A day in the life of a Mogadishu ambulance driver FEATURE 08/25/2010

A day in the life of a Mogadishu ambulance driver

FEATURE 08/25/2010 MOGADISHU — In a city where so much time and energy is spent on killing, few people have saved more lives this year than Hassan Mohamoud Mohamed, a taxi-turned-ambulance driver in war-torn Mogadishu. When the muffled blast of a mortar round echoes in the distance or the thunder of artillery fire erupts, Hassan slurps up his tea and stares at his mobile phone. He knows a fateful call is probably minutes away. “The days I would wait for Western tourists at Mogadishu airport are long gone,” said the 51-year-old, propped against his beat-up Toyota minivan. Three years of fighting between Islamist insurgents and pro-government forces have turned central Mogadishu into a death trap that kills and maims civilians almost daily. “Now I pick up my clients from pools of blood in shattered homes. Needless to say they don’t pay the fare,” he said. His pay is $3 a day, barely enough to feed him and his family. Blood is now what ties Hassan to what is left of his native city, a place once known for its cafes, Italian architecture and pleasant tree-shaded avenues. Even when on standby he spends much of his time hosing blood from the back of his ambulance or scrubbing it off his rusty stretcher.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100825com3.html

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