Emergency USA
EMERGENCY USA is a USA based organization devoted to the promotion of a culture of solidarity, peace and respect for human rights.
EMERGENCY USA provides support to projects that offer free, high quality medical and surgical treatment for the victims of war and poverty.
2010 Updates form the Field
Afghanistan: April 1st, 2010
At 11 am this morning the wounded from an explosion in the village of Babaji, which is about half an hour from Lashkar-gah by car, began arriving. It was Mella’, the traditional market which each day goes from one village to another.
People work very hard all week to bring their products to sell at the market where one can find almost anything, from hand-crafted items and clothes to animals and food. Suddenly, there was a violent blast in the middle of the crowd, and then screams and blood everywhere.
The first ambulance brought 6 children to EMERGENCY’s hospital. All were wounded and terrorized with bloodied and bandaged legs, arms, hands and faces. Not one cried.
We lost count of the ambulances that entered our gates.
The last patient to arrive was 7 year-old Noor Ali. He had wounds to the buttocks and right thigh. He had gone to the market with his father to buy some sheep when all of a sudden there was this explosion. He saw his father unharmed among the people running away and screaming. But the donkey on which they had come lay dead on the ground.
Noor Ali was inconsolable, not because of his pain, but because in the explosion they lost the most precious possession his family owned.
Today a total 29 patients arrived: 20 underwent surgery, and 9 were treated and discharged, and will return in two days for follow-up.
Of the 20 patients hospitalized, 11 were children.
Afghanistan: March 8th, 2010
Today we’re happy.
Roqia, Gulalay, Said Rahman, Khudainazar, Fazel, Ali Mohammed, Akter Mohammed, Majeed Gul, Ghami, Najibullah, all who had been admitted to the EMERGENCY Hospital over the past few weeks are doing well, and were discharged.
Despite having lost a leg, little 7-year-old Naquibullah finally smiled after a tickling session. And, he’s now going around the hospital wards in his wheelchair saying hello to all the other patients. No one knows if he is thinking about his two brothers who died during the offensive on Marjah.
During their entire stay here in the hospital 8-year-old Sharifullah has literally been 'protecting' Rahmat Bibi, his one-year-old little sister. She only calms down when he hugs her. Thank goodness, Bibi’s mother finally arrived today, and she was able to nurse her. Over the past few days the little one had refused anything offered to her; be it powdered milk or extra sweet fruit juices. Since Bibi’s arrival we had not yet met her. She apologized to the nurses for her absence ─ she had to bury two other sons who died in the same accident ...
Matteo, medical coordinator, Lashkar-gah
Afghanistan: March 3rd, 2010
They arrived at the EMERGENCY hospital in Lashkar-gah at 7:15 PM with their father, Anar Gul, all faint from their wounds and fear.
They are children like all those around the world who like to play outside together in their gardens. The problem in this country though is that you can find lots of strange things in your garden here ─ things that can spark curiosity, especially in children.
One of these children began throwing rocks at a strange object. When nothing happened, he decided to set it on fire with a lighter he found who knows where.
The bomb exploded instantly killing 6-year-old Masullah and 11-year-old Safiullah.
Sharifullah, 7, arrived here covered with shrapnel wounds. His sister, Rahmat Bibi, arrived with two severe shrapnel wounds which perforated her stomach. The surgeons immediately operated on her. The oxygen mask just about covered her entire little face.
Rahmat Bibi is just 1 year old.
She has already experienced the madness of war.
Matteo, medical coordinator, Lashkar-gah
Afghanistan: February 27th, 2010
They reached our emergency room at around 11:00 AM this morning at the EMERGENCY hospital in Lashkar-gah.
They were so small that they both fit on one stretcher.
Nagibullah, 5 years old, has shrapnel wounds all over his body from a bomb.
Naquibullah, 7 years old, has a blown up foot and shrapnel wounds everywhere.
They are brothers from Marjah who’ve arrived via a combat helicopter. The accident happened early this morning.
Their father, Abdul Walli, was with them. When he was told that his eldest son’s leg needed to be amputated, he wanted to see the wound and ask him to try to move what was left of his foot.
This time we didn’t want to know what they had been doing. There is no reason in the world that can justify this horror called “war”.
Matteo, medical coordinator, Lashkar-gah
Afghanistan: February 21st, 2010
Fazel Mohammed has two blue eyes that speak for themselves. His small body is already full of scars; souvenirs from times lost at play and from illnesses that we haven’t known for years now on our side of the world.
One of the few places still unharmed on his body were his knees. But while playing outdoors, a bullet threw him to the ground and left its mark on them forever.
Thanks to his uncle, he reached us three days after injury since he could not leave his house in Marjah before then.
Now he will have two nice scars where that cursed piece of metal, travelling at an absurd speed entered and exited his knee.
He is already on his feet, and wants to go home. He’s worried about his family.
He seems like a man, yet he’s only 10 years old.
At 10, our children are in 5th grade. They aren’t risking their lives in war.
