NEDUMBASSERY: Just a few days ago, their homeland seemed a distant reality. But even amidst the chaos and commotion prevailing in Iraq, the 46 nurses from Kerala trapped in the strife-torn country, knew deep inside that they were going to reach home safe. However, ask them if they will ever return to Iraq, if the situation improves, the reply is an emphatic no. “We will never go back. We don’t want to endanger our lives,” said Sandra Sebastian, a nurse from Kottayam.
According to them, whatever happened in Iraq was not a terrorist attack but a coup- a new government assuming charge after overthrowing the existing power. Most of the nurses maintain that the new government never did once thought of harming them. Some of them even refused to call them militants. “Our captors represented the new government. They are neither militants nor terrorists,” said Neenu Jose from Idukki. Since their contracts were with the hospital under the old government, they had only two choices - either stick with the new government or leave the country. “We decided to leave the country, as we are not quite sure of the life span of the new government,” she said.
Answering a query whether any of their documents were destroyed when the hospital was bombed, she said: “All our documents are safely with us. We only surrendered the certificates in the Arabic version.” When the hospital was captured, 15 of the nurses were accommodated on the second floor of the hospital and the rest of them on the sixth floor of the hospital. “The havoc brought us together. We were praying all the time and tried to instil confidence in each other,” she recalled.
Neenu also thanked an embassy official named Ajay Kumar. “He was a messiah and helped us in many ways,” she said. Another nurse, Nithya Mol M J, recounted the incidents with fear. “We could hardly get any sleep. Bombs exploded frequently. The doors, windows and walls of hospital trembled from the impact. The insurgents told us that they would destroy it soon. But before that, they had to make sure that we are free,” she said.
Sandra said two days ago, the insurgents, along with armed doctors, gave nurses 15 minutes to pack and shift from hospital premises. They left the hospital at 12 noon and reached Mosul by 7 pm. The nurses reached there in four buses which had a driver and an insurgent each. They stayed in Mosul till 8 pm. They were brought to a boundary to hand over to the Indian officials. “But the officials could not arrive to pick us. Hence we were again taken in buses to Erbil,” Sandra said. Now that they are back safely, the nurses have other pressing worries, the most primary being financial. Most of them have a large amount of debt to clear. Nithya and Neenu had to pay around `2 lakh each, by way of education loan.