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Mustafa Younis, 40, spends his days walking Kirkuk’s streets on prosthetic legs, gathering empty drink cans to cover his living expenses and the cost of medicine for a head injury he suffered 24 years ago.
Younis lost both legs and sustained a brain injury when a land mine exploded while he was herding sheep in Qader Karam subdistrict. “I currently collect empty drink cans from the streets to cover my expenses, especially the medicine I need weekly for my head pain, which costs 40,000 dinars (about $29),” he told 964media. “This work is very tiring but allows people to see my situation and offer some help. It’s freelance work, so I can move without restrictions and rest whenever I want.”
He said he spent years in a wheelchair before receiving prosthetic legs, which let him walk again, but the head injury continues to cause severe pain. In 2015, he migrated to Germany hoping to get treatment and new prosthetics.
“I stayed there for nine years, underwent four surgeries, and spent all the aid I received as a migrant,” he said. “I managed to stand and walk again, but my brain injury remained untreated due to the high cost. Without residency or citizenship, I returned to Iraq, and now I live with my sister in a modest home in an informal neighborhood in Kirkuk.”
The house has electricity for only one hour a day, enough to run the water pump. Younis’ brother-in-law earns a living buying and selling used goods.
“I speak five languages, including German and English, and I don’t ask for much—only a social welfare salary to spare me from this work,” Younis said. “But I haven’t received it yet because I simply don’t have ‘connections.’”
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