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Hammad Mussallat, an ISIS survivor, turns suffering into helping his community
Hammad Musallat. Photo: Enas Abdullah

The happiest moment of my life was that moment when the doctors and I could help a kid to stand on her feet trough trainings and physical treatments

Hammad Mussallat, an ISIS survivor, turns suffering into helping his community

  • 2020-01-28

“Life is a journey full of danger, people should have patient and resistance in order to pass through them,” Hammad Musallat said. He stood up again with that belief through which he achieved the ability to help people after years of suffering at the hands of ISIS.

ISIS suppressions have further strengthened Musallat and convinced him to reaffirm support for his people, especially those with special needs because he lives with their happiness and smiles.

Hammad Musallat, 29, lives in Zab subdistrict, Hawija, 45 km west of Kirkuk. He did not have the chance to go to school. He is married and has two children.

Before the emergence of ISIS in 2014, his life was normal and he was busy with his work. However, ISIS attacks changed everything.

“After ISIS’s takeover of my hometown, I tried to escape and wanted to go to Kirkuk, but I was arrested for four days. I was harshly tortured during that four days with electric shock, cold water, and many more brutal ways,” he told KirkukNow.

I was harshly tortured during that four days with electric shock, cold water, and many more brutal ways

ISIS members released him after that four days of torture but he did not abandon the idea of escaping and tried to flee one more time.

“I was arrested again and it was during winter. I was tortured with electric shock and cold water. This time the torture continued for 14 days. That is why I got many diseases including bladder inflammation,” he added.

ISIS controlled Hawija including Zab sub district in Jun 2014, resulting in the flee of hundreds of families to Kirkuk and other areas.

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Kirkuk, Hammad gives physial therapy to a patient, 2019. Photp: Enas Abdullah

“I tried to escape for the third time. Finally, I was successful due to the help of the people who were facilitating people’s escape,” he continued.

At an evening, Musallat left with the help of a guide. He reached Shrgat. After being checked by the security forces, he could enter Kirkuk with the help of security forces whom he knew.

Soon after healing, he started helping those who became disable due to ISIS brutal attacks.

Musallat explained that during his displacement, he assisted a hundred people with special needs. When Hawija district was liberated from ISIS in 2017, he moved back to Zab subdistrict and contacted an international organization for disabled persons to work with them as a volunteer.

The organization accepted his request and soon he learned about the equipment and tools used to heal disabled people.

“The happiest moment of my life was that moment when the doctors and I could help a kid to stand on her feet trough trainings and physical treatments,” he expressed.

Ruya Abdulrahman, four-year-old, was the girl who was not able to stand on her feet due to a brain tumor.

He demonstrated that whenever he helps people, he has a special feeling and is comfortable and when he sees the happiness of those families whom he helps, his abilities increase so that he would support the families more in order to pass their difficulties.

Hammad Musallat asks youth not to give up under pressure and life difficulties but rather to dream about a bright future and help people because everyone has an ability that he or she can use to help his or her community.

 

Omar Majeed and Enas Abdullah

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