‘The first war destroyed us: it made us orphans and miserable’

17-YEAR-OLD Hind Ziad knows painfully well the devastating effects of war in Iraq.

She was five when the Gulf War in 1991 killed her father and broke the health of her mother, who died soon after.

"The first Gulf War destroyed us. It made us orphans and miserable. My father left for battle and never returned. He was declared missing in action. My mother had a shock, she was in grief all the time, got very sick and died eight months later."

Hind and her two younger brothers ended up in orphanages run by the government. With prospects of a new US-led attack on Iraq getting closer, she trembles at the idea of war.

"War is a tragedy. It has changed all my life. It only brings death, sorrow and destruction," she said.

One thing she remembers of her stolen childhood is the 1991 allied bombardment of Baghdad and the terror it caused her.

"It was terrifying. Everything was frightening, the sound of the planes ... the bombings. We were crying from fear. My mother used to hug us and huddle us all night until the bombing stopped," said a frail-looking Hind.

There was no shortage among the 65 inmates at the al-Ri'aya orphanage of traumatised orphans who had a tragedy to recount.

Haya Ellawi said her father an officer who fought the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and the 1991 war committed suicide. "After the 1991 war, he was always depressed, could not keep control of himself and killed himself," Ellawi, 15, said.

"I lost my father because of war. War is devastating. I just pray it won't happen again. I don't want anybody to become orphaned like me," she said.

Many lost parents in conflict or from sickness. Some only lost fathers but were put in orphanages by destitute mothers who had no means to support them after the Gulf War. Economic sanctions that followed ruined the social fabric of the society and disproportionately affected the poor and middle classes, leaving many unable to support their families.

Bewildered by years of suffering, orphans express worries of being separated from friends and siblings in other homes.

"Each week when I meet my brothers I ask them to be careful ... They are very scared of war. I always try to divert their worries and give them hope for our reunion one day," Hind said. "All I want is to become a family once again. When I am 18 I can leave here. I will get a job and have my brothers live with me," she said, sitting on a spartan iron bed.

Abeer Mahdi, a sociologist in charge of care centres, said the impact of a possible war was harder for orphans.

"They are the generation of war. The fear from war is more intense on orphans because they have no parents to comfort them. Nothing can replace parents affection," she said.