specialty focus
about internally displaced people or
civilian casualties of war. The news failed
to paint me an image of the suffering that
people here are enduring. Still, perhaps it is
something you can never really grasp until
you face it for yourself.
While trauma cases are an everyday
reality in Tal Abyad Hospital, the misery that
lines the faces of these kind, generous and
usually happy people isn’t confined to the
horrific consequences of bullets and mine
explosions. For the people who have fled
from immediate danger, their concerns are
now where to sleep, what to eat and how
to simply survive another day. Sometimes
they have lost limbs and loved ones, and
they have nothing but the clothes on their
back, and yet they are grateful.
They tell me they are the lucky ones,
because they are alive.
The bad days here are filled with
unimaginable waves of patients with
devastating injuries and sickness. A good
day here sees a child brought in to us
who still has a living parent by their side
to soothe them, and the shrapnel that has
littered their tiny body hasn’t caused any
major internal bleeding. Or a patient we
refer survives the three-hour ‘ambulance’
ride without oxygen to a facility that may
or may not have an ICU bed available. A
good day sees a shepherd boy miraculously
survive after having both his arms blown off.
A big difference compared to my good days
at work in Australia.
I never expected to be in northern Syria,
but this is where I find myself. MSF has
enabled me to do what I can for people
facing terrible circumstances every day.
Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it’s enough,
but we persist.
We have a huge team here working
week-long around the clock. Some days
are beyond exhausting. We share in our
sadness on the tough days, but we also
share in the successes and happy moments:
watching families reunite, seeing patients
survive devastating traumas and moving on
to the next stage of their recovery.
Now that the offensive for Raqqa is
finished, people are slowly returning to
piles of rubble they once knew as home
– but booby traps, incendiary devices and
explosive remnants of war await them.
Here at the hospital, we stand ready to
respond and offer any words of comfort
that we can. Allah yerhamu… ■
Jessica Vanderwal is an Australian
registered nurse on her first field
assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières.
MSF teams assess the medical and humanitarian needs in northern Syria.
Children assist their parents in the clean-up east of Raqqa city.
Houses in Raqqa remain abandoned after being scorched and reduced to rubble.
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