“I’m a Woman Who Works for Women”

“Anyone – suddenly – can become a victim of war.”

Layla has been taking care of patients at our hospital for war victims in Kabul for 18 years. She was born here in the Afghan capital 56 years ago and has been working for a long time now as a nurse at the hospital.

“I began working with EMERGENCY in 2001. You could say I grew old in this hospital,” she says.

While walking to work three years ago, her husband was caught up in a suicide bomb attack and left paraplegic. After the explosion, he was brought to the very hospital that Layla works at – EMERGENCY’s Surgical Centre. In an instant, she was transformed from a nurse for war casualties into a victim of the conflict herself. Her husband was now her patient – one of those wounded in the daily violence that is part of this never-ending conflict.

In Afghanistan, war can strike anywhere and anyone. At the bazaar, in the street or at home.

“I’m a woman who works for women, and I’m also a victim of war,” Layla tells us. We cannot stop thanking her every day.

We thank her for her courage, as we do all the men and women who risk their lives in this humanitarian crisis to save other people. We will always respect and protect them.

#WomenHumanitarians #WHD2019 #WorldHumanitarianDay