“The movie you see here is almost always the same. Same plot, same setting, often the same ending. And, above all, the same characters. The procession of people coming into the emergency room to then be distributed amongst the wards looks like a crazy, fast-paced, frantic production line that you’re struggling to keep up with…

“Hello, how are you? I usually don’t write much, but last night, after yet another explosion in the city, two facts hit me. While we were receiving the first patients, a nurse was on the phone with his dad to know where he was and If he was okay: it can’t be easy to hear…

A peaceful country? 16 years after the international coalition’s involvement, Afghanistan is still, undeniably, a country at war. In just the first six months of this year, 5,243 civilians were killed or injured according to UN figures. 42% of these were women and children: caught up in clashes, involved in explosive ordnance or anti-personnel mines,…

Aisha and Hawa, 2 and 7, arrive at the Paediatric Centre in Port Sudan in a serious condition. They come from Nigeria and are accompanied by their mother, who only speaks Hausa, a language that none of our staff can speak. Luckily, other mothers in the hospital can communicate with her and they help us…

Saja is twelve years old, although she looks younger. The house in Mosul where she used to live with her aunt collapsed due to a bombing; her mother Zahra found her trapped by dead bodies, the body full of shrapnel, with no voice. She was so traumatized that she did not allow anyone to touch…

It has been little more than ten days since the Iraqi security forces officially declared the city of Mosul free from ISIS. Almost a thousand days of the city being under siege, nine months of battle, over 5,536 damaged buildings, a population destroyed. It will be necessary to remove the debris and explosive ordnance, reconstruct…

“It’s a great day for us and for the 15 former patients who have graduated. As we finish the 36th vocational training courses, it’s all about helping them start a new business”, writes Hawar, Coordinator at Sulaymaniyah’s Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration Centre. At the Centre in Iraqi Kurdistan, patients don’t just receive physiotherapy and prosthesis,…

While we debate about how NGO ships should stay away from the Libyan coast, or what the maximum number of people we can accommodate in Italy is, all we see is people who need help and who are fleeing so they can make sure they can access their fundamental right as human being: the right…

I’ve been in Augusta since Tuesday. Here, I’ve witnessed the landing of 712 people, which went on until Wednesday. Anger, sadness, frustration, empathy, great humanity: I’m shocked by the whirlwind of emotions. These people have lost everything, yet they can still smile, share their terrible stories with me, a stranger, tell me about their dreams.…