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Fri, January 27, 2023 | 17:50
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For some, famine means picking which child dies
자식들 중 누구를 버려야 하나… 소말리아 엄마들 生死의 피난길서 ‘참혹한 선택’
Posted : 2011-08-14 14:33
Updated : 2011-08-14 14:33
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DADAAB, Kenya (AP) - Wardo Mohamud Yusuf walked for two weeks with one child on her back when her 4-year-old son collapsed at her side.

The 29-year-old asked the families she was traveling with for help, but they continued on their way. Then she had to make a choice no parent should have to make. Yusuf left her 4-year-old behind.

Now at a refugee camp in Kenya, Yusuf says she is reliving the pain of abandoning her son.

Parents fleeing Somalia's devastating famine are having to make unimaginably cruel choices: Which children have the best chance to survive when food and water run low? Who should be left behind?

The U.S. estimates that more than 29,000 Somali children under age 5 have died in the country's famine the last three months.

Horn of Africa famine: How to help
Special Section: Desperation in the Horn of Africa
Somalis in the US help famine victims at home

At the Kakuma Mission Hospital in northern Kenya, an incident between two mothers illustrates the growing desperation among refugees as a famine in neighboring Somalia that has killed tens of thousands draws an international aid effort.

The two mothers exchanged blows as they held their wailing infants in their arms after one of the women tried to cut in the long line for children to receive treatment for severe malnutrition.

The women faced off a second time after passing their children to onlookers amid the melee: The younger woman head-butted the other to the ground before hospital personnel intervened and separated them.

"She ordered me to move after she cut the line and I have been here since dawn. I could not let her," said one of the women who only identified herself as Chipure, a mother of eight children, who got a swollen lip from being head-butted.

UN: Somalia needs $1billion, more troops amid famine
Rapes, attacks up against Somalis fleeing famine
Children of Somalia's famine flood hospital

At least five people are reported to have died in Kenya's Turkana region, one of the most remote and marginalized areas in the country, where people depend on herds of animals that are dying from the drought.

According to the U.N. children's agency, a little more than half of the population here consumes just one meal a day. The hunger crisis is so bad that families here are even sharing food supplements given to infants.

The temperature here can hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and 20 liters of water costs a third of John Ekidor's daily wage.

"The last time I took a bath was a week ago," said Ekidor, 33, who supports his family of eight by panning for gold. "Eating one meal a day is now a matter of chance."

At the Makutano Health Center, dozens of women line up to get their children a special peanut butter paste that is high in protein and carbohydrates.

Nyanyuduk Logiel, a 28-year-old mother of five, has brought her 3-year-old daughter Lokol back for follow-up care. The toddler is only about a third the weight she should be and can barely stand. She weighs only 12.35 pounds.

In the nearly two weeks since little Lokol has been on the treatment, she's gained almost a quarter of a pound but has a long way to go before she reaches the weight she should be ― 33 pounds, says Jimmy Loree, the nurse in charge of the clinic.

Loree says the number of children being treated for acute malnutrition tripled from 21 to 68 in July, and he expects the figure will continue to rise.

"This year is really bad, it is really out of hand because if you see how people are living they have been depending on their animals that have been taken," Loree said.

School attendance is also down, from 200 children to 156 at one primary school, as families relocate in search of pasture and better grazing lands.

Droughts are common here, but over the last decade they have turned much more frequent. Before they occurred in five or 10-year cycles but now they are coming every two years ― or even more frequently.

Dr. Joseph Epem, the medical officer in charge of largest government hospital in the region, says cattle rustling and border conflicts also have forced people living in areas where food can be grown to move to safer areas that are infertile.

He says his own family was forced to move from a fertile area near a river where they used to grow crops after their neighbor was killed. And last Friday, eight Turkana women were killed by Ethiopian Merille tribesmen in a dispute over land and pasture.

Epem says health officials must address the underlying issues fueling the crisis. Otherwise, they'll have to return with food aid again.

"We do it for three months ― the rate (of malnutrition) comes down ― and then once we pull out we go back again," he said. "It becomes like a vicious cycle."

