Hallo,
Im englischen Teil meines blogs habe ich einen langen Artikel reinkopiert, der gestern in der Presse erschienen ist. Es geht um das Gesicht eines Krieges der unbemerkt von der Weltoeffentlichkeit von statten geht und unendliches Leid fordert. Viele der am staerksten betroffenen Menschen sind Kinder. So wie der kleine 8-jaehrige Ahmed der ins Kreuzfeuer von Milizen geraten war und dabei eine Kugel sein Gesicht durchschlagen hat, dabei die Nase, das rechte Auge und noch viel mehr zerstoert hat. Als er zum ersten mal bei uns ins Krankenhaus kam verdrehte es mir den magen und ich konnte kaum glauben was ich sah. Dazu war er nicht der einzige, sondern ein anderes Kind kam mit, das ebenfalls eine Kugel im Gesicht hatte und den Mund zerfetzt bekommen hatte.
Nun kam aber der kleine Ahmed wieder und war soweit, dass seine Nase wieder hergestellt werden sollte, was auch sehr gut lief, der Plastic chirurg war sehr zufrieden mit seiner Arbeit und der Patient war stabil. Am Mittwoch abend wurde ich gegen 6 Uhr in die Intensiv station gerufen um bei der Mutter zu sein, weil man merkte dass etwas nicht stimmte. Der Junge fing an aufgrund innerer Blutungen extrem schwach zu werden. Und dann letztendlich nach relativ kurzer Zeit hauchte Ahmed sein Leben aus, und der Schock war fuer alle sehr gross. Selbst die Aerzte rauften sich die Haare, weil man damit absolut nicht rechnete.
am folgenden Morgen stand die Presse vor der Tuer um die Geschichte zu dokumentieren. Es entstand ein sehr gut geschriebener Artikel, der allerdings nur in english zu erhalten ist.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35128387/ns/world_news-africa/
Wenn jemand die Moeglichkeit hat zu uebersetzen, der Artikel ist sehr lesenswert, weil er, wie die Ueberschrift sagt, versucht diesem schrecklichen gesichtlosen Krieg ein Gesicht zu verleihen.
Die Mutter, die von der gleichen Kugel die letztendlich ihren Sohn getoetet hatnoch die Narbe des Streifschusses, als sie versucht hat ihren Sohn zu schuetzen. Die Hilflosigkeit dieser Frau gegen die Grausamkeit des Krieges hat zutiefst auf mich gewirkt.
Gruss Thomas
Freitag, 29. Januar 2010
latest from Kijabe
Please read the article of the boy who was operated in our hospital. Tragic reality of a war.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35128387/ns/world_news-africa/
NAIROBI, Kenya - A Somali boy who was horribly disfigured months ago by a stray bullet in Somalia's violent capital has died just days after undergoing reconstructive surgery in neighboring Kenya, his doctors said Thursday.
The plight of 8-year-old Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud was reported by The Associated Press in November in a story, photos and video, two months after he was shot in Mogadishu. Ahmed personified the civilian toll in the brutal conflict in Somalia and drew offers of aid from around the world. The bullet tore through his cheekbones, nose and mouth and destroyed his right eye.
Dr. Peter Nthumba said Ahmed died late Wednesday of intestinal bleeding that may have been caused by an ulcer or stress. Nthumba operated on the boy on Monday in the Kenyan capital.
Relatives and well-wishers said they were shocked by the sudden death of Ahmed, a cheerful child who liked playing with a toy helicopter and spent time reading the Quran in his hospital bed. Doctors said the operation had gone well.
His heartbroken mother, Safi Mohamed Shidane, said that she had not expected her son's life would end.
"I was hoping to pick up a healthy son, who can breathe through his nose like others," Shidane said as tears ran down her cheeks. "But God said otherwise. It is God's will. Today I'm collecting his body."
