Dear Politician,
I have to say something.
I live in Switzerland, a very safe country. I am a nurse, and I work with an NGO. One month ago, I came home from a mission in a war zone where we were treating war-wounded in the middle of the bombing around us. Recently, after the shocking news about the bombing of a second NGO hospital in one month, I have been reflecting a lot.
What are we doing? We are cleaning up the bloody mess you make. You are the big, rich, powerful animals of the world. I leave my little safe Switzerland to go and clean up your mess.
I can’t do anything about the causes. So I just follow you, trying to minimise the horrible harm you do. Me and thousands of others are leaving their safe bubble, leaving behind family and friends in fear to go where you messed up. My mother and my father are afraid when I am away. My sisters send me pictures of my nieces because I miss them growing up.
Why? Why do we risk our lives? All while you are in a safe place, surrounded by your family.
But the mess you’ve already made is not enough. Now you have started bombing our hospitals, the only hospitals operating in the death zones. The only possibility for the alleviation of suffering.
It was never safe where we worked. But now we cannot even pretend anymore that we are safe - and that is the only way to continue working in the middle of the bombing. My brave national and international colleagues. Not anymore.
If my NGO asks me to go on another mission in a war zone, I will say yes. But I hate leaving behind my parents and sisters, who are even more worried than before and afraid for me. Just so that I can clean up someone else’s mess. It is not fair.
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