G L O B A L
E D U C A T I O N
Healing Amidst the Darkness of War AN INTERVIEW WITH SAJIA DARWISH ’14
Sajia Darwish ’14 fulfilled her junior/senior project requirement at the Cheragh Medical Higher Education and Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. To learn more about this requirement, please see page 29. Q. Why did you choose a hospital internship for your project? A. Being a doctor is not something that I simply want; it has
a story behind it. After the Taliban collapse in Afghanistan, there were not enough medical facilities and doctors, especially female doctors. More than 80 percent of women were illiterate and mostly they were not allowed to go to school or have a job, which is still a huge problem. This issue bothered me a lot, so I decided to contribute to the solution by becoming a doctor and showing everyone that women can be a valuable part of the society.
accidents, falling from a high level, and many other situations were completely new to me. In a city like Kabul where there is no lane for cars and no one wears a seatbelt, there are horrifying accidents. I enjoyed going to the hospital and meeting new patients every day. I did not focus on one specific area because I wanted to get a big picture of what it will be like to be a doctor.
Q. How did you go about setting up the project? A. First, I asked my father if this was possible for me to do.
Q. What did you learn from the project? A. Overall, this project was a great opportunity for me. After
Not only is it difficult for high school students to be allowed into the operation section, but also I was worried about the way to get there since the situation in Afghanistan is unpredictable and no one knows when a bomb will explode. But despite these facts, I took the risk and contacted some of the well-known hospitals in Kabul and chose Cheragh Hospital because it was easy to get to from my house. Q. What did you do at the hospital? A. During the three weeks that I was trained as a health
worker, I learned how to measure vital signs, inject in both muscle and vein, and provide emergency assistance. I also attended surgeries. Most of the things I experienced in this project, I had never seen before. Suicides, severe cuts, car
doing this project, I know what the responsibilities of a doctor are. It is a holy job and it requires hard work, especially in Afghanistan where the doctors have to deal with severe injury without the right tools. Most of the times treatment does not work and sometimes when it works, one area of the body gets better, but other parts of the body are destroyed because of the unqualified drugs. The darkness that the war leaves is a common pain that all Afghans share. Nowadays anything about Afghanistan includes war, even a student’s experience of a hospital internship. It is darkness that only education can lighten. So I hope for a peaceful day when there will be more chance for students to continue their education.
SUMMER 2013
21