There she endured the repudiation of her family for marrying a Kurd and the rejection of her in-laws because she was an Arab before the fall of Saddam Hussein. She survived domestic violence at the hands of her husband. During the sectarian violence of , her husband said local militias had threatened him so the couple fled to Jordan and then Syria.
Less than a year later, her husband disappeared, leaving her with four children, the eldest now age 10, the youngest 5. She turned to the Maktab Al Khomeini office—known for assisting Shia war widows— in Damascus for help.
That way she would have a male guardian to fend for her and her children. The contract that backs up this pleasure marriage—in which sex is exchanged for a mutually agreed upon time frame and dowry—skips secular law but is considered legitimate in Iran and enjoys the endorsement of many Shia clerics across the region.
Her landlady encouraged her to enter a "benefits" relationship, where she would sleep with a man in exchange for his protection without any contractual obligation. The U. The agency stressed at a recent conference that prolonged displacement increases financial pressures and puts women at risk of forced prostitution and trafficking. The humanitarian agency does not issue statistics but al-Madaien thinks the situation is getting worse. The rent she owes is higher than the monthly assistance she gets from the United Nations.
But every time I ask for a job the reply is a request for sex. I am scared to make a single move. She contemplates splitting the family. One of her children has become deliriously malnourished and speaks either to himself or to imaginary beings in turn. Day after day, the family sits inside with nothing to do.
