Many Yemeni children who accidentally killed their loved ones while playing with guns kept at home, flee immediately after the incident fearing punishment from their fathers. They become separated from their families and drop out of school.
Aref Qied, 15, from Zubaid Uzla village in Ans District, in the central governorate of Dhamar, has not returned home since he shot dead his mother in mid-November 2009 while playing with his family’s AK-47 assault rifle. “If I return, my father will kill me,” Aref told IRIN.
Working in a `qat’ farm in the eastern part of Dhamar, some 80km from his family home, Aref said he still grieves over the incident with his mother. “I can tolerate separation, but not returning home. How can I meet my father and relatives after the death of my Mum,” he said.
His father Qied, 55, however, wants him to come home. “What happened to his mother is a matter of destiny. I want Aref to return home to complete his education. He was attending classes in grade eight,” Aref’s father told IRIN.
“I will not beat him. I am partially to blame for the incident as I always allow my children to carry guns,” he said.
Misuse of firearms is a commonplace phenomenon in Yemen where many citizens keep weapons at home, particularly in rural areas, and gun culture is deeply rooted in Yemeni society.
According to Abdul-Rahman al-Marwani, chairman of Dar Al-Salam Organization, a local NGO tackling the culture of violence, at least 1,200 individuals annually become victims of gun misuse – both deaths and injuries.
Mohammed Hamoud, a public relations officer with the Modern Ahli Hospital in the capital Sanaa, said the hospital receives at least one gunshot victim every month. “Victims taken to the hospital usually come from rural areas around Sanaa,” he said.
Taking the life of a brother, sister or a friend – or just witnessing the incident – can be deeply traumatizing.
Read more of the story here at the IRIN news service:
YEMEN: Gun culture takes its toll on boys
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