Ronan Kelly
Retired 2020
WARNING - Graphic descriptions contained in this report. If you can, you should read the full article.
Corridor of screams
March 16 2012 at 09:00am
By Yusuf Omar
Yusuf Omar
A stream of sewage runs through Cathedral camp. Doctors say it is only a matter of time before the first cases of cholera emerge.
The howls of a man echo down a gloomy green military hospital corridor. A nurse rushes past me with bloodied scissors. I follow the red drops on the floor and the screaming gets louder.
?Mama! Mama!?
As I look through the door, the window is open and I?m blinded by the bright light. My eyes refocus. A man my father?s age is crying and clinging to a bedpost. His leg looks like it has been mauled by a shark.
Doctors scrub his festering yellow foot with a wet cloth. A surgical mask hides my open mouth. The translator faints. You can taste the blood in the air. Salty.
Like the lobster and prawns on a bed of avocados served for dinner by the poolside in the Republic of Congo. The shattered hotel windows are the only clue that four days earlier an ammunition depot exploded 5km away.
...
http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/opinion/corridor-of-screams-1.1257577
Corridor of screams
March 16 2012 at 09:00am
By Yusuf Omar
Yusuf Omar
A stream of sewage runs through Cathedral camp. Doctors say it is only a matter of time before the first cases of cholera emerge.
The howls of a man echo down a gloomy green military hospital corridor. A nurse rushes past me with bloodied scissors. I follow the red drops on the floor and the screaming gets louder.
?Mama! Mama!?
As I look through the door, the window is open and I?m blinded by the bright light. My eyes refocus. A man my father?s age is crying and clinging to a bedpost. His leg looks like it has been mauled by a shark.
Doctors scrub his festering yellow foot with a wet cloth. A surgical mask hides my open mouth. The translator faints. You can taste the blood in the air. Salty.
Like the lobster and prawns on a bed of avocados served for dinner by the poolside in the Republic of Congo. The shattered hotel windows are the only clue that four days earlier an ammunition depot exploded 5km away.
...
http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/opinion/corridor-of-screams-1.1257577