsors awareness campaigns about women's reproductive health, early marriages and family planning and also works to identify cases of gender-based violence and protect women’s medical rights. Since July, the psychological and social support unit has been coordinating visits with the mobile units to reach out to patients and vulnerable cases.
Miro, an Iraqi nurse of Bulgarian origin, helped prepare a bed for Hoda's next patient, Melikiyya. The woman, originally from Fallujah, left there two years ago with her sons when missiles were devastating the city. “Whether it was the Americans, the Iraqis or [IS], I don’t know; they are all the same for me.”
Among many challenges, the Zhyan project faces issues from having a staff of displaced Iraqis. “One of the doctors of the mobile unit, Maya, left Erbil for Tikrit because of her husband’s family problems there,” said Malaspina. "The new doctor, Aya, is originally from Baghdad, but she was living in Tikrit before coming here because of the recent tensions there. She is a 27-year-old doctor and, thanks to our project, she decided to continue her specialization in gynecology.”
No one knows what to expect next, or when. The Mosul offensive has just started. The women try to temper their fear for their loved ones with their positive, resilient energy for the clinic’s mission — which is, above all, about life.
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