When the sun rises over Kunduz, an uncanny peace fills the air. The sky turns pale blue, shadows stretch across the dusty hospital courtyard. Eva Zettler steps outside, drawing a deep breath. Behind her lies an exhausting night: after an attack in Afghanistan in 2021, more than a hundred injured patients were admitted, and she operated without pause. Now, in the morning light, the world feels strangely still. “A brief moment of strength,” she says quietly—then walks back into the operating room.

Eva is a surgeon. Not one who chooses the safe path. Time and again, she leaves her hospital in Germany to join the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders in places where others have long fled. Places where access to healthcare is far from guaranteed, where clinics lie in ruins, and where reaching a hospital can be too dangerous.

GIVING SOMETHING BACK

Eva first felt the urge to take responsibility during a stay in Nepal. She volunteered at a medical project, at first only on the sidelines. But it quickly became clear: standing by was not enough. “I had the privilege of growing up in peace and receiving a good education. I cannot undo this inequality—but I can give something back.” Her voice is calm, almost matter-of-fact. It’s not about pathos. It’s about action.

Doctors Without Borders provides emergency medical aid where it is needed most: in crisis and disaster zones—regardless of origin, religion, or political belief. In emergencies, all patients are equal. Those who work for the organization commit themselves to this ethic and to the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence.

BETWEEN ROUTINE AND CATASTROPHE

Daily life in the field shifts between improvisation and precision: morning briefings, then ward rounds, surgeries, emergencies. “Depending on the project, training and mentoring local nurses and doctors is also part of the work,” Eva explains. Sometimes it feels like routine, sometimes like catastrophe. “Often, one emergency follows the next.” A bright spot, she says, is the first smile of a badly injured patient slowly recovering.

What gives her strength is above all the team: “The shared effort to treat severe cases at any hour of the day or night. And also the shared laughter despite the often very difficult situations—these are invaluable moments that connect us.”

The teams are international, with people from every continent. But the backbone of the projects are the local colleagues. They are the ones who remain when international staff cannot enter the country or have to be evacuated. Many of them live in the conflict themselves, affected by insecurity or personal loss—yet they return to the clinics every day to care for patients.

For international staff, missions also mean living in close quarters, often cut off from everyday freedoms. “Of course, that can be challenging. We all come from different backgrounds,” says Eva. “But it also makes the experience so much richer.”

Conditions are demanding. In many places, reliable electricity is non-existent. Doctors Without Borders provides generators or solar systems where possible. Yet headlamps and flashlights remain indispensable. “Light at all times of day and night is not a given in many regions of the world,” Eva says. “And yet it is essential to be able to work medically.”

EVERY MISSION LEAVES A MARK

When Eva returns to Germany, the contrasts strike her most. Supermarkets appear glaringly bright, hospitals overly driven by economics. “Some things seem absurd, many unjust.” The global imbalance accompanies her—without illusions, but without bitterness. “Justice? Sadly, it doesn’t exist. But that makes it all the more important to keep striving for it.”

She is also aware of the exhaustion her missions bring. “After coming back, I miss the intensity,” Eva admits. Yet reflection helps her process the experiences. She gives a lot—but feels she receives even more. “I get back more than I could ever give: so many valuable experiences, professionally and personally.”

In the end, one conviction carries her through every mission: “Medical care must not be a luxury. Nowhere in the world—and for no one.”

BACK

TO MÉDCINES SANS FRONTIERES

When the sun rises over Kunduz, an uncanny peace fills the air. The sky turns pale blue, shadows stretch across the dusty hospital courtyard. Eva Zettler steps outside, drawing a deep breath. Behind her lies an exhausting night: after an attack in Afghanistan in 2021, more than a hundred injured patients were admitted, and she operated without pause. Now, in the morning light, the world feels strangely still. “A brief moment of strength,” she says quietly—then walks back into the operating room.

Eva is a surgeon. Not one who chooses the safe path. Time and again, she leaves her hospital in Germany to join the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders in places where others have long fled. Places where access to healthcare is far from guaranteed, where clinics lie in ruins, and where reaching a hospital can be too dangerous.