Agenzia Fides REPORT - "The situation seems calm after four weeks of intense fighting. There are still sporadic skirmishes, because situations like this cannot change from morning to night, " says Sister Rosaria, of the Sisters of the Holy Family to Fides, who operates in the Abobo district of Abidjan, the economic and administrative capital in Côte d'Ivoire. The so-called " invisible Command" operated in Abobo, led by Ibrahim Coulibaly (known as IB), lined up against former President Gbagbo, but on a collision course with Prime Minister of the new President, Alassane Ouattara, Guillaume Soro. Coulibaly was killed in late April.
Sister Rosa says: "In four weeks of fighting, from late March to the death of Coulibaly, I was alone in the dispensary. I treated the wounded in the fighting, you cannot imagine the amount of bullets I removed and how many people I stitched up ! "
"But were you not afraid of the guerrillas? we ask Sister Rosaria. "I was not afraid of them because they could not do anything to me - the nun responds -. I told them: if you kill me, I will gain, because I go to Heaven. So you had better respect me”.
The nun is however used to situations of crisis: "I have been working for 40 years in hospitals, including 35 on a mission. I was in Guatemala in 1973 at the time of the guerrillas and then I was in Libya at Benghazi and Tobruk, where I worked with the current Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli, Bishop Giovanni Martinelli. In particular Mgr. Martinelli supported me in my battle for the recognition of my diploma of nursing nuns by the Lybyan State. "
Sister Rosaria describes the health status of Abobo: "Every day we have more than 100 patients. We work from morning to night. The health situation is serious because people do not have money to buy medicine and pay for clinical analysis. Pregnant women are especially those most at risk, as well as children. You see children dying of malaria, a situation that was more rare before the war, especially in Abidjan. It is true that the Ivorian crisis has lasted since 2000 and since that time, there have been areas of the Ivory Coast exposed to suffering. Before working in Abobo, I was in a town in the north, on the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, and there we did not have anything to eat. "
"The crisis seems over, but the poor have remained poor - Sister Rosaria concludes -. In the hospital where I work they continue to go ahead with the supply of medicines that I had set aside. The state has promised to send other medicines that may come next Monday. In the meantime, we must move forward with our small supply of medicines. Most of the patients suffer from malaria and anemia, as well as malnutrition. "
Sister Rosa says: "In four weeks of fighting, from late March to the death of Coulibaly, I was alone in the dispensary. I treated the wounded in the fighting, you cannot imagine the amount of bullets I removed and how many people I stitched up ! "
"But were you not afraid of the guerrillas? we ask Sister Rosaria. "I was not afraid of them because they could not do anything to me - the nun responds -. I told them: if you kill me, I will gain, because I go to Heaven. So you had better respect me”.
The nun is however used to situations of crisis: "I have been working for 40 years in hospitals, including 35 on a mission. I was in Guatemala in 1973 at the time of the guerrillas and then I was in Libya at Benghazi and Tobruk, where I worked with the current Apostolic Vicar of Tripoli, Bishop Giovanni Martinelli. In particular Mgr. Martinelli supported me in my battle for the recognition of my diploma of nursing nuns by the Lybyan State. "
Sister Rosaria describes the health status of Abobo: "Every day we have more than 100 patients. We work from morning to night. The health situation is serious because people do not have money to buy medicine and pay for clinical analysis. Pregnant women are especially those most at risk, as well as children. You see children dying of malaria, a situation that was more rare before the war, especially in Abidjan. It is true that the Ivorian crisis has lasted since 2000 and since that time, there have been areas of the Ivory Coast exposed to suffering. Before working in Abobo, I was in a town in the north, on the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, and there we did not have anything to eat. "
"The crisis seems over, but the poor have remained poor - Sister Rosaria concludes -. In the hospital where I work they continue to go ahead with the supply of medicines that I had set aside. The state has promised to send other medicines that may come next Monday. In the meantime, we must move forward with our small supply of medicines. Most of the patients suffer from malaria and anemia, as well as malnutrition. "
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