Iraq: ‘I’m Treating a Father’s Burned Hands’

I’m treating a father’s burned hands.

He carried his daughter to our clinic in the Ashti camp. Her clothes and hair were still on fire.

The cold night was very difficult to bear in the camp tent that they live in. That cold pushed the child, wrapped up in a blanket, to get closer to the kerosene heater, so that she could warm up.

I untie the bandages from her father’s hands, still open as if holding her in his arms because closing them hurts too much.

He says nothing, he just stands still. He won’t take his child home.

This is also war. Its consequences don’t stop on the battlefield.

– Alessandro, EMERGENCY nurse in Iraq