A 23-year-old woman from the remote region of Wajir County, Kenya, is reportedly risking her life to safe lives in a conservative society where women are mostly looked down upon.
According to the Take Part, young Bishara Farah has defied the cultural norm and practice in her society. In an effort to help prevent the people in her area dying from lack of emergency aid, Farah became an ambulance driver. In this conservative part of Kenya, it is very unusual for women to drive cars, let alone ambulances.
The town where she drives her ambulance is roughly 60 miles from the Somalia border, where African Union troops are battling al-Qaeda affiliate fighters known as al-Shabaab.
Farah is the youngest member of the ambulance crew in the area and it is said she sometimes puts her life in danger, attending to casualties caught in the fight between the African Union troops and the militants.
She also picks up victims of car accidents, animal attacks, and pregnant women in distress. Though her job is fraught with danger, nothing can stop her from pursuing what she describes as her calling to save lives.
Due to her commitment and dedication to her work, she has become well-known in the area. She is now a role model for other young women. Girls are often seen around her ambulance, chatting with her about how she manages to drive through such a hostile environment. Naturally, as Farah does not want to discourage the young girls, she deliberately downplays how hard and dangerous her job is.
“They would be surprised if they knew what being the driver of an emergency vehicle meant. I am sure they would be filled with empathy if they knew that I wake up late in the night and get into risky situations,” the BBC African Service quoted her as saying.
To put the matter simply, Farah’s work is tedious. She works around the clock and is often called to remote areas to assist people in dire need of emergency aid. As expected, Farah’s family is not particularly happy with her carrying out theses dangerous tasks every day.
Despite the pressure from her family, Farah is determined to continue with her risky job. She explained, “They are concerned because of the times I am woken up in the middle of the night. My brothers are forced to take me to the vehicle so that I can drive to the emergency scene. My job involves saving lives, and this requires me to be alert the whole day”.
Nobody can imagine what life would be like in the area if committed people like Farah were not there to assist. According to local media reports, the need for emergency services in the area has increased significantly over the years because of maternal deaths.
Last year, a United Nations report said that the Wajir County had the second highest maternal death rate in Kenya – around 581 deaths were registered.
You want to support Anonymous Independent & Investigative News? Please, follow us on Twitter: Follow @AnonymousNewsHQ
This Article (The Young Ambulance Driver Risking Everything To Save Human Lives In Africa [Video] ) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and AnonHQ.com
You go, girl!!!! Keep it up!!