meter-high factory walls with the only exit leading to a polluted industrial area, the residents of Al-Faisaliya District here are isolated from the outside world and are no better off than prisoners in the opinion of Dr. Akram Al-Hussayen, Executive Supervisor of Health Weeks at the Ministry of Health. He said that the high walls and the extensions of the expressways which occupy more than eight km of the district's area have turned the district into a jail and have generated a feeling among the residents that they are socially isolated and forgotten. Moreover, when one takes into consideration the fact that most of the district's residents are living in abject poverty, it is not at all surprising that the district has become a den of criminals. It was with the aim of providing some assistance to the poor residents of this district that 60 young men and women volunteered to take part in a health awareness campaign called “Your Health is a Crown for Your Country”. The basic objective of the campaign led by Dr. Al-Hussayen was to address the residents of Al-Faisaliya in simple language in order to educate them about the dangers of ignoring the rules of good health, help them to change their lifestyle and become less isolated. Fatima, a resident in Al-Faisaliya, said, “The area is beyond the long arm of the law. I never see any police patrolling the area, and that is also true of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice or the Hai'a. They are nowhere to be found. Although the district is densely inhabited with up to 16,000 inhabitants, you don't see any signs of the police. Believe it or not, any strange car in the district can easily be recognized; some bad children throw stones at such cars and smash their windows.” The first house the young health campaigners entered was full of garbage, piles of old furniture and iron scrap. One campaigner said, “The first thing that caught our eyes was two young men in their late 20s sitting at the doorstep. We greeted them, but they didn't utter a word in reply. At first, we thought that they were deaf, but their mother told us that one of them was suffering from epilepsy and the other one was a drug addict.” The mother then added sadly, “Both of them are unemployed. My eldest son is mentally disturbed and suffers from hallucinations because he had been using drugs for a long time. My husband was killed in an accident and left us without a breadwinner. As a result, I live on alms and charity along with my seven children. Ironically, I also support my son-in-law and his four children after he was fired from his government job.” Two members of the campaign, Dalal Al-Subae and Amal Al-Ahmari, showed Fatima's daughter the proper way to arrange her clothes in the wardrobe and how to separate the shoes from the sheets. They also explained to her the importance of exposing clothes and bedcovers to the sunlight so as to kill microbes. The girl was very appreciative and thanked the two health campaigners for teaching her how to keep her wardrobe tidy and clean, saying, “I have very much benefited from their visit, and I will follow their advice when I move to my husband's house as I planned to get married at the end of the summer. I have learned from them how to care for myself during pregnancy and after giving birth. They also helped me to take the pre-marriage tests.” Commenting on the situation in Al-Faisaliya, Dr. Al-Hussayen said, “The isolation of the district encourages consanguineous marriage which is directly responsible for the spread of hereditary and congenital diseases among the district's residents.” Among other observations made by the health campaigners was the fact that the women of the district were good cooks, even if they did not strictly abide by the rules of hygiene. Dalal Al-Subae said, “During our visits to homes in Al-Faisaliya District, we noticed that most of the women were very good cooks. We learned, for example, that some of the cooks in the city's palaces originally came from the district. The women were keen to develop their skills and asked us to help them in their scheme to open restaurants and market products that they make at home.” “At another house we were given a warm welcome by Umm Shoaib,” Al-Subae continued. “She received us in a small dark room. There was another half-built room attached which emitted a nasty smell as the residents dump waste there. We could not stay long at the house because of the bad odor, even though Umm Shoaib told us that her daughters were sexually harassed by their father and that she had reported her husband to the police and the governorate.” Sexual harassment cases are common in Al-Faisaliya District which is why many families refuse to allow their children to go out after 10 P.M. when district residents stay indoors and leave the streets to gangsters, drug addicts and drunkards, Umm Shoaib said. No woman dare go out after 10 P.M., and those found on the streets beyond this time are socially stigmatized, she explained, adding that most of the district's residents are illegal aliens and that the area is also a safe haven for bandits.
