‘hell is never far away’ the female medic

8/10/2019 Hell is Never Far Away the Female Medic

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Hell is never far away: the femalemedic

risking her life for AleppoUmm Abdu has lost her husband and a son to the war in Syria, but the pistol-wearing woman refuses to

abandon her embattled city

A man carries two girls to safety after a reported air strike by government forces on Aleppo. Photograph:

ein al-!ifai"A#P"$etty %mages

Martin Chulovin Aleppo

Tuesday 2 December 20! "#! $%T

Martin Chulovin Aleppo-Tuesday 2December 20!

&henever she hears the helicopter' (mm Abdu tenses' collects her medical

kit and runs through the lanes of )ld Aleppo to the only working hospital in

her neighbourhood#

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/02/-sp-female-medic-aleppo-syria-war-umm-abduhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/02/-sp-female-medic-aleppo-syria-war-umm-abduhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/02/-sp-female-medic-aleppo-syria-war-umm-abduhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/02/-sp-female-medic-aleppo-syria-war-umm-abduhttp://www.theguardian.com/profile/martin-chulovhttp://www.theguardian.com/profile/martin-chulovhttp://www.theguardian.com/profile/martin-chulovhttp://static.guim.co.uk/static/b6c135ec8e49127c7c87055af29b2d52c4011fc0/common/images/logos/the-guardian/titlepiece.gifhttp://static.guim.co.uk/static/b6c135ec8e49127c7c87055af29b2d52c4011fc0/common/images/logos/the-guardian/titlepiece.gifhttp://static.guim.co.uk/static/b6c135ec8e49127c7c87055af29b2d52c4011fc0/common/images/logos/the-guardian/titlepiece.gifhttp://static.guim.co.uk/static/b6c135ec8e49127c7c87055af29b2d52c4011fc0/common/images/logos/the-guardian/titlepiece.gifhttp://static.guim.co.uk/static/b6c135ec8e49127c7c87055af29b2d52c4011fc0/common/images/logos/the-guardian/titlepiece.gifhttp://static.guim.co.uk/static/b6c135ec8e49127c7c87055af29b2d52c4011fc0/common/images/logos/the-guardian/titlepiece.gifhttp://static.guim.co.uk/static/b6c135ec8e49127c7c87055af29b2d52c4011fc0/common/images/logos/the-guardian/titlepiece.gifhttp://www.theguardian.com/profile/martin-chulovhttp://static.guim.co.uk/static/b6c135ec8e49127c7c87055af29b2d52c4011fc0/common/images/logos/the-guardian/titlepiece.gifhttp://static.guim.co.uk/static/b6c135ec8e49127c7c87055af29b2d52c4011fc0/common/images/logos/the-guardian/titlepiece.gifhttp://static.guim.co.uk/static/b6c135ec8e49127c7c87055af29b2d52c4011fc0/common/images/logos/the-guardian/titlepiece.gifhttp://static.guim.co.uk/static/b6c135ec8e49127c7c87055af29b2d52c4011fc0/common/images/logos/the-guardian/titlepiece.gifhttp://static.guim.co.uk/static/b6c135ec8e49127c7c87055af29b2d52c4011fc0/common/images/logos/the-guardian/titlepiece.gifhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/02/-sp-female-medic-aleppo-syria-war-umm-abduhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/02/-sp-female-medic-aleppo-syria-war-umm-abduhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/02/-sp-female-medic-aleppo-syria-war-umm-abduhttp://www.theguardian.com/profile/martin-chulovhttp://www.theguardian.com/profile/martin-chulovhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/02/-sp-female-medic-aleppo-syria-war-umm-abdu


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*t is a familiar routine: the thump of the rotor blades' the boom of the

e+plosion from the barrel bomb released by the ,yrian government troops

far above' followed by (mm Abdus scramble towards the four-storey

building that will receive the inevitable human carnage#

.ot that the hospital is safe# %ost large buildings around it have been

obliterated by the same half-tonne bombs' leading those who work' live and

die within its iodine-stained walls to believe that they are the real targets#

Hell is never far away'/ she says' resting on a gurney in what makes for a

trauma area# ,he is the only woman on the oor' a black-clad 1gure

working alongside three e+hausted young men in green gowns to treat

most of Aleppos victims of war#

(m

m Abdu lives in a small at with her three remaining children#

(mm Abdu stands out for another reason: the steel pistol she holsters to

her back when stitching or bandaging patients using the skills that echo her

pre-war career as a wedding dressmaker# $etting 3ustice from this war has

become a personal 3ihad for me'/ she admits# * cant work without it 4the

gun5 any more#/

6veryone who remains in the eastern half of this battered city has a story of

deprivation and loss# And most' like !0-year-old (mm Abdu' have found

ways to cope with life in a wasteland' where e+istence inches on but life has

stopped# *ve used the weapons'/ she says# And then *ve treated the

people who were in3ured#/


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The contradiction seems lost' or maybe even no longer relevant' in a

conict where death often comes from the skies# 7arrel bombs' the ,yrian

wars most savage weapon' are also its most indiscriminate killer#

,lowly' methodically' they have tipped the tide in the favour of the regime'

which continues to edge around Aleppos north-eastern ank as its bombs

erode the city of civilians' 1ghters' and hope#

,yrian boys play in the rubble of Aleppo# 8hotograph: 7araa al-Halabi9A89$etty *mages

