“Okay, now to the central area,” Effie said with a smile. “Thank you so much for your time, Mrs. Saleh. You have been a tremendous help.” When Daisy translated the words, Maysa smiled shyly.
When everybody started to leave the tent, Abia begged her mother to let her go as well.
“No, you’ll be in the way,” Maysa responded.
“It’s all right. She’ll be fine,” Leo lifted her up before Daisy could.
22
It was hotter than it had been the last week in Yemen, and Daisy could feel herself wilting. She looked over at Effie, who wasn’t looking too good. Daisy was going to have to figure out a way to cut this short so that she could get her Director back to the hotel before she passed out. As soon as she thought that, Leo was swapping out her empty water bottle and giving her another one.
“Give it to Effie,” she demurred.
“Already gave her one. We’re going to have to get her out of the sun soon. Let’s get her into the Red Cross tent, then the rest of us can go to the food distribution center.”
Daisy nodded. It was a good idea.
“Hey, we’re going to make our first stop the Red Cross tent, she called out.”
“I’m not sick,” Abia said in Arabic. Apparently, the girl had heard the words Red Cross before. “I don’t want a shot,” her lip began to tremble.
“You’re not going to get a shot, I promise you,” Daisy said.
Abia struggled to get down out of Leo’s arms. “I don’t want a shot. Please don’t make me.” Now she was all-out crying. The tent was a stone’s throw away.
“Give her to me, Leo.”
“Miss! Don’t make me get a shot.” Abia held out her arms for Daisy. She couldn’t stand it. She took the distressed girl out of Leo’s arms. Effie was now next to her.
“Is there something I can do?” she asked in English.
“Abia thinks she’s going to get a shot when she goes to the first aid tent. Do me a favor, can you just go there with the camera crew on your own? Maybe take a bit of a break, while I get her settled down?”
“Whatever I can do to help,” Effie offered.
“Leo and I will head over to the food distribution area, and that should calm little missy down.” Already Abia was not crying as hard now that Daisy had her in her arms, and she was fiddling with Daisy’s St. Christopher necklace.
When they started in that direction, Leo asked, “Why are we going there?”
“To discuss the women’s committee that I want to start for W.A.N.T. food distribution.”
“What will that entail?”
“A whole hell of a lot.” Now Abia was playing with Daisy’s braid. “I’ve talked with Maysa and five other women about forming a committee to come up with a way to verify which households are truly run by women. Those households will get extra supplies from our organization. It’s going to be massive since there are a million people in the camp. When you consider the fact that two-thirds of them are children or elderly who need care, then you have breadwinners. The estimate is that one in four households are handled by just one woman, therefore we’re talking anywhere from twenty to thirty thousand.”
“Shit, that’s going to be a massive project. Do you put people on the ground?”
“Volunteers. Like I was back in the day. I need to talk to the man handling the food distribution again. He needs to be on-board with our plans, otherwise, this will go sideways fast.”
“Understood.”
Leo saw the operation up ahead. This was where the few UN Peacekeepers present were deployed. This wasn’t where they were needed. He’d already heard where the problems lay, and it wasn’t fighting over food in front of everyone as it was being passed out. As a matter of fact, it was amazing how peacefully people lined up to get their rations. But who in the hell had the energy to push and shove?
Granted there was a crowd. Men in rags who had even given up wearing their headgear, except for the grandfathers. The women still wore their scarves, but most were old and faded. He hated to see so many desperate people. What Daisy was doing was nothing short of a miracle.
“Milk. Can I have milk?” Abia asked.
“No, Darling,” Daisy said sadly. She looked as heartbroken as the girl.
Leo fished into his backpack and pulled out a butterscotch candy. He’d been saving the package of candies for emergencies, and this qualified as one. He handed it to Abia, and she looked at the wrapped candy curiously.
“Unwrap it for her,” Daisy laughed.
Shit, I should have realized that.
As they continued to walk closer to the two men that Daisy needed to talk to, Leo unwrapped the candy and handed it to Abia. The men stood where the water jugs were being filled. There was a lot of activity there. Many hoses came from the truck, with not enough men to man them all. As they got closer, he saw some of the women pointing and smiling at Daisy. She smiled and waved back.
He thought it was odd that they were pointing instead of waving.
When they were just a few yards away, he saw a man, a kid really, holding what looked like a photo in front of his face. He looked at Daisy, then back down at the photo.
Fuck!
He saw the kid reach beneath his long shirt. Leo grabbed
