-
“Come on down”
“Come on down”, sang the the Italian artist Vianello in 1963. Regular people, curious, religious or not, those who speak of “common, economic migrants”, ordinary citizens who say “I’m not racist but …”, politicians, those who really care about others: come on down, please. Come and see Lashkar-gah. No, it’s not that difficult, it’s just…
-
A difficult landing in Pozzallo
This morning’s landing at the port of Pozzallo was very difficult. There were 673 people, including 100 underage, children of all ages, many completely alone. They were exhausted by the journey. At our dock, our doctors have faced several serious situations: we were concerned about the condition of a boy with severe asthenia, tachycardia and…
-
The four Kamaras of Lokomasama
Sheka A. Kamara, Ibrahim S. Kamara, Aihaji Kamara, and Amara M. Kamara all have the same surname but they are not brothers: Kamara is simply a very common surname in Sierra Leone. What unites them is that they are all part of the EMERGENCY Health Promoters team at Lokomasama’s First Aid Trauma Post. A few…
-
Three days after the attack on the diplomatic quarter, more deaths in Kabul
#Kabulblast. 20 wounded arrived at our hospital. 10 admitted, 10 medicated in opd. no dead in @emergency_ong hospital — EMERGENCY (@emergency_ong) June 3, 2017 Kabul. Today, 3 explosions hit the funeral of Senator Ezadyar’s son, killed during yesterday’s protests. Local media speak of 19 deaths and dozens of injured. Sixteen of the wounded were taken…
-
Kabul car bombing: 69 wounded at the EMERGENCY Surgical Centre
This morning, at 8:30 am, Kabul was hit by yet another attack. A car bomb explosion, at a time when the streets were very crowded, has caused tens of deaths and hundreds of wounded in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, the diplomatic area. The EMERGENCY Hospital, a few hundred yards away, hospitalised 69 inpatients, 8…
-
Go, Yunus!
Today, Yunus is trying his new leg. He lived in the eastern part of Mosul, where he grew potatoes that he sold to make a living. Since the bridges between the eastern and western parts of the city were destroyed by bombing, Yunus was forced to carry his goods by boat from one side to…
-
“I was only 12 and I thought my arm would grow back”
“The first memory I have is when I woke up a few days after the explosion, in a bed at the Centre. I thought it was dark, I couldn’t understand where I was or what had happened. My sister Shirin was with me. I asked her for a mirror. I couldn’t recognise myself. I was…
-
The school in the hospital
Kama Kamara is 10 years old and lives in Goderich, Sierra Leone. Three weeks ago she was admitted to our hospital: when we asked her what happened, she told us she fell from a chair while playing with her little sister. Once here, unfortunately, we discovered she suffers from sickle-cell anaemia. She’d like to go…
-
“I want a picture with you”
“I want a picture with you,” she told Maria and Riccardo, the nurses who treated her. So, along with her daughter and her neighbor, she struck a pose. Rebheca is 63, she has 11 children and numerous tattoos. At the beginning of April she, along with her family, tried to escape her West Mosul neighbourhood…
-
“How many of them have you lost along the way?”
The patient registry of the Emergency Hospital in Erbil, Iraq, where we take care of victims of war, is long. They all come from the same place: Mosul. “How many people left the house with you? How many of them have you lost along the way?” These are the most difficult questions to answer for…