(mm Abdus son' ;ousef' was killed by a bomb three months ago while

travelling on a minibus to work in the only other functional hospital in the

citys east# That attack killed


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*n the early days of a war that promised hope' but has instead delivered

three years of unrestrained brutality and an estimated 200'000 dead' (mm

Abdus husband was shot dead by a regime sniper#

6ighteen months ago' while trying to retrieve a wounded man from a no-

mans land near her home' she too was almost killed# ,nipers bullets ripped

through her mouth and thigh# *t was only esh'/ she says# *ts all working

now#/

A rebel 1ghter holds a position in Aleppo# 8hotograph: @ein al-ifai9A89$etty

ebel 1ghters who work alongside (mm Abdu in the city say the 1ghter-

cum-medic is uniBue# .o one else risks her own life as much'/ says a local

leader' Abu Cuud' who helps provide food for her family# And no one else

saves as many other lives#/

&e owe you a lot'/ he tells her# Aleppo owes you as well#/

Those who have remained in the east of the city maybe "0'000 of the

million or so who once lived here all speak with disconcerting candourabout mothers' brothers' fathers and babies killed during the war#

%y three cousins were e+ecuted by *sis'/ shrugs a 1ghter from the *slamic

ront' the main opposition group in eastern Aleppo# They betrayed them at

a checkpoint#/

The 1ghter is sitting in a circle of eight men' all of whom had a similar story

that they hadnt deem worthy to share until asked about it#


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%y sister was killed last year in al-7ab 4a town near Aleppo5'/ says another

1ghter# ,o was her son#/ He shows photos of the boy stored on his mobile

phone: * loved him a lot#/

Another man says Buietly but matter-of-factly: %y mother died in her

home# * buried her in 1ve pieces# ,he said she would rather die here than

live on her knees in Turkey#/

A man holds a baby saved from under the rubble after an air strike byregime forces# 8hotograph: Hosam Eatan9euters

(nfathomable loss is too evident at the hospital# %ost people who come

here are ripped apart when they arrive'/ says an 6gyptian neurosurgeon

who tries daily to repair the most seriously in3ured# 7ut * dont have a

working FT scan# Do you know how hard it is to do brain surgery without

oneG/

Despite this' the surgeon does have some successes# He leads us to a

civilian who was shot through the brain a week earlier# He can speak now'/

the doctor says enthusiastically# ,ay hello' %ohammed# &ave at me#/ Thepatient wearily lifts his arm as his 1ve-year-old daughter sits mutely on a

bed across the room#

.earby' a


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inch as he hands over his produceI nor does his customer#

ruit packed into carts oranges' apples' bananas' watermelons 3ut vividly

from the grime of Aleppo in early winterI rare shocks of colour against a

backdrop of grey# Those who can aJord food are not starving' but the city

itself one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world is all but

broken#

&hy' then' do people stayG This is where * come from and this is where *

will die'/ says *brahim Ehatan' !K' a resident of the )ld Fity' who has

remained behind with his seven young children# 6ven if they surround us'

we will sow potatoes in the 1elds and eat the chickens'/ he says' pointing at

a do>en hens and ducks his daughters have 3ust fed by a mosBue wall# .o

one deserves a world without children# %y oldest is 20 years old and my

youngest' three months# * cant take them away#/

,yrian children Bueue for food aid from a community kitchen in the %yassardistrict of Aleppo# 8hotograph: @ein al-ifai9A89$etty *mages

.earby' the *slamic ront maintains a 1eld clinic' where its 1ghters aretreated for wounds sustained in clashes with regime troops around the

ancient citadel less than a mile away#

(mm Abdu travels here regularly along the ancient cobblestones slick with

recent rains' to tend to a local commander' Abu Assad' who is recovering

from a gunshot wound to his thigh#

7efore this war' * was a seamstress making wedding dresses'/ she says#
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/20/aleppos-most-wanted-man-rebel-leader-tunnel-bombshttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/20/aleppos-most-wanted-man-rebel-leader-tunnel-bombshttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/02/-sp-female-medic-aleppo-syria-war-umm-abdu#img-4http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/20/aleppos-most-wanted-man-rebel-leader-tunnel-bombshttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/20/aleppos-most-wanted-man-rebel-leader-tunnel-bombs


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%y family are all from here# This place is essential to my identity#/

* ask her what could make her change her mind' and take her surviving son

and three daughters' one of whom works at the same hospital' to safety in

Turkey# *f they dont unite'/ she says of the various rebel groups battling

the regime' * will kill myself#/

Thats not true' my sister'/ says a startled bystander#

;oure right'/ (mm Abdu replies with a smile a rare sight in northern

,yria# 7ut they need to bring everything together# &e all need to support

each other#/

ater that night' the clouds that had kept the helicopters away from Aleppo

clear' and the risk of barrel bomb attacks increase# As dawn gives way to

daylight' bright yellow ambulances parked near the hospital seem like

perfect target indicators for any bomber above# The skies' though' stay

empty# Flapped out generators that provide neighbourhood power echothrough alleyways# A slight wind blows broken doors against stone walls#

*slamic ront 1ghters move slowly through the heart of the )ld Fitys

streetsI some shelter in a giant atrium near a soap factory that a dog-eared

sign says is heritage listed#

Their choice of refuge is touted as a hospital for intellectually disabled' built

in

‘hell is never far away’ the female medic

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