Esther from the orthopaedic
centre of the ICRC - International Committee of the Red
Cross – calls us because Farzaneh has gone to
collect medicines and bandages for treatments. It’s an
opportunity that we can’t pass up.
Farzaneh waits for us with her brother, she agrees to
speak to us and tell us her story.
She is 18 years old and seems very shy. She has never
attended school, she comes from a family of peasants.
They married her voluntarily at the age of 13 to a 22
year old friend of the family. She went to live with her
in-laws, with two more brother in-laws, their wives and
four children. From the start of her marriage she
suffered insults and beatings from her mother-in-law
because she didn’t know how to do the housework. A few
months later her husband also started to mistreat her
for having arguments with his mother. Now its two years
ago that one day at noon her mother-in-law threw a pot
of boiling water over her because she didn’t like the
food that she prepared. Farzaneh became pregnant again
after having lost a baby of two months. Her mother-in-law
would not allow her to hold it in her arms or to feed it.
It was two months old when it died of colic.
Her husband's brother and his wife took her to Herat
hospital. She had serious burns to 85% of her body. She
was hospitalised for six months, after which she spent
two months in the orthopaedic centre of the ICRC where
she received physiotherapy and free medicines.
He mother-in-law spent six months in prison and her
husband two, but they paid for their release and are now
free. Now Farzaneh lives at home with her family and her
in-laws have been banned from having any contact with
her. She is accompanied by her brother.
They operated on her in Kabul to cut the strips of skin
which join her shoulders and ears but there was little
improvement and furthermore she has very limited
movement in her arms. Now her brother has sold a piece
of his father's land and they want to go to Iran for a
new operation.
We have helped them to obtain a letter from the hospital
certifying that nothing more can be done in Herat and
that she needs to be treated abroad. The letter has cost
us three days of queuing and trips to different offices,
but it will make it easier to obtain a passport and
entry visa.
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