After the invasion of Turkey into Northeast Syria, an international group of health workers came together and discussed the experience of the years of war against ISIS and the Turkish invasions of Afrin in 2018 and Cizre in 2019 – cantons of NES.To build up better ways to support the local health structures, we decided to found an NGO that would allow us to send medical supplies and organize health workers to come to NES to give educations, support where it is needed and to get to know the revolution of Rojava.
Since March this year, I came to work as a frontline medical volunteer in Ukraine, because we as MSDN see it as very important from perspective of critical solidarity, to be able to put in practice alternative medical structures, and open possibilities to those who are unable to join Territorial Defense units for different reasons. Whether it is capacity or other reasons, we want to be able to show that anybody can join that work with the right training, time and effort being involved. I wanted to help build something like this through Medical Self-Defense Network through providing medical training, participating in support of Ukrainian people and volunteers who are already engaged in educating others.
We continue work at Ukrainian frontlines. The range of responsibilities here is rather wide - from going to the operations with military units to minimal medical support of civilian population in the absence of regular healthcare services (oh, and sometimes treating random puppies and kittens, too!) Yet the hardest task here is just waiting for a moment when you are needed.
