Lavy, Rachel (Oral history)

British civilian nurse worked for Tear Fund with Iraqi Kurds in Kurdistan, 1992, for Red Cross with Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong, 1992 and for International Committee for Red Cross in Bosnia, 1993-1994, and with Rwandan refugees at Lamasi Camp in Tanzania, 1994

REEL 1 Aspects of family and educational background. Recollections of nursing training: decision to become a nurse; nursing training; training as midwife at Mother's Hospital London; working as community midwife; reaction to television reports on situation of Iraqi Kurds after Gulf War; contacting Tear Fund and volunteering to go to Kurdistan; reasons for interest in humanitarian work; preparations; reasons for leaving job. Recollections of period with Tear Fund aid team, Kurdistan, 1992: first impressions of area; living conditions of Kurds; training the Kurdish midwife trainers; medical equipment; coping with weather conditions; devastation of Kurdish villages. REEL 2 accommodation for Tear Fund team; living conditions for Kurds; attitude of Kurds towards western world; experiencing Muslim attitudes towards gender; precautions against possible attacks by Iraqi extremists; Iraqi atrocities towards Kurdish people; relationship with interpreters; attitude towards work of Red Cross teams in area; attitude towards leaving Kurdistan; lack of information on situation there in late 1990s; divisions within Kurdish community; joining Red Cross on return to GB. REEL 3 Continues: Red Cross training. Recollections of period with Red Cross Hong Kong, 1992-1993: decision of Red Cross to send her to High Island Detention Centre for Vietnamese refugees, Hong Kong; living conditions at camp; violence between refugees; dilemma of using sophisticated medical treatment; learning how to examine patients, diagnose problems and treatment; conditions in segregation unit; medical problems of refugees; attitude of refugees towards possibility of repatriation; relationship with refugees; location of camps; relationship with interpreters; refugees memories of conditions on boats to Hong Kong; comparison of life with Red Cross to NHS; pay situation; decision to leave Hong Kong after six months; desire to go to Bosnia. REEL 4 Recollections of period with ICRC in Bosnia, 1993-1994: briefings in London, Geneva and Zagreb; question of neutrality of Red Cross; duties as field nurse visiting hospitals and organising medical supplies; regular shelling of hospitals in Knin and Bihac areas; different ethnic groups and relations between them; move to Banja Luka; strength of nationalist Serbs in area; evidence of ethnic cleansing (by all sides); attitude towards being unable to protect people; duties attending to women who had been raped or beaten; unwillingness of the injured to go to Serb hospitals for treatment. REEL 5 Continues: story of family where husband was beaten to death and wife raped; attitude towards not being able to speak out about atrocities; difficulties for relief organisations in Bosnia; psychological impact of rape; opinion of young , male interpreter, Sasha Gajic; story of 13 year old girl that had been raped; treatment of elderly people living in pink zones in Bihac area; discovering of body of old lady murdered and dumped in well; learning of what life was like pre-war from civilians; move to Sarajevo, 3/1994; difficulties getting into Sarajevo; war devastation of city. REEL 6 Continues: rules regarding cameras; impressions on first drive through city; food rations; description of her interpreter, Boris; ethnic divisions in medical world; occasion when she narrowly escaped being shot by Serb; working with prisoners; psychological and physical condition of prisoners; importance of work with prisoners; types of prisoners; story of three student friends who ended up fighting for different sides. REEL 7 Continues: story of elderly Serb lady who was detaining a Muslim lady in her home; evidence of beatings in jails; lack of co-ordination between relief agencies in Bosnia; attitude towards work of UNHCR; attitude towards air strikes; attitude towards international policy towards Bosnia; desire to return to Bosnia; stress of living in Sarajevo; leave periods in Croatia; adapting life in war zone; reaction witnessing man shot by sniper; attitude towards media; opinion of Martin Bell (says Martyn Lewis but means Bell); learning of Rwandan massacres; question of genocide. Recollections of period in Lamasi Camp, Ngara, Tanzania, 1994: background to refugee camps. REEL 8 Continues: organisation of aid in Tanzania; Rwandan Hutu refugee population at camps; attempts of refugees to build shelters and improve living conditions; attitude of Tanzanian government to refugees; food rations; unwillingness of refugees to return to Rwanda; involvement of Hutu refugees in massacre of Tutsis; dangers for relief workers in camps after dark; training of militias in camps; opinion that civil war would re-start if refugees returned; brutal nature of killings; attitude towards work in Bosnia and Tanzania; belief in need for reconciliation and forgiveness. Reflections on aid work: plans to continue humanitarian work and start post graduate study on conflict; impact of aid work on her life and personality.