자식들 중 누구를 버려야 하나… 소말리아 엄마들 生死의 피난길서 ‘참혹한 선택’
두 자식 중 한 명만 선택해 살릴 수밖에 없는 어머니. 누구든 한 자식의 생명 줄을 놓아야만 할 때 어머니는 자신의 인생도 놓아버리게 된다. 자신의 몸뚱이를 잘라내는 듯한 선택을 해야만 하는 어머니의 심정을 표현할 수 있는 단어는 이 세상에 없다. 그 어떤 말로도 표현할 수 없는 참혹한 선택을 강요당하는 어머니들이 있다. 소말리아에서 살던 와르도 모하무드 유수프 씨(29)는 한 살배기 딸을 등에 업고 네 살 난 아들의 손을 잡은 채 케냐를 향해 떠났다. 아프리카 동부를 덮친 60년 만의 가뭄으로 그의 마을엔 자고 나면 사망자가 속출했다. 앉은 채로 죽을 바에는 차라리 유엔이 제공한 캠프가 있다는 케냐로 목숨 걸고 가야겠다고 결심했다. 먼지만 날리는 사막을 2주 동안 걸었다. 용케 따라오던 아들이 끝내 타는 듯한 태양 아래 쓰러졌다. 얼마 남지 않은 물을 아들의 얼굴에 뿌려봤지만 아무런 반응도 없었다. 함께 피난 중이던 다른 가족들에게 도움을 구했으나 자신들의 생존이 급한 상황에 아무도 선뜻 나서지 않았다. 유수프 씨는 결국 어떤 부모도 감당할 수 없는 결정을 해야 했다. “결국 아들을 신의 뜻에 맡기고 길에 버려두고 올 수밖에 없었어요. 날마다 그 애를 생각하면서 고통 속에 밤을 보내지만 그 아이가 죽었다고 절대 생각하지 않아요. 아들 또래의 다른 아이들을 볼 때마다 가슴이 찢어집니다.” 유수프 씨는 케냐 다다브 난민촌에서 AP통신 기자에게 이렇게 심정을 토로했다. 피난길에서 자식을 두고 어떤 선택을 해야 하는 참담한 경험은 유수프 씨만 체험한 것이 아니다. 이 난민촌에 머무르고 있는 파두마 사코우 압둘라히 씨(29)도 같은 일을 겪었다. 일찍 남편을 잃은 그는 기근을 견디다 못해 다섯 살, 네 살, 세 살, 두 살 된 자식과 갓난아이를 안고 다다브를 향해 떠났다. 그 역시 난민촌에 도착하기 불과 하루 전날 두 아이를 잃었다. 잠이 든 줄 알았던 다섯 살배기 아들과 네 살 난 딸이 아무리 흔들어도 깨어나지 않았던 것. 물이 조금 남아 있었지만 갓난아이를 포함한 다른 3명의 자식을 생각하면 함부로 쓸 수도 없었다.    ▼ “죽은 아들 무덤도 못팠다, 남은 자식 위해 힘 아끼려고…” ▼ 생후 7개월 만에… 운명 갈린 쌍둥이 쌍둥이 자매의 생사는 생후 7개월 만에 갈렸다. 케냐 다다브 난민촌에서 소말리아 여성 무미니 알브라힘 씨가 숨진 딸을 내려다 보고 있다. 품에 안겨 있는 다른 딸의 영양상태도 매우 안 좋아 보인다. 결국 그는 두 자식을 나무 그늘로 옮겨놓고 발걸음을 옮겼다. 자식들이 깨어났을 것 같은 생각에 얼마 못 가 다시 되돌아오기를 여러 차례. 하지만 다른 세 아이라도 살리기 위해선 피눈물을 머금고 그 자리를 떠나야 했다. 선택의 순간은 어머니만 강요받은 것은 아니었다. 이 난민촌에 있는 농민 출신 아흐메드 자파 누르 씨(50)도 비슷한 경험을 했다. 열네 살짜리 아들, 열세 살인 딸과 함께 케냐를 향한 피난길에 오른 누르 씨는 이틀 만에 물이 떨어졌다. 사흘째 되는 날 두 자식은 더는 걸을 수 없었다. 함께 갈 수도, 되돌아갈 수도 없는 상황. 그렇다고 계속 지체하면 셋 다 목숨을 잃게 된다. 누르 씨는 고향에 남아 있는 5명의 자식과 아내를 생각하며 결정을 내렸다. “그들을 운명에 맡기는 것 외에 내가 할 수 있는 것은 아무것도 없었습니다. 내 몸의 일부와도 같은 자식들을 포기하는 것은 정말 심장이 찢어지는 고통이었습니다.” 그는 난민촌에 도착해서도 그들의 얼굴이 어른거려 고통 속에 몸부림쳐야 했다. 하지만 누르 씨와 그의 자식들에게 운명은 미소를 던져주었다. 남기고 온 두 아이는 기적적으로 유목민에게 구조돼 소말리아의 엄마 곁으로 돌아갈 수 있었고 누르 씨도 석 달 만에 그 소식을 전해 들었다. 6명의 자녀를 데리고 난민촌으로 가던 파퀴드 누르 엘미 씨는 세 살배기 아들이 굶주림과 갈증으로 괴로워하다 결국 숨졌을 때 엄마로서 해 줄 수 있었던 유일한 일은 자식의 시신 위에 마른 나뭇가지를 덮어주고 하염없이 우는 것이었다고 회상했다. “남은 다섯 자식을 살려야 한다는 생각밖에 없는데 죽은 아들을 위한 무덤을 팔 힘이 어디서 나겠나. 나에게 아들을 내려준 신이 그를 먼저 데리고 간 것뿐”이라고 엘미 씨는 담담하게 말했다. 다다브 난민촌에서 활동하는 국제구호위원회 소속의 정신과 의사 존 키벨렝에 씨는 소말리아의 부모들은 극도의 압박감에 노출돼 있다고 말했다. “가만히 앉아서 다같이 죽을 순 없습니다. 그런 비정상적 상황에선 누군가를 선택하는 것이 당연한 일입니다. 하지만 한 달쯤 뒤면 부모들은 외상 후 스트레스 장애를 겪게 됩니다. 두고 온 아이들의 환영이 떠올라 밤낮으로 악몽에 시달리죠.” AP통신이 12일 전한 다다브 난민촌의 비극은 지금 제3세계 곳곳에서 벌어지는 애끊는 아픔의 일부에 지나지 않는다.
 
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