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Outside These Walls, When Will Peace Finally Come?
In 1988, Saddam bombed Halabja, the town I lived in then. My parents and I hid in a shelter, hoping the planes above our heads would stop dropping their bombs. Three days later, we couldn’t hear the noises any more, and we escaped. We thought it was all over at last. But the bombs were…
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Treating Patients Is Crucial, but It Is Not Enough on Its Own.
Alessandro is an intensive care nurse. After 4 years working in the UK, he felt like he needed a new challenge and decided to join EMERGENCY. In Sudan, he takes care of children in the ICU ward. “I am always touched by the dignity and the strength they show in there”. For us, treating patients…
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Goodbye Doctor Anton.
We struggle to believe it, but Dr Anton is no longer with us. He was an excellent and tireless surgeon, he spent his time with EMERGENCY between the Kabul and Lashkar-Gah Surgical Centres in Afghanistan. A war surgeon who taught his work to so many younger students, with perseverance and determination. He left us today…
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…”It’s here.”
“Here I have the protocols I want, the communication I want, the tools I want. Everything that I believe every healthcare system should have: it’s here.” Manhail is an intensive care nurse and team leader. She has been working at the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery ever since it…
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World Blood Donor Day 2020
Donating blood is an act of solidarity. On World Blood Donor Day, we celebrate the choice to give blood, a choice that doesn’t just have an impact on individuals, but on entire healthcare systems too. Did you know that EMERGENCY runs a self-sustainable blood bank? We rely on our own system to decrease the risks…
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…”Gift’s Smile Taught Me That.”
Thinking back to a time before social distancing, here is a beautiful story of connection from the end of last year. This 12-year-old girl from Uganda is Gift. Pictured here alongside cardiologist Dr Alessandro, they met at the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery. “It was 4 am, Gift was worried, her breathing wasn’t right,…
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Every Step He Takes Is Even More Confident Than The Last
We’d like to introduce you to Dahen. He was born with a congenital deformity and his left leg had to be amputated when he was very young. He has relied on a prosthetic limb ever since. We first met Dahen three years ago at our Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration Centre in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, and he’s…
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World Parents Day 2020
Saad is a mother. A proud, dedicated mother who took a flight from Uganda to Sudan with her son, and stood alongside him for the entire delicate process of heart surgery. Saad is the mother of Ashraf, a 9-year-old boy who, after an unsuccessful and long hospital admission in his country, took a flight…
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Giving the Right to Live a Healthy Life.
Do they look familiar to you? They do to us! This is Peace from Nigeria. We introduced her to you more than one year ago when she came to Sudan with her mum to undergo corrective open heart surgery. By the time she was discharged, this is how we captured her goodbye: smiling in her surgeon’s…
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“My Name Means Someone Who Has a Good Heart”.
Do you remember that last week we quoted one of our staff members who talked about the “the spirit to live”? It’s time to introduce the poet. Shima is a very passionate professional. She is a scrub and cath lab nurse. We first met her after her graduation and, 10 years later, she’s still with…