Filipina doctor chooses to stay behind in Afghanistan
By Jaleen Ramos
Just when practically every person was trying to leave Afghanistan to escape the wrath of the Taliban earlier this month, a Filipina doctor would not leave the hospital she was assigned in in Kunduz City.
Dr. Evangeline Cua, a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) volunteer, couldn’t find it in her heart to abandon her patients even as most of the Filipinos have already fled the country that had long been mired in civil strife.
“People need doctors in this place eh. Kung walang pupunta, wala ding tutulong. So yung organization namin, Doctors Without Borders, pumupunta kami kung saan may kinakailangan (If no one will come, no one will help them ... So our organization, Doctors Without Borders, we go where we are needed),” Cua said in a separate interview with DZMM Teleradyo.
“We are only catering to wounded patients. So lahat ng nakita ko, biktima ng gyera –nabombahan, na-airstrike, nabaril — yun ang mga nakikita namin (So everyone I saw victims of the war – bombed, (they were hit by) airstrikes, shot – that’s what we always see),” she added.
Cua was just starting a nine-month contract with MSF when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan last August 16.
“There's always the fear. Going to these areas would always invoke some fear, but I think I have managed through the years working with Doctors Without Borders,” she said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
Cua has had other assignments in other war-torn areas as she has been working for MSF for the last six years.
Recently, Cua said a nine-year-old girl, who was a victim of a landmine explosion, was brought to them.
“We amputated her leg. Talagang naiyak ako, kasi she’s the same age as one of my nieces (I really cried, because she’s the same age as one of my nieces) Kawawa yung mga ganun. What will her future be?,” she said.
Cua also said residents were having difficulty in buying food as they cannot access their money since banks remain closed.
“Hindi ka makakapagbiyahe kasi sira yung mga roads during the fighting. Armed men are everywhere. Andoon pa rin yung pangamba na baka pagtripan ka ng mga members ng mga Taliban (You cannot travel because the roads are damaged by the fighting. Armed men are everywhere. There are fears that members of the Taliban might beat them up,” Cua said.
Cua started volunteering in Samar after Typhoon Yolanda hit the province in 2013.
From a very young age, Cua said she was already exposed to public service.
The Filipina doctor said she draws inspiration from her mother who was a midwife who worked in rural areas before. "Bata pa po ako sumasama na kami sa kanya mag-vaccinate sa mga baryo, sa mga remote areas at doon ako na-inspire (When I was young, we used to go with her to vaccinate in the villages, in remote areas, and that's when I got inspired)," she shared.
Cua later applied to become an international worker. In 2015, she started going to countries with active wars such as Yemen, Iraq, South Sudan, and Afghanistan for different missions.
Her first three missions were also in Afghanistan.
“First mission ko po, binomba po ng US yung hospital namin. I was doing a surgery then. Madaling araw nag-oopera ako, 42 people died inside the hospital (During my first mission, the US bombed our hospital. I was doing a surgery then. I had an operation early in the morning, 42 people died inside the hospital), Cua recalled.
Surviving the bombing was a miracle for her. “I don’t know how it happened but I survived the bombing.” “Nasa labas halos lahat ng mga kasama ko nakatakbo sa basement. Ako naiwan kasi nag blackout wala akong makita. Takbo ako ng takbo, hindi ko alam ibang direksyon napuntahan ko. Nakahanap ako ng pagtataguan pero sa labas ng hospital. Almost everyone with me managed to go to the basement. I was left behind, there was a blackout and I couldn't see. I was running so fast that I didn’t know I ran in the other direction. I found a hiding place but outside the hospital),” she said.
“May kasama po ako sa operating room na nurse na namatay tapos yung nag aassist po sa akin binaril. Nung nag airstrike binabaril din po nila ‘yung mga nagtatakbuhan. (I was with a nurse in the operating room who died and then the one who was assisting me was shot. During the airstrike, they also shot those who were running),” she continued.