Casualty of warWhen a U.S.-based aid group — Healing the Children of Minnesota — flew Ahmed to Kenya in October, the plan was to take him overseas. The group already had contacted hospitals in the U.S., Britain, Italy and Mexico. But the group, funded mainly by contributions from Somali immigrants, eventually opted for Ahmed to be operated on at Kijabe Hospital in Kenya. The group has helped 56 other Somali war victims, mostly children, get medical care, said Abdi Gaal, its executive director.
Somalia's capital sees near-daily bloodshed as a powerful insurgent group with links to al-Qaida tries to overthrow the fragile U.N.-backed government.
Last year, his mother told AP that a barrage of bullets poured out from the presidential palace and one struck her son as they walked home from a Mogadishu market on Sept. 24.
Unlike Afghanistan and Iraq, there are few images of the bloodshed in Somalia, where thousands of children have been casualties without the world knowing. Most foreign journalists stay away because of the danger. An AP photographer was present right after Ahmed was shot and took pictures of the bleeding boy as he was carried away by two bystanders. During the weeks that followed, AP journalists kept in touch with Ahmed and his mother.
Khalil Senosi / AP
Dr. Igohwo Etuh examines 8-year-old Ahmed in a hospital in Kijabe, Kenya, on Nov. 11.
'Another tragic loss'Last year, Kijabe Hospital doctors did what they could to stitch together parts of his face and recommended further specialized surgery to restore his nose and reconstruct the upper lip and damaged cheekbone.
On Monday, Nthumba removed skin from Ahmed's left hand and leg and stitched it at the place his nose once was as part of a series of operations to restore his face.
The doctor had been planning to discharge Ahmed from the intensive care unit on Thursday but the previous day, the boy suddenly suffered massive intestinal bleeding that was not believed to be a complication of the surgery, said Nthumba.
"Within 30 minutes the boy collapsed and we could not resuscitate him," he said.
Click for related content
Boy, 8, becomes lost face of Somalia's war
"It is another tragic loss of life for a young Somali," said Katherine Grant, a child protection specialist with the U.N.'s children's agency.
Ahmed, who is survived by his parents and two older sisters, has been interred in a Muslim cemetery in Nairobi. His mother says she will return soon to Somalia, where the U.N. says one child in 10 dies before his or her first birthday.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35128387/ns/world_news-africa/
NAIROBI, Kenya - A Somali boy who was horribly disfigured months ago by a stray bullet in Somalia's violent capital has died just days after undergoing reconstructive surgery in neighboring Kenya, his doctors said Thursday.
The plight of 8-year-old Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud was reported by The Associated Press in November in a story, photos and video, two months after he was shot in Mogadishu. Ahmed personified the civilian toll in the brutal conflict in Somalia and drew offers of aid from around the world. The bullet tore through his cheekbones, nose and mouth and destroyed his right eye.
Dr. Peter Nthumba said Ahmed died late Wednesday of intestinal bleeding that may have been caused by an ulcer or stress. Nthumba operated on the boy on Monday in the Kenyan capital.
Relatives and well-wishers said they were shocked by the sudden death of Ahmed, a cheerful child who liked playing with a toy helicopter and spent time reading the Quran in his hospital bed. Doctors said the operation had gone well.
His heartbroken mother, Safi Mohamed Shidane, said that she had not expected her son's life would end.
"I was hoping to pick up a healthy son, who can breathe through his nose like others," Shidane said as tears ran down her cheeks. "But God said otherwise. It is God's will. Today I'm collecting his body."
Casualty of warWhen a U.S.-based aid group — Healing the Children of Minnesota — flew Ahmed to Kenya in October, the plan was to take him overseas. The group already had contacted hospitals in the U.S., Britain, Italy and Mexico. But the group, funded mainly by contributions from Somali immigrants, eventually opted for Ahmed to be operated on at Kijabe Hospital in Kenya. The group has helped 56 other Somali war victims, mostly children, get medical care, said Abdi Gaal, its executive director.
