On the Edge of Humanity 1 of 2

Posted by Illuci (Hurdegaryp, Netherlands) on 12 November 2007 in People & Portraits.

A friend of mine just has just returned from his temporary work in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he worked as a surgeon in a military field hospital. They operated upon far more civilians and children than military people. Here you see him at work (with the glasses).

I call this "the Edge of Humanity" because I find the medical profession performed in war areas the best a man/woman can do from a human point of view. Fighting in a war can be either the best thing, or the worst thing a man/woman can do, and of course most warriors find that they are doing "the best" by fighting "the enemy". But in many cases it appears afterwards that their war efforts appear not that good at all, and even (very) bad, the only thing remaining are their intentions the moment the battle was fought. The medical craft doesn't ask questions about whether the patient is "good" or "bad", their assistance is required simply because there are injured, and that's also the case here in Kahandar. |They work on the edge between the utmost efforts men can perform, putting his/her life at stake and taking other people's lives. Taliban, child, merchant, soldier, they are all welcome and the doctor feels obliged to help.

I couldn't help to interrupt my series of fall sceneries for 2 of his pictures he has sent to me by e-mail from Afghanistan, he agreed that I put the pictures on this blog. The stories he told with the pictures I will translate and publish in due time on my textblog.

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