PREVIOUSLY we left Daniel parted from his mother.

FROM DANIEL’S DIARY

27- ‘RAIN SOAKS US’

‘There was a river at a place called Mamurieh, near Adana, where we spent two to three weeks. Nearby there was a railway station, where the German troops were stationed . I don’t know what other Armenians ate to keep body and soul together, but I was not hungry as I had been earlier because I used to go to the Germans and get some dried biscuits from them. These biscuits were as dry and as hard as stone. I soaked them in the river for a while until they were soft enough to be eaten. Both mother and I were, thus, able to gather some strength here. We also found some bedding which other deportees had thrown away being unable to carry them.’

28- Urine to cures my sore eyes.

Daniel’s mother

‘Once I had sore eyes at Mamurieh, I couldn’t open my eyes and it was very painful.There was no possibility of securing any kind of medicine. The women told mother that some drops of milk might help. There was a woman breast feeding her baby, so mother begged her to give a few drops of her milk but she didn’t. This is another instance showing that extreme hardship brutalizes people and destroys humans and human qualities. Another woman told mother that urine might help. So at night I woke up and wanted to urinate. I could not open my eyes but from the noise produced I realized that my urine was being collected in a can. My inquiry brought no satisfactory reply from mother but later on I learned that drops of it in my eye had cured my sore eye almost miraculously in a matter of days.’

How many of us have found ourselves in situations where were we are pushed into thinking outside the box to find solutions. When I first read that Daniel’s mother used urine to cure his eyes, I was in total shock. I wondered if I would have been able to do the same thing? I am sure we have all found ourselves in similar situations, obviously not caused by a death march but nevertheless profound. What makes us humans behave in ways we don’t think we’re capable of? What gives us the inspiration to think outside our narrow and defined boxes? The depths of a mother’s love and the lengths she will go to ensure her child’s well being have always amazed me but on reflection it is not just a mother’s love which pushes us into situations we never thought we would be capable of living through. I believe it’s simply love. A mother’s, a daughter’s, a son’s, a father’s, a husband’s, a friend’s love can really make a difference.

MORE FROM DANIEL’S DIARY

29- How I was given a pair of new shoes “every evening”.

‘From Zeitun to Marash, 12 hours walk, we had a donkey which carried a few things we were able to take with us. Occasionally I was also able to ride the donkey, but that was only the first day of deportation. After Marash we had to walk, walk and walk endlessly. What is worse we were not allowed to walk along the regular roads. The gendarmes riding their horses made us walk deserted areas where robbing and killing could not readily be noticed by foreigners. Also, it would cause more hardship, fatigue, exhaustion and death. Also, it would be difficult for the deportees to find drinking water. In those lonely places Turkish, Kurdish and Chechen villagers or nomads would more readily and without being noticed rob and kill and carry away the women of their choice. During those day-long walks over the rocks, shoes did not last long. I came out of Zeitun without spare shoes, and the ones I was wearing lasted for about 10 days and then became useless. So, every time we stopped for the evening, mother would wrap my feet with gathered rags and sew them tightly. These made excellent shoes, soft and comfortable. By the evening, after a day’s walk over the rocks, the rags disintegrated and had to be renewed. Fortunately, at every station we had no problem finding rags, because people were throwing away some of their extra clothing to lighten their burden. Thus, every evening, usually after I fell asleep mother would gather some rags and sew them on my feet, ready for the next morning. After walking all day I would be so tired that I would not be bothered by the operation being performed on my feet. Everyone with regular shoes developed blisters resulting from walking all day, but luckily our feet were free from such sores. People suffered from these blisters, which burst open and earth got in. They became infected and caused much pain. They had to walk on these blisters, because those who stayed behind were beaten to death…’

TO BE CONTINUED..
Menak Parov…See you next Wednesday