Matteo, medical coordinator, Lashkar-gah
Afghanistan: February 20th, 2010
Khudainazar is a vivacious 11-year-old boy. He was outside his home in Nadali filling water tanks. Suddenly he felt an intense burning sensation. He dropped the water he was carrying.
He got to our hospital after overcoming numerous obstacles and an exhausting trip. The bullet entered the left side of his groin and went completely through his right gluteus. A bullet fired by ‘foreigners dressed in military garb’. But, the outfit is not for Mardi Gras here. Thankfully, no vital organs were damaged. We even had a hard time believing that.
As soon as he got here he asked about Akter, the young boy who arrived here two days ago with the bullet wound to the head. He’s a friend. They’re neighbors. They always play together.
I just hope that one day they’ll be able to talk together about their tribulations over a cup of tea and without the sounds of war outside; sounds that will finally be gone forever.
Matteo, medical coordinator, Lashkar-gah
Afghanistan: February 19th, 2010
Gulaly has beautifully braided dark hair and bright blue eyes. She was in front of her home in Dilaram, another village not far beyond the Grishk district, where she was tending to a few animals; like those most Afghans own that allow them to survive.
She heard the sounds of war getting closer and she saw her little brother straying afar. She dashed towards him, scooped him up into her arms and ran back home. As soon as she got there, sitting down, she felt a terrible shooting pain along with an intense burning sensation on her right side.
Her mother took a closer look and saw a hole in her daughter’s clothes and blood. Turning her she saw another hole in her back, and more blood.
Her father got her into the car, her uncle’s car, but they only advanced a few meters before they were stopped. They couldn’t go through. The foreigners said it’s late. So they brought her back into the house, and listened to her cries and laments all night long.
Early the next morning they finally managed to get through. Gulalay arrived at the EMERGENCY Surgical Centre in Lashkar-Gah in the early afternoon hours; almost 24 hours after receiving the bullet wound. She immediately underwent surgery, and other than the drainage, is now doing well. But she doesn’t feel like smiling.
Gulalay is 12 years old.
The umpteenth case of “collateral damage”.
Matteo, medical coordinator, Lashkar-gah
Afghanistan: February 18th, 2010
Even in Nadali, another district not far from EMERGENCY’s hospital in Lashkar Gah, the battle has been going on for days.
Even there, peace and democracy are on the way.
Akter Mohammed arrived just a short while ago with his father Wali Jan, a man in his sixties with a full white beard.
A bullet, a single bullet, was shot through his head from one side to the other. He’s still alive and undergoing surgery.
His father was shouting and pounding his chest.
Not only for what they had done to his son, but for how they had done it.
Akter was in his own home behind a sunlit window.
With all the sounds of tanks and shooting, curiosity pushed him to take a closer look at what was happening outside.
A soldier caught a glimpse of a figure at a window and took one shot.
One shot to the head.
Then, the soldiers broke into the house yelling and forcing the father to raise his hands; throwing him against the wall.
In a corner under the window, they saw the result of that one shot fired at the figure in the window.
A little nine-year-old boy. Nine years old.
As soon as they saw him on the floor wounded, they ran out. Not one word uttered.
Not even a dog is left like that.
Matteo, medical coordinator, Lashkar-gah
Afghanistan: February 17th, 2010
She’s dark with thick ebony hair.
Timidly and without a word, she reached our emergency room.
She was helping with the housework in her home in Marjah.
She went out for a moment to get a pail of water, and in an instant found herself on the ground.
A bullet had perforated her right knee, and blew up the lower part of her thigh.
Her relatives brought her back into the house, where she remained in pain and suffering without treatment for a day and a half.
Then, she was evacuated by helicopter and brought to our hospital.
Now she’s in a clean bed. She underwent surgery and her leg is being maintained in traction. She lies alongside other boys and girls; all of them are being treated and cared for by qualified personnel.
Like each one of us now, she hears the sounds of war all day long. But, at least she’s here. Meanwhile, in the districts many people are succumbing to the inhuman violence of the war without being able to receive treatment.
Who knows if Roqia (that’s her name), 12 ‘Afghan’ years old, is happy not even knowing if her family is alive. Someone has yet to come see her. It’s difficult to leave those villages.
In any case, the ‘great military operation is moving forward beautifully’…
Matteo, medical coordinator, Lashkar-gah
Afghanistan: February 15th, 2010
Said Rahman arrived at EMERGENCY's hospital in Lashkar-gah on February 14th.
Early that morning, while in his garden, he was wounded with a direct shot to the chest.
He wasn't patrolling the area. He wasn't fighting. He wasn't pointing at anyone.
Said Rahman didn't even see where the bullet came from. The bullet, still lodged in his body, penetrated his right lung. All he felt was a strong burning sensation, and then he fainted from the pain.
He was taken to Lashkar-gah in quite unstable condition, holding a brand-new teddy bear; a gift from “democracy”.
He looked as if he had a hump on his back from all of the blood that had accumulated there.
He underwent surgery immediately. Two thoracic drains, seeming almost bigger than him, were inserted. Because he's seven years old. Seven.
This is the "great military operation", the greatest.
Matteo, medical coordinator, Lashkar-gah