A WORLDWIDE STORY FROM SOMALIA
A group of Doctors Worldwide volunteers set off on the last day of the Ramadhan towards their Somalian brothers to share their bitter Eid, commiserate with them in their sadness, and make them feel the human warmth. As they set forth on a challenging journey towards Mogadishu, leaving behind those who love them, their loved ones, and those who awaited their visit during the Eid, they were as if they were going to pay up the debts of the entire humanity, accumulated over centuries. Yet, they did not even have a share in those debts. But it was ok for those volunteers; since the Doctors Worldwide had sworn to be “there and everywhere” whenever any world resident needed it, this Eid would not be that of their mothers, spouses and children, but of their Somalian brothers.
They crossed the mountains, deserts, oceans; and they performed the Salat al Eid with the aggrieved Muslims of Somalia. And the following days passed in efforts both to help out the sick and the suffering, and establish a hospital that they very much deserve. That was why the Doctors Worldwide were there; Kerems, Faysals, Ibrahims, Abdullahs… that was why they were everywhere!
The Doctors Worldwide happened to come by the Medina Hospital… They came across a woman in her forties, bent double in a corner. Let us call her “Aisha” in this story. Aisha was having a hard time breathing, she was all skin and bones. They asked what her problem was. They figured out that Aisha was in this situation because of a tumour in her throat that blocked both her oesophagus and her trachea. As there was no surgeon who could operate on her, she was being fed through a tube placed in her stomach through her tummy, and waiting to die. Amongst the Doctors Worldwide, who witnessed this tragedy, there was a beautiful person who devoted his life to the world’s needy and aggrieved ones. Harun Cansiz was a professor of otorhinolaryngology. He was a professor in one of the biggest schools of medicine in our country. He was a member of the YOK (the Council of Higher Education in Turkey). He was a Doctor “Worldwide”. The Divine power that previously sent him off to Gaza, Kashmir, Bishkek, Beirut and Darfur for him to serve humanity had now brought Dr. Harun Cansiz to Mogadishu so as to make this Eid a real feast for Aisha… The decision was made and the patient was put to sleep in the scrappy operating room of the Medina Hospital. There was no anaesthetic apparatus, so a bag valve mask were used instead; there was no cautery machine, so every bleeding vessel was tied with sutures one by one; there was no major surgery instrument, so Aisha’s surgery was performed with whatever came in handy. Still, in about two hours, Aisha was free from the tumour that lied in her throat like a fist, choked her and enfeebled her. Harun Cansiz’s hands that had successfully completed many surgeries, his brave heart, his faith and determination became one with the Doctors Worldwide’s breath that had enlivened thousands of people, and together they established a bridge of brotherhood between Istanbul and Mogadishu. Aisha, who in a few days was going to hold her children in her arms again and sit down to their poor but happy dining floor, had found her cure in the hands of a Doctor “Worldwide”, a human being who had been her brother in pre-eternity, even though she did not know him. She had now become the verses of a song of brotherhood that would be sung until the end of time…
Remember our motto that says “That who gives life to one person gives life to the entire humanity”. In this belief and thought lies the secret of being able to do what Harun Cansiz did there in Somali, in Mogadishu; the secret of giving our hearts to the Doctors Worldwide, of fitting an infinite meaning in a very short life, and of being able to say “I am here” without looking around for someone else, whenever there is a need for us.
I am asking you now... Is it possible to have a world where we will not know of hunger, despair, wars, and diseases and disabilities inflicted by those? Why not? The Doctors Worldwide have been walking to reach this universal goal. The final destination of this auspicious journey is a world where not a single human being will die of helplessness. Even if we never reach that destination, our will is to spend our lives on the way towards it. There and everywhere!
We are calling for you to join in this race for goodness!
Come on, all together let us put an end to suffering: www.doctorsworldwide.org
Prof.Dr.M.İhsan Karaman
Chairman, Executive Committee
Doctors Worldwide Turkey
