Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Unsung heroes, saviours against all odds
Throughout crises across the world Médecins Sans Frontières has helped millions; indelible images document their mission
WHERE people are in armed conflicts, epidemics, natural disasters and medical crises, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, is there to save lives.
MSF photographers and photojournalists travelled alongside these unsung heroes, capturing images of people struggling to survive against the odds throughout this year, whether in war or civil strife, amidst disease, epidemics and natural disasters.
Describing the photographers’ images, spokesperson Borrie Lagrange said, “The plight of the Rohingya refugees has also made headlines in 2017. Thousands of Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar during violence in previous years and have settled in Bangladesh where MSF is providing health care to them.
“In one of the photos, a Rohingya woman comforts her two sons in their tent in the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The family recently fled Myanmar joining hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who have fled across the border, moving into makeshift settlements without adequate access to shelter, food, clean water, or proper sanitation.”
Many of the photographs tell of the plight of refugees who fled beatings and violence, to seek safety in Europe, in places like Greece, where they receive counselling and support from MSF.
One image shows fleeing refugees rescued from the Mediterranean Sea by MSF search and rescue ship Vos Prudence and other vessels. The wooden boat which ran into difficulties in stormy weather had 412 refugees on board, mainly from countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
In a refugee shelter on the Greek island of Lesvos, Karon, 31, who fled his war-torn homeland with his wife and twin daughters, told the photojournalists: “What I have seen in Iraq, I do not want my children to see it again. This is why we left our country, where everything is paralysed, everything stopped, there is no life…
“My true dream is that my children will live in a beautiful country, without war, without bloodshed, without any of this. This is the only thing I wish for.”
MSF also provides medical support from their clinics in over 28 countries. In Malawi they support adolescents living with HIV “to cope and live positively”.
“Because of the support and the medication she receives, Deborah Njala, an 18-year-old girl from Chiradzulu District, is positive that her condition won’t stop her from having a bright future,” she said.
In Nairobi, Kenya, the clinic in Eastlands provides care for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
“The 24-hour clinic sees more than 200 patients monthly due to MSF expanding its catchment area with an ambulance service, a call centre and through a community awareness and mobilisation project,” the caption to a picture explains.
Through documenting people’s stories, the photographs have contributed to raising awareness around the globe, which in turn has led to support to help organisations such as MSF, continue “to save those in peril in our world”.
MSF’s website says since its inception in France in 1971, the organisation has become well-placed on every continent to provide medical care, in “extreme conditions and contexts across the globe”.
From their first assignment in Nicaragua in 1972 when they offered medical assistance to earthquake victims, the organisation has assisted people in more than 65 countries, and much of their work deals with people displaced by conflict and violence.
The organisation employs more than 30 000 people across the world and has treated more than a hundred million patients. – Weekend Argus Reporter