How many of you are afraid to even venture out of your front door because of the Covid-19? I am. And yet, here is a Filipina who has gone way beyond the local market, to work in the country that one fears the most: Afghanistan.
Her full name is Evangeline Cua, and she hails from Northern Samar. Banggi works for Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders. MSF has for its tagline: “Medical aid where it’s needed the most.”
Where it’s needed the most, right now, is Afghanistan, now under the control of the dreaded Taliban. Doctor Cua works in a 100-bed hospital that functions as a trauma center in the city of Kunduz. It has modern hospital equipment and well-trained staff. There are two other Filipino doctors working for MSF, one is assigned in Herat and another one is assigned in Khost province. Banggi said she has yet to meet her two kababayans.
“We don’t take in Covid-19 patients in the hospital. We only check symptomatic patients and so far, none of the trauma patients that we have treated were infected with the virus,” Banggi said, adding that the virus is not really top of mind among civilians who face the risk of daily and instant extinction from bombs and gunshots. She said the fighting has caused the vaccination program to stop.
Since she joined the MSF in 2015, Doctor Cua has been assigned to Iraq, Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Jordan to treat the Syrian wounded and Afghanistan.
It was during her first stint in Afghanistan, six years ago, that she wrote these lines:
“I witnessed mass casualty incidence every day for several days [more than 10 serious patients at a time] during the heavy fighting. I saw kids with really serious injuries; families hit by airstrikes, pregnant patients shot in the crossfire, wounded fighters and civilians. Our team was reduced from 16 to 6 and I was one of those who stayed to continue treating patients.”
She and her team had to perform 16 surgeries in one day.
After being treated for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which gave her a break from the war-torn country, the lady doctor is back in Kunduz City in the northern most part of Afghanistan. She arrived in Kunduz City on August 1.
According to Banggi, most of their patients are Taliban fighters who got wounded while fighting for the control of Kunduz. While Kunduz has fallen into the arms of the Taliban, the Filipina doctor said that everyone respects the neutrality of the MSF. “The Taliban leadership made an assurance that they will not interfere in our activities,” Banggi told this writer.
I met Banggi through an online group called “Empowered Women” organized by Arlene Donaire, who, like Banggi, is a talented and avid photographer. Parts of that group are peace advocate Amina Rasul-Bernardo, entrepreneur Corina Unson and this writer, as a labor migration expert. As women, we were all in awe of the selfless and high-risk nature of Banggi’s work.
Banggi admitted that she can’t help but also think of her family’s own struggles with the pandemic. “My parents are in their 70s and two of my sisters are living with them. It’s difficult to ask the elderly to just stay home. My mom got bored at one point that she left the house without informing anyone. She went to the wet market. We realized that she just missed socializing and talking to people but when I learned about this, I almost had a heart attack.”
She requested us to pray for her sister, a nurse, who has been recently hospitalized due to Covid-19.
Thankfully, her parents are now fully vaccinated, and her mom has discovered the world of K-drama. “My mom now watches K-drama instead of the news, which means she can be less worried about me.”
How bad did it get in Afghanistan when she first arrived there in 2015? An article that Doctor Cua wrote for MSF describes her experience amid successive air strikes:
“F*ck! The word came unbidden from my mouth. We had not made it very far when I tripped and fell down on something soft. A dead human body… or bodies! Oh, dear God! Stifling a scream and fearing the worst, I slowly got up. Tiny pieces of glass, which could have seriously cut me, were clinging on the surface of my OT gown. I ached all over. No major injuries though. Good.”
And, six years later, she is back in Kunduz City at a time of even greater uncertainty now that the entire country is under Taliban control. Right now, her hospital has changed its admissions criteria to accommodate more civilians, hoping that this would deter any untoward hostile actions.
Bravo, Banggi! We are so very proud of the person and doctor that you are.