3-18 |
MSF relief workers are only human, and at times our doctors and nurses find it extremely emotionally draining to serve in conflict settings. Dr. Eva remembers:
“It had been a really tough 3 weeks, full of difficult, critical patients… We had a mass casualty incident with a bomb blast in town, and I had lost a patient recently – a child of just 7-9 years old. We do lose a lot of children here because they are too sick to be saved, and whilst I was continuing in my job, I was not feeling great.”
3-18 | The 26th of January dawned bright and normal in Kunduz. As they left for work, the MSF team cheerfully discussed their plans to hold a small dinner for their Australian colleague in honour of Australia Day later that evening. Everybody was in a brighter mood than usual – when you live and work long hours in a tense environment, any small cause for laughter and relaxation is something to look forward to.
Unfortunately, the evening of gentle celebration was not to be.