It was difficult to understand why someone would want to hurt kids
Sattar Alshryda, 46, is consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon at Manchester Children’s Hospital.
The Iraqi-born medic was part of a team who worked to save the lives of children seriously injured in the horrific Manchester Arena bombing.
Sattar, who lives in south Manchester with wife Anita and their children — Jasmine, seven, Hannah, three and one-year-old Daniel — explains how he and his colleagues have been inspired by the compassion shown by victims’ families.
And he believes that working together to create a sense of community is so essential for future generations of children in Britain. The events of the past few weeks have shown us how important it is for communities to come together and the amazing things that can happen when we do. People from all different backgrounds have worked to show solidarity, trying hard to find the good in the situation.
We need to support our children to boost their courage to interact across cultures, to spend time with each other and learn about each other.
My wife and I have always tried to expose our children to British diversity, visiting mosques, churches, synagogues and Hindu temples and enjoying the spirit of Christmas, Eid, Diwali and Rosh Hashanah. I would suggest Muslims
invite non-Muslims to visit their mosques and homes to show them what Islam is really about.
All of this makes our children smarter, kinder and more resilient to changes, without compromising their identity.
At the hospital, we are used to treating children who are suffering – but the Manchester attack was different. Seeing patients arriving with shrapnel injuries and knowing that someone had chosen to deliberately do this to children was very difficult to understand.
We are all enraged by this barbaric action but for the members of the team who are Muslim, there is another dimension — because the attacker did this in the name of our religion.
About a quarter of the team caring for victims was Muslim. Like everyone else, they came in on their days off to deliver the best care. People have been celebrating the fact that Manchester is a multicultural city and our hospital team is a microcosm of that. There is massive diversity here that is typical of the NHS.
I am from Iraq – I came to the UK in 1997– and I do have experience of treating shrapnel injuries – but it isn’t something I expected to see in a children’s hospital in Manchester.
Yet the parents of these young ones are the real heroes because of how they have reacted.
I was worrying, ‘Do they think this is anything to do with me?’ But knee-jerk reactions were not there. People weren’t full of hatred. Parents were brave, polite and thankful.
If they can see past the hatred that terrorists want us to feel even in their darkest hours, surely we can, too.