Polio-stricken Zainab’s mother: “My daughter contracted polio due to our negligence”
Raqiba Hamidi
Badakhshan, Afghanistan – In the village of Hesari, situated far from the center of Faizabad city in Badakhshan province, a woman named Qalam Nissa lives with her husband, their third child, 13-year-old Zainab, contracted polio at the age of one and a half.
Around 39 years old, Qalam Nissa who is also the mother of 20-year-old Nisar, 18-year-old Bahram, 10-year-old Aisha, and 8-year-old Fatima. Says, “All her other children are healthy only her one child has contracted polio.
She stated that polio has severely affected Zainab, resulting in her disability. She is unable to move or talk, and she doesn’t understand what’s good or bad, in short, she needs her mother’s and her eldest brother’s help in everything, including eating, drinking, and bathing.
Her eyes filled with tears as she said, “Zainab’s condition has taken our happiness. I wish my daughter had never contracted this dangerous disease.”
She mentions that her daughter contracted this disease due to her and her husband’s negligence. If they had given their daughter the polio vaccine at that time, she wouldn’t have been in this condition, and she wouldn’t have been a burden on her family.
Qalam Nissa feeding her 13-year-old polio-stricken daughter Zainab © Polio Free Afghanistan/2024/Raqiba Hamidi
She told the story of her daughter contracting polio like this: “Around 12 years ago when Zainab was only one and a half years old and my other children were also quite young, we lived in a remote area. My husband was busy with farming, and due to our distance from the village clinic, as well as my excuse of workload, I couldn’t take my daughter to the clinic for vaccination. Unfortunately, my negligence and laziness were the causes of my daughter contracting polio.”
She says, as a mother, the condition of her daughter deeply saddens her because children her age go to school and study till sixth grade while she lies in bed and cannot even move.
She also complained about her poor economic situation and mentioned that her husband had left farming years ago and started carpentry. and their financial condition was fine to some extent, but for the last two years, he has been working as a taxi driver, with which their economic situation has worsened.
She mentions that her husband’s income is quite low, making it difficult to meet the daily expenses of the house, and there isn’t enough money left to purchase Pampers for Zainab.
With this statement, Qalam Nissa looked at her daughter with grief and whispered with tearful eyes: “I wish Zainab could talk and call me mother”
With a sad and concerned face that told a story of pain and suffering, she requested mothers not to hesitate or neglect as she did. She urged them to vaccinate their children against polio regularly, ensuring they don’t suffer the same fate as Zainab.
Zainab with her eldest brother Nisar © Polio Free Afghanistan/2024/Raqiba Hamidi
Nisar is the eldest brother of Zainab, taking care of his sister’s needs after his mother. He says that every day when he sees the condition of his sister, he gets deeply saddened.
He said, “As a brother, his biggest wish is that his sister was healthy, could have pursued her studies, could have helped her mother with household chores, or at least could have done her own work.
He states that if parents want their children to be healthy and not become burdens like Zainab, they should vaccinate them regularly to protect them from polio because this disease has no cure and can only be prevented through vaccination.
