A Greek-Australian nurse that goes where help is needed
From the earthquakes of Nepal, to Lesbos and then to Idomeni. And from there, to Iraq. And from there, wherever, help is needed. This is the life of the Greek-Australian nurse, Helen Zachos. I met Helen in Idomeni. In November 2015. As soon as she had come from Lesvos as a volunteer for the “Doctors of the World”.
On December 3, the day of the big clashes in Idomeni, she was there with her team. It was around midday when an unlucky Moroccan was killed by an electric shock. Helen, was the first person by the medical staff who came up with him. She could not do much. He was already dead. Shortly afterwards, when she bent over another refugee who needed first aid, she was assaulted with a crowbar from other refugees who passed her as a police officer.
At the moment of the tragic accident at Eidomeni …
She was injured in the face and stayed a long time away of the field. Still, she continued to offer. When she left Idomeni, we kept getting in touch. She was watching our posts at Humanstories.gr and commented. “I want to go back. I want to help. Here in Australia people are not interested” she told me. Things in Greece have calmed down.
Ellen’s next mission was at Iraq’s Erbil. “We have to help this girl” sent me a message one day. She was a ten-year-old girl who had burned 70% of her body. ISIS had hit her house and she was trapped in the fire. Helen was going every day and cared for her injuries. I contacted Al Jazeera English.
The colleagues went directly and covered the issue in order to give him publicity and someone could help the unlucky girl. In a magical way, a solution was found and Ellen was the one who caused it. One year after Idomeni’s evacuation, she speaks to Humanstories.gr and to refugees.TV about everything she has been living there.
Read our oldest topic at HumanStories.gr, about a woman who overflows with humanity and compassion …
THE MEMORIES OF ELEN ZAHOS BY THE EIDOMENI
