From the Heart of New York Hashid and the Battle for Survival

Yemenat

Mohammed Al-Mekhlafi

The arenas of the Yemeni parliament and the struggle for human rights were not the last battles for Ahmad Saif Hashid. After years of political confrontation and courageous documentation of human rights violations, he faced an even fiercer enemy: the illness that began to ravage his body.

Cairo was his first stop, where he spent over a year moving between hospitals in search of treatment for various health issues, including problems with his heart arteries and spine, peripheral neuropathy, and the need for surgery on his palate. His health deteriorated significantly, and doctors determined that he needed to travel abroad for continued treatment. Thus began a new journey, no less arduous than the previous ones, filled with physical pain and the bitterness of exile, yet also pulsating with renewed hope.

Hashid submitted a request to the legitimate government for a travel visa for medical treatment, as a member of parliament entitled to this medical grant. However, the response was silence, as if the door had been closed on him, with replies ranging from total quiet to empty promises that neither nourished nor satisfied.

He remained in his apartment in Cairo, battling illness and frequenting hospitals. Yet his big heart continued to beat with life. His apartment served as an open door for visitors and a refuge for the simple souls who loved him. On 20th Street in Giza, where Yemeni dialects intertwined like a miniature homeland, he found warmth that illness had denied him. There, among friends and laughter that masked worries, life began to restore a glimmer of hope.

Despite the pallor of sickness, Hashid was the pillar his friends leaned on, planting hope in their hearts and listening to their concerns. His health battle seemed just another chapter in his long struggle. Amid the necessity