Dr. Mori reports from Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Editor’s note: Dr. Hayato Mori, orthopedic surgeon with Wilcox Health (Wilcox Memorial Hospital and Kauai Medical Clinic) is completing a medical mission in Indonesia, and sent along photos and words via e-mail.

Performing surgeries on wounded people in the aftermath of the devastating tsunami in Indonesia both on the ground and on the U.S. Navy medical ship Mercy has been an eye-opening experience for Dr. Hayato Mori, orthopedic surgeon with Wilcox Health (Wilcox Memorial Hospital and Kauai Medical Clinic), he said.

“Like Angels we fly in at sunrise. We observe the destruction from above as spectators, awed by the destruction, but not touched by it,” he said.

“Every once in a while, we return some of the inhabitants of Banda Aceh, taken from their land, broken and damaged. They return from the sky, miraculously healed, with stories of bright lights and fancy machines that healed their wounds,” Mori said.

“I suspect that such a story would make Steven Spielberg proud, and yet it is a daily reality here in Banda Aceh.

“It is here in Banda Aceh where doctors operate in the dark with flashlights,” he said. “It is here in Banda Aceh that a child orphaned fails to show any tears.

“It is here in Banda Aceh that a husband and a father without his wife and children smile, and thanks you for examining his injuries,” Mori continued.

“It is here in Banda Aceh that a grandmother walks to buy food regardless of the fact that both her tibia fractures have never mended. These amazing stories of human tragedy and courage are infinite here in this little corner of the world called Banda Aceh,” Mori said.

“And every day, we leave the devastation on our wing-less bird to the comforts of Mercy, to shower, eat, and write our e-mails with a can of F&N Groovy Grape Soda to quench our thirst.

“How absurd our world is.”

Mori is scheduled to return to Kaua‘i soon from his work in Indonesia.