Desperate for Work, Blind to Dangers(Halliburton's injured workers)

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http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=28973

Ahlam Najam just needed a job. At 25, she had a university degree in education but could not find work as teacher. When Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), subsidiary of the U.S. firm Halliburton offered her a job as a security guard at a U.S. base in Iraq, she took it.

On May 18 last year she was shot twice in the head as she waited for a taxi to take her to work. Her injuries left her blind, and she lost her sense of smell. ”Many people were working with the Americans, so I felt it would be okay,” Najam, now at a Saudi-funded organisation in Amman that assists blind Arab women told IPS.

”My two bosses at KBR, Mr. Jeff and Mr. Mark used to be very good and gentle with me,” she said. ”They told me it wasn't dangerous to work for them.”

”I sent two emails to the KBR public relations person last June. But they never replied. I don't know what to do now, I can't go back to Iraq because it is too dangerous.” Najam feels hurt in many ways. ”I was very good with them. Always on time, never left early, and they were happy with me. But when I needed them most, they were not there.”