Nobody would have felt the kind of pain that C.C. Joseph experienced over the last few days.
While parents of Indian nurses held hostage by the rebel ISIS at Tikrit in Iraq were anxious over the safety of their son or daughter stranded at the war zone, Mr. Joseph from Ettumanoor in Kottayam district was praying for the safety of his three daughters, all serving as nurses in Iraq.
Joseph consented his daughters Sona and Veena to join the Tikrit hospital some ten months ago as his eldest daughter Dona has been a nurse at Baghdad for over a year-and-a-half.
“Even now, Dona is happy as Baghdad remains untouched by the troubles wrecking havoc in other parts of Iraq. All three were working in Delhi. Sona and Veena took up the job as opportunities for general nursing graduates had shrunk considerably here,” he told The Hindu .
Even in Tikrit, things were not too bad till about 25 days ago. As trouble began to grew, Sona and Veena had to leave without food at times, even as they developed minor health issues like vomiting.
In the ten months they stayed at the hospital never once were they permitted to venture out for safety reasons. All they needed was provided in-house. It’s their first journey to the outer world and I am happy that they are making it to home, Joseph said.
While Dona will continue to serve in Baghdad, Joseph doesn’t want his other two daughters to ever return to Iraq.
