Syria: I treated children under siege for six years

Amani Ballour is a displaced paediatrician from eastern Ghouta, which is a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus.

She worked under bombardment for years in an underground hospital called "The Cave". Today, she is haunted by memories of Al Ghouta's children and of the two chemical attacks she survived during the last six years. Last year she was displaced and moved to Idlib along with her women colleagues. But she couldn't bear working with children any more and fled to Turkey. She says blood and destruction is everywhere in her home town.

Image: Amani Ballour's fight with patriarchal codes as the hospital's first female manager inspired a National Geographic documentary. Credit: National Geographic