Not much has changed from 2024 to today. In the Gaza strip continues to die and the children are always the favorite victims of those who play war. It is not a question of flag or religion. They are always suffering from them, the little ones, as happened on March 18 where – according to international sources – in an Israeli raid there were over a hundred children killed.
In Italy there are those who – civil or military that is – are at the forefront of saving and treating these victims of adult violence. Among them is Maita Sartori, gynecologist of the Rava Foundation, who participated in 2024 together with her husband Pietro Lombardo, also gynecologist, in the “Vulcano ship” mission, a great humanitarian operation, unique in its kind, with the aim of bringing the children of Gaza to our country in more serious conditions. Yesterday as today, however, nothing has changed.
«It is an indescribable pain. Which makes the memory of an experience that has marked me deeply more alive, not only as a doctor but as a person. The one on the Vulcano ship was the first mission for me in a war scenario and after taking care of boys, boys and girls torn by the wounds I cannot help but think of them, who have saved themselves, and to the many who still lose their lives under the bombs ».
A doctor on the front line
Maita Sartori is not only a gynecologist, it is also – and above all – a volunteer who, together with her husband Pietro Lombardo, also gynecologist, has been putting her professionalism and experience for years at the service of the Rava Foundation, who works in emergency situations, where there are often women and children in danger. For this reason – after taking part in the Mare Nostrum operation, organized to face the humanitarian emergency of the exceptional influx of migrants in the Strait of Sicily (which lasted from 18 October 2013 to 31 October 2014) – was called to participate in the rescue mission of the children of Gaza, victims of the horrors of the war. Of course, he could not save them all, but he took care of many, snatching them from a certain death.
The “Vulcano ship” mission
At the beginning of 2024, the ship of the Vulcano Navy-converted into a hospital-attracted to the Egyptian port of Al Arish, where a team of military and civil doctors (including many volunteers) welcomed children and teenagers who fled from the Gaza Strip during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: here the young patients and their accompanying persons were accurate and the most serious were then transported to Italy. Where, in February 2024, the major hospitals of our country have made available their structures, especially those specialized in dealing with amputations and war wounds.
Never forget the horror
“Moments that I cannot forget, that I do not want to forget,” says Maita Sartori, “indeed I believe that keeping the memory alive today more than ever is a duty in light of what is unfortunately still happening. And every time the thought returns to those children the emotion is always stronger ».
Many have passed on the volcano, each with its heavy burden on the shoulders, made of bad stories that should never be told, of terrifying scenes that should never be seen, of straziating losses that should never be experienced, especially if you are so small. Many without mom, without dad, without brothers, but always accompanied by an adult (perhaps a cousin, an uncle or in any case a distant relative) went up to the bridge of the ship full of fear and hope, with pain on the body and heart.
Wounds not only in the body
“They were very serious patients, who if they had not been treated by us would not have had the opportunity to survive”, continues the gynecologist, “all with big problems of malnutrition and most of wounds that, despite having been treated on the field, were seriously infected. The traumas on which to intervene were important, almost always linked to the explosion of devices or shots of firearm ».
The health team of the hospital was complete, with doctors of every specialization: “Next to me I had anesthesiologists, indispensable for the often painful interventions and medications; Orthopedics (who did not only deal with fractures or amputations but also of delicate reconstructions of tendons); Plastic surgeons, involved in the treatment of the most defurbing burns and wounds; Internalists ».
The means available were at the forefront: from operating rooms to analysis laboratories, from diagnostic tools (CT, ultrasound) to resuscitation. All scored by mom and child.
The teacher and the three sisters
“I remember a woman, a teacher,” says Dr. Sartori, “her school had been bombarded and a bullet had hit her going to stood right at the base of the skull, in a very high risk point: after being stabilized she needed a neurosurgery intervention to remove it. There were also three young sisters, all three with an important trauma to one leg: they were daughters of a pediatrician, who remained in Gaza to operate on the field.
And then again a 16 -year -old boy, to whom they had amputated one leg after a bombing and felt very strong pains at the limb that was gone (it is called the ghost limb syndrome). On the ship he was treated with mirror therapy: reflecting the healthy leg in a mirror we helped him control the pain and become aware of his condition ».
Amputations, infections and money
Among the clinical conditions most at risk, the amputations were at the top of the list, not only for the extent of the trauma immediately but also for the consequent risk of infections. “I remember a small little girl to whom they had amputated one foot,” adds Dr. Sartori, “he needed daily medications: a very hard moment for her, not only for the memory of what she had experienced but also because the pain was unbearable. Here the role of anesthesiologists was fundamental, in the dosage of drugs to help her endure evil. The little girl was accompanied by her mother, also in a bad situation, affected by a strong anemia, a very widespread pathology, especially among patients, also teenagers often affected by irregular and abundant menstrual cycles ».
The joy of childbirth
As the only gynecologist of the Vulcano Maita Sartori ship also followed pregnant women: «Some were at the first months of gestation, but one was at the end and gave birth during the mission: a very exciting and joyful moment, so much so that they put them as a second name Italy. A beautiful child, the third daughter of a young woman who had another three and a half years old with him with a amputated leg ».
We moms and dads in white coat
Being a doctor in these situations is not always easy: when you get out of the four protected walls of the surgery and you find yourself in the midst of people who need not only specific care, but really everything, because they have lost everything, you would like to do more than what your profession contemplates.
So the doctors turned into mothers and the doctors – including military doctors – dads were promoted on the field. The uniform was unable to prevent an empathic link with small patients. “And even if we talked different languages we understood us the same”, continues the gynecologist, “the children then, they are special, they know how to make themselves understood: a look, a movement of the body, a gesture to send a message was enough. However, we had two cultural mediators with us made available by the Navy, very precious figures to understand the most complex situations and stories. The older ones, on the other hand, had studied a little English at school and with that they managed to tackle short conversations ».
The horror designed by children
But only the big ones wanted to speak, the little ones made drawings. And on the paper they transferred despair, fear and the horrors lived, tracing the bombs that fell on their homes with the pencil, with mom, dad and siblings below. “Terrifying images that persecuted them even at night, causing frequent nightmares and sleep disorders.”
If the nights were difficult, the days granted happy spaces: «Even if we were on a military ship with precise rules to be respected, the children managed to bring the typical confusion of childhood, giving us the lightness we needed. They chased on the bridge, played football with makeshift balls, they created puppets by inflating the latex gloves: children are enough to find a smile at children ».
The biscuit symbol of peace
Today, a year after that mission, but in the aftermath of yet another massacre in the Gaza Strip, Maita Sartori recalls those children. «I worked on military ships, I was in Africa to operate in very poor rural contexts, I saw many children die unfortunately. But this thought, spurs me every day to go further, trying to do my job better and better ». The most beautiful moment? «The one in which the children made with me a gesture that usually made with their mom: how to bite a biscuit and offer a piece of it. He meant: “I’m fine with you, I trust, I love you” ».
In the photo, Maita Sartori with a newborn baby and the assisted mother during the birth on the volcano ship.
