Testimony of Xavier Guillemin, MSF Psychologist coming back from Iraq | Webclip | English

"The image of Mosul, massive groundwork must be done first before rebuilding." Xavier Guillemin, a Belgian psychologist, explains the overwhelming need for mental healthcare in the aftermath of the conflict in and around Mosul. He also examines the limitations of what he could do in the face of such intense needs on such a massive scale. Based in Hamdaniya, a town a few kilometres south east of Mosul city, he was part of a multidisciplinary team from MSF and Handicap International working on rehabilitation and long-term post-operative care for patients wounded and traumatised during the battle for Mosul.

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Testimony of Xavier Guillemin, MSF Psychologist coming back from Iraq | Webclip | Dutch

Subt. Dutch

Testimony of Xavier Guillemin, MSF Psychologist coming back from Iraq | Webclip | International

Testimony of Xavier Guillemin, MSF Psychologist coming back from Iraq | Webclip | French

Subt. French

"The image of Mosul, massive groundwork must be done first before rebuilding."

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Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF210949

Date taken / Date Recorded 10/10/2017 12:00 AM

Country Iraq

Commissioning section MSF-BELGIUM

Photographer / videographer / producer generic MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) External Media, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available no

Editor's rating ★★★ (F)

Video format h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 4m41s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 538.45 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist TEXT ON SCREEN

Xavier Guillemin
MSF Psychologist

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SUBTITLES

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When we are in a city just
80 kilometres from Mosul,

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a town like Erbil,

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that has almost followed
the same trajectory as Dubai,

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where we see a huge amount of money.

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Then, we travel 80 kilometres
and we're in a city that is totally destroyed.

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00:00:14,837 --> 00:00:17,991
We ask ourselves: but how is that possible?

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Why is there such a contrast between two cities

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which are about as far apart
as Liege and Brussels?

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The hospital as such was in a really good condition

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but two or three metres away
there was a completely burnt out corridor

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that really stood testament to the violence
of the past four years.

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The needs are just unimaginable.

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It is in the image of Mosul,
it must first be bulldozed to be rebuilt.

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It's almost the same for the patients.

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One woman who was a quadriplegic.

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She did not have much anymore.
Her husband has disappeared,

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She was alone.

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We thought she was alone.

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She had only her eight year old child with her

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and it was him who cared for her.

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I had some conversations with this child

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because he'd been in the hospital for months

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It's not a life for a child to stay in a hospital.

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I ask him if he wanted us to find

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a way for him to do some children’s activities,

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so he could get out of the hospital.

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And he told me: sometimes I leave the hospital,

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sometimes I go back to Mosul,
to do some administrative things.

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But as soon as I leave the hospital, straight away
I want to come back because I want to know

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how my mum is.

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There, I said to myself:
this child will not have a childhood.

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It's finished for him.

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He has lived the atrocities of war.

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And now, he is the parent of his mother.

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By the time I have left, we had
not yet found a solution

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to know what we could do
with this kind of case.

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Fortunately, this afternoon I saw an old colleague

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who told me that the brother of this woman

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had reappeared at the hospital thinking
that this woman had died.

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They witnessed a beautiful family reunion.

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There was another elderly person

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an old english teacher

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who had one of his legs amputated.

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He was a very cultured man

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but who, because of his hospitalisation

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had no prospects for the future.

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He presented with symptoms of
that were more and more depressive.

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Today, we still do not have a
solution for that person.

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00:03:04,425 --> 00:03:08,385
But, we have tried to give him
a role inside the hospital.

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We created a playground
with the health promoters.

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And there he could give english lessons
to the children of the hospital.

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Look at this person who,
for days and days,

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was in his bed, almost mute,
who did not want to consider the future,

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we gave him an opportunity
to return to his old profession,

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to be useful
for the children in the hospital

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it was really beautiful to see.

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we saw energy,

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we saw this person had
a reason to exist

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a need to be able
to do something for others.

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It is very complicated to feel useful there.

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Maybe when we take care of people,
when we have a direct action.

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When we took care of people to help
facilitate the work of nurses and doctors

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yes, there, yes.

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But it is difficult to feel useful there, yes.

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That's for sure.

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Above all, inform yourself about what is happening there.

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Open your eyes,

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open your ears.

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It's important to be able to

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imagine what is rebuilding

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a life and then a city, in ruins.