Reports | 25 05 2020
"Here I am at your service, O Allah, here I am
Here I am, you have no partners, here I am"
This religious song was his phone ringtone; I’ve got his number while I was walking in the streets of the city of Damascus, it was written there on a white paper: "A young man who is willing to donate his kidneys, his blood group B +".
Here on this bridge, which located in the center of the city, what makes it more crowded; on every wall, you can see ads and papers posted left and right, written on it:
" A patient in need of a kidney", then the blood group is mentioned in the ad and a gentle reminder that the donor has to have a tissue’s analysis. All the posters are worn-out and shabby.
A rough voice came through the phone: "Hello".
- Hello, I read the ad about your willing to donate your kidney!
He replied eagerly: yes, yes, I am.
And then maybe my voice has let him down when I said: "I am sorry, I didn’t call because I need your kidney, but actually I am curious about that, I rarely read like these ads in the streets, but it seems to be real!"
He said: "yes it’s real, I am willing to give my kidney for two million Syrian pounds [$4000], to keep my family away from displacement and sleeping in the streets."
Me: "uncle, what is your name? please let’s talk about you a little bit"
He replied: I am M. Nahhas from Homs, I fled my city and house because of the war, I and my wife are separated, and I am a father of four, unemployed.
My eldest son works in a sandwich restaurant, for a salary does not exceed 17.000 Syrian pounds monthly [$40], which is not enough to pay the rent of the house we live in the poor neighborhoods of Damascus.
Me: Uncle, what do you say about communicating a charity? It may be able to make you change your mind.
He said: No, whatever happened, my kidney is for sale. I don’t need their fake aid, I am immersed in debt, and my kids need food to fill their hunger (we miss the bread’s smell), not to mention that our house's owner wants me to leave within few days, but please pray for me, there is someone who wants to buy my kidney, pray for me to have some luck, perhaps my children also get some luck during this war."
- God willing uncle, God willing!
M. Nahas tried to attract the customers to buy his kidney, through attaching an appendix to the ad, saying: we have Tissue analysis, to save the time of those in need.
But who is really in need? Is he Nahas who live in a small department, consists of two rooms, in a poor neighborhood, with no water or electricity, and the debt conquered his pockets, with not being able to give his children their most basic rights in life and education?
Or is the one who is in need is that man who is looking for a kidney to buy it with the money he earned throughout his life, in order to keep him alive.
A painful ring repeats itself, one man sells his kidney to pay off his debt, and another man borrows money to buy it.
Each one of them is looking for his own way to survive .. from nothing.
* This article was published under the partnership agreement between "Rozana" and the RNW Media "Huna Sotak".