A profoundly touching experience that includes providing medical aid to refugees in camps.
By Nour Akhras ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 7, 2023
Akhras, a pediatric infectious disease physician, recounts her decadelong journey delivering medical care to refugee children in underdeveloped countries. In 2011, she and her husband Amjad were invited to join a medical mission to Syrian refugee camps in southern Turkey, and they eagerly accepted. Akhras’ memoir details her experiences in vivid, heartbreaking, and sobering detail, including her encounters with children suffering from cancer remission, severe bronchitis, and malnutrition, as well as the families who had walked for 40 hours to get to the camp. Her work as a doctor and her life as a mother of four shaped her decision to embark on a vocation where international travel and hazardous conditions were ever present. Akhras also provides historical context about Syria’s unrest and civil war in 2011, as well as her own reflections on living as a Muslim woman in post–9/11 America. She is unapologetically opinionated when discussing misogyny in medical settings and the “rise of right-wing extremism, which includes the disdain for refugees,” that she feels has been further fueled by former President Donald Trump. Despite the book’s nonlinear timeline, Akhras’ humanitarian work makes for a rewarding and immensely fulfilling reading experience.
Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781957242040
Page Count: 194
Publisher: Global Bookshelves International, LLC
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2023