Chai Khana reveals the story of a woman who went through war, poverty and terminal cancer. Despite losses and sufferings she was fighting for her life. As death came near she was trying to spend all her time with her loved ones.

Jamila Namazova was born in 1955 in Fuzuli, Azerbaijan and spent her childhood and youth there. As a married woman she lived an ordinary rural life with her family. After her husband’s death in 1990 things turned difficult for a mother of four children. But everything was not so bad because she had her own house and earned enough money by engaging in farming. As a result of the Karabakh War, she was forced to leave her living place in Fuzuli in 1993.

Things got even worse since she came to Baku as a refugee with her four children and sister. They settled in a small poor house given by their relatives at Bayil district and she started to work under harsh conditions to survive: firstly, she sold greens in the streets in all weather conditions and then worked as a servant in a bread factory. She worked unceasingly to repair their poor house and brought up her children well. After her children grew up everything was getting better.

But one day she went for a check up and was diagnosed cervical cancer in 2010. She was not aware of her bad situation for a long time because her children hid the truth from her, telling her that she would get better soon and tried to treat her.

“My sister did not want to die. She always said that we should not worry for her, she would recover and get up soon. She believed it. Her doctor also said that if Jamila protected and took care of herself well then she could live longer, if not, she would live only a maximum five years.” But she did not take care of herself, and caught a cold often. She wanted to live with her elder son Habil for a while and went there. His house usually was cold, so that her state of health became worse,” told her sister, Saringul.

Getting operated several times and after chemotherapy she understood the situation was getting worse. After a long amount of therapy, she lost the fight against cancer and passed away in November 2015.

In her last days, our relatives came to our home often, because she asked them to come and took memorial photos with them. In the end she called her all children and took a photo with them.

“My mother was full of love of life. In spite of her difficult experiences she always hoped for the best and stayed strong. In this way she could bring us up alone. But sometimes life can be so cruel and gives us no choice. She left us, I can not explain how I feel now. We lost our mother, our stronghold. Shesacrificed her health for our future lives. I hope she is in a better place and resting in peace.”-  Habil Namazov, elder son of Jamila Namazova.

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