Source A woman in Afghanistan has volunteered to breastfeed as many as 20 newborn babies after a vicious attack on a Kabul hospital, according to a report. Feroza Younis Omar, who works for the country’s economic ministry, said she felt compelled to step in the wake of the tragic attack on the Doctors Without Borders ward on Tuesday that killed 24 — including infants, mothers, and nurses. “All of us have been damaged by criminals who are destroying humanity in Afghanistan. I am one of those,” she told local television station Tolo News. Some 20 newborns who survived the attack earlier this week were transferred to Ataturk Hospital. Omar rushed to the hospital just hours after the newborns were brought there, and has since inspired other women to join her in helping nurse them.
Kabul resident Aziza Kermani is one of the women who joined the effort to care for the babies. “I am ready to adopt one of the babies who have lost their mother or whose families do not have the financial ability to raise them,” Kermani told the news station. Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow at the Carnagie Endowment, called Omar a “true hero” for stepping in. “Feroza Omar is a true hero,” Sadjadpour told alarabiya. “Twenty newborn babies lost their caretakers after the barbaric attack on a maternity hospital in Kabul. Feroza, the mother of a 14-month-old child, rushed to the hospital to feed them, and inspired women to do the same.”
At least three gunmen wearing police uniforms stormed the government-run, 100-bed Dasht-e-Barchi hospital Tuesday and opened fire — gunning down two dozen people, including children. Soldiers were seen carrying out infants after the attack, some of them wrapped in bloody blankets. Police forces then engaged in an hours-long standoff with the attackers, who were eventually killed in the shootout.
What a horrible despicable story. Some terrorist scum raided a maternity ward and started indiscriminately killing people. What is the world coming to when newborn babies and their mothers aren’t even safe from attack?
It’s a shame that innocent people who had just participated in bringing life into the world were killed and injured in this needless and senseless violence. Thank goodness for the security forces who rushed to the scene to neutralize the attackers! Then, the real work started: Figuring out how to care for the 20 newborns that were either orphaned or had mothers who were left too injured to care for them. That’s when Feroza Younis Omar (the hero Afghanistan needs, but probably doesn’t deserve) stepped up to the plate, err, pump to deliver what was needed most at a time like this: Fresh squeezed breast milk.
This woman is the definition of selfless heroism. While other people were crying, mourning, and generally feeling sad about what happened Feroza immediately realized there were now hungry newborn babies to feed and that she, due to her status as a nursing mother, had what it took (lactation) to get the job done. So she put down her own child, strapped on her nursing bra, and made a beeline to the hospital to start feeding the orphaned kiddos.
There aren’t any photos of it, but I’m pretty sure she walked in with the type of immense swagger that only a person lactating can posses, grabbed the two hungriest looking tots (one in each arm), affixed a kid to each teat, and let them feed until they were no longer hungry. This woman is awesome! I mean, she fearlessly rolled into the scene of a massacre and just started nursing babies left and right. She’s basically the “Rambo of Breastfeeding” and I’m here for it!
Apparently, other Afghan women were “here for it” too because Feroza’s act of selflessness inspired additional area mothers to head down to the hospital and fire off their milk cannons as well. Thank goodness these other moms saw the bat signal in the sky and answered it because no matter what type of well endowed chest situation Feroza may (or may not) have I feel there’s almost no chance she was going to be able to feed all 20 babies on her own. It’s encouraging to know there is now not just one bold woman, but an entire squad of lactating surrogate mothers working to keep these 20 newborns fed.