Somalia's capital sees near-daily bloodshed as a powerful insurgent group with links to al-Qaida tries to overthrow the fragile U.N.-backed government.
Last year, his mother told AP that a barrage of bullets poured out from the presidential palace and one struck her son as they walked home from a Mogadishu market on Sept. 24.
Unlike Afghanistan and Iraq, there are few images of the bloodshed in Somalia, where thousands of children have been casualties without the world knowing. Most foreign journalists stay away because of the danger. An AP photographer was present right after Ahmed was shot and took pictures of the bleeding boy as he was carried away by two bystanders. During the weeks that followed, AP journalists kept in touch with Ahmed and his mother.
Khalil Senosi / AP
Dr. Igohwo Etuh examines 8-year-old Ahmed in a hospital in Kijabe, Kenya, on Nov. 11.
'Another tragic loss'Last year, Kijabe Hospital doctors did what they could to stitch together parts of his face and recommended further specialized surgery to restore his nose and reconstruct the upper lip and damaged cheekbone.
On Monday, Nthumba removed skin from Ahmed's left hand and leg and stitched it at the place his nose once was as part of a series of operations to restore his face.
The doctor had been planning to discharge Ahmed from the intensive care unit on Thursday but the previous day, the boy suddenly suffered massive intestinal bleeding that was not believed to be a complication of the surgery, said Nthumba.
"Within 30 minutes the boy collapsed and we could not resuscitate him," he said.
Click for related content
Boy, 8, becomes lost face of Somalia's war
"It is another tragic loss of life for a young Somali," said Katherine Grant, a child protection specialist with the U.N.'s children's agency.
Ahmed, who is survived by his parents and two older sisters, has been interred in a Muslim cemetery in Nairobi. His mother says she will return soon to Somalia, where the U.N. says one child in 10 dies before his or her first birthday.
Dienstag, 12. Januar 2010
2010
Hello,
As I am waiting for the Vice President of Kenya to visit our Hospital I find some time to write a little update on our lives here in this country. Three hours after the official arrival time we are still waiting for that man to show up and address the staff of the Hospital. But it seems time doesn't really matter, therefore we are waiting and the work is interrupted by the announcement of the visitation. We hope that he will at least fulfill his promise and come after exercising a lot of patience. Expectations are high, what will he bring, what will he say. Will he do something to improve the infrastructure for our Hospital, will he fix the road leading to our place which is almost totally worn out, and needs to be recarpeted. Will he bring a better power supply to our station so that we don't suffer frequent power outages as we do now? A lot of pressure is put upon those guys. How much do they still feel of what the common man in the country feels? We are grateful that at least he comes to visit, so that the government can be aware of what is happening here and to what extent important medical work is being carried out. The needs of a Hospital of that size which almost completely depends on donations from outside the country are huge. The resources in the country are big and it would be great if some of the basic needs could be covered internally.
I'll let you know what comes out, greetings Thomas
As I am waiting for the Vice President of Kenya to visit our Hospital I find some time to write a little update on our lives here in this country. Three hours after the official arrival time we are still waiting for that man to show up and address the staff of the Hospital. But it seems time doesn't really matter, therefore we are waiting and the work is interrupted by the announcement of the visitation. We hope that he will at least fulfill his promise and come after exercising a lot of patience. Expectations are high, what will he bring, what will he say. Will he do something to improve the infrastructure for our Hospital, will he fix the road leading to our place which is almost totally worn out, and needs to be recarpeted. Will he bring a better power supply to our station so that we don't suffer frequent power outages as we do now? A lot of pressure is put upon those guys. How much do they still feel of what the common man in the country feels? We are grateful that at least he comes to visit, so that the government can be aware of what is happening here and to what extent important medical work is being carried out. The needs of a Hospital of that size which almost completely depends on donations from outside the country are huge. The resources in the country are big and it would be great if some of the basic needs could be covered internally.
I'll let you know what comes out, greetings Thomas
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