The tens of thousands of homeless in Baghdad find shelter wherever they can in the most dangerous city in the world. Just outside the Karada district, there is an abandoned Iraqi military base from the Saddam Hussein era that looters had reduced to little more than piles of rubble strewn around the cement slabs in the ground. Displaced from other parts of Iraq, these people have taken up shelter in makeshift houses on the otherwise deserted grounds. Among them is Hadi Shaker Hamadi and his clan, cobbling to-gether a shelter of cinderblocks, scrap wood and cardboard. They and the 70 or so other families here take charity whenever it comes. And only one person seems to deliver it regu-larly. Says Hamadi, "It's just Madhiha who comes and visits us."
巴格達數萬無家遊民，在世界上這個最危險的城市，盡其所能到處找避難所。就在卡拉達區郊外，有個海珊時代所遺棄的伊拉克軍事基地，被搶匪打砸搶燒，今不如昔，只剩一堆堆瓦礫散布地面的水泥板上。這些遊民從伊拉克其他地方流離失所，在這塊原本被遺棄的地方，臨時搭屋避難。其中包括哈瑪迪和他的家族，他們用煤渣磚、廢棄的木頭和硬紙板拼拼湊湊搭了個臨時收容所。他們和其他約七十個在這裡的家庭，每當慈善團體來時，就接受救濟物資。但其中只有一個人似乎定期送救濟物資來。哈瑪迪說：「只有瑪希哈常來看我們。」
Madhiha Hassan is a diminutive, 37-year old seamstress whom some people have begun calling the Mother Teresa of Baghdad. She's devoted her energies to helping Iraq's internally displaced people, particularly in the Karada district where she lives. She organizes periodic supply convoys to various camps for the displaced. The Iraqi army in the area helps her dis-tribute basics such as rice, tea, sugar, cooking oil and blankets. The supplies come from different nongovernmental organizations, including the Red Cross and Red Crescent and an Iraqi aid group called Hands of Mercy. But aside from logistical support from se-curity forces, Hassan gets no help from the Iraqi government.
37歲的瑪希哈．哈珊，個子嬌小，是個女裁縫師，已經有人開始稱她是巴格達的德蕾莎修女。她奉獻全部精力，幫助伊拉克境內無家可歸的人民，尤其是她居住的卡拉達區。她定期組車隊供應救濟物資給不同陣營的無家遊民。這個地區的伊拉克陸軍協助她分發基本民生物資，像米、茶、糖、植物油和毛毯。這些物資來自不同的非政府組織，包括紅十字會和紅新月會及一個伊拉克援助團體叫做「慈悲的手」。但除了來自安全部隊的後勤支援，哈珊並未得到伊拉克政府協助。
Nevertheless, she overflows with energy when speaking about her cause or talking with the families she visits. "I got threat letters twice because I'm involved in this," says Hassan, who wore a small golden medallion in the shape of Iraq around her neck on a recent day of handing out aid in makeshifts camps for the displaced. "But I will never stop helping who-ever is in need, even if it is going to cost my life, because I know I'm do-ing the right thing." While she is Shi'ite, as is most of Karada, she de-scribes herself as secular, not sectarian, and as an Iraqi first and foremost.
但當她談起她的理想志業或在和她去探視的家庭交談時，她總是精力充沛。「由於涉入這件事，我曾兩度收到恐嚇信，」哈珊說。最近某一天，在發送救濟物資到臨時收容所給無家可歸的人時，她脖子上戴了一個形似伊拉克的小小金質獎章。「但我永遠不會停止協助需要幫助的人，即使我會因此喪命，因為我知道，這是我該做的事。」雖然一如大部分卡拉達人，她是什葉派，但她形容自己沒有任何宗教派別，對她而言，伊拉克永遠第一優先。
She got started on the job because of her willingness to put her life on the line — with 12 stitches in her head as proof of it. In late 2003, as lawlessness gripped the city in the wake of the U.S. invasion, five bur-glars broke into her home late one night and demanded to know where the money was. Hassan fought. Amid the initial struggle she managed to edge her husband and two children out of the room and alone faced the intruders. Hassan clawed the masks off three before they managed to get her by the hair and bludgeon her with the butt of a pistol. She remembers how the blood splattered with each blow. But in the end, the attackers walked away with nothing, even though a large amount of cash was stashed in the house. That story made her a local legend. Soon after, Hassan was asked to run for a seat on the Karada Dis-trict Council. She won and has since focused on helping the destitute and the homeless.
她開始這項工作，是因為她願意出生入死、暴露於危險中。她頭上縫了12針就是最好的證明。2003年底，美軍出兵伊拉克後，整個城市法紀蕩然。一天深夜，五名盜賊強行闖入她家，逼問錢藏在哪裡。哈珊死命反抗。在初步交手後，她設法把她丈夫和兩個孩子趕出房間，獨自面對這些闖入的盜匪。哈珊用手扯下其中三人的面罩，搶匪則抓住她的頭髮，用槍托敲打她。她還記得，每敲一記，血液就四處飛濺。但最後，這些打劫的人兩手空空，走了，雖然家裡藏了一大堆現金。這個故事使她一時傳為地方美談。不久後，應民眾之請，角逐卡拉達地方議會一個席次，她贏了，從此把重心放在協助貧困無家的人身上。
An estimated 2.4 million people are still adrift throughout Iraq after being uprooted by violence; roughly an-other 2 million live as refugees in Jordan, Syria and other neighboring countries. Though violence is down in Iraq, few refugees or internally dis-placed have been able to piece to-gether their lives again.
據估計，在因暴力而背井離鄉後，伊拉克全境仍有240萬人流離失所；另外約有200萬人淪為約旦、敘利亞等鄰近國家的難民。雖然伊拉克暴亂情勢稍微緩和，但只有少之又少的難民或境內流徙人士，能夠再把他們的生命圖像拼湊起來。
Hassan recently decided to help them help themselves. She has taken her aid for the displaced one step fur-ther with an employment initiative. She managed to get 60 sewing ma-chines through donations and set up a small workshop, which employs 100 women from displaced families. Has-san sees the program as a way to help the families earn a lilttle income and find some dignity until a better solu-tion emerges.
哈珊最近決定幫他們自力救濟。她提出就業方案，以進一步推動援助難民計畫。她設法透過捐贈，弄來60部縫紉機，成立一個小工作坊，並從難民家庭請了一百個女人來工作。哈珊認為這項計畫，可以幫助這些家庭有點收入，同時在有更好的解決方案前，找回一點尊嚴。
She knows firsthand it can work. When Hassan's husband wound up jobless in the early 1990s, she sup-ported the family by opening a small tailoring shop in Baghdad. At first she made clothes to order by herself using three machines she bought with sav-ings. As the business grew she was able to bring on two female employ-ees. Hassan opened her new work-shop Feb. 23, and it's been busy. She managed to procure a contract with the Ministry of Health to make hos-pital gowns and bed sheets. And Has-san says she is close to getting another sewing project from the government, this one for 1,000 new Iraqi flags.
她從第一手經驗知道，這一定行得通。當哈珊的丈夫在1990年代初失業時，她在巴格達開了一家小裁縫店，撐起這個家。一開始，她用存款買了三部縫紉機，接到訂單後，親自縫製衣服。生意越做越大，她終於可以請兩名女工，並在2月23日開了新工作坊，而且生意忙得應接不暇。她盡力設法拿到衛生部的合約，去幫醫院裁製衣服和床單。哈珊並說，她快要拿到政府另一項裁縫計畫，這次是要縫製一千面伊拉克新的國旗。