Faced with the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. Faced with the climate crisis, the fate of migrants and the unpredictable repercussions of the return of Donald Trump, the planet is turning rather square at the start of 2025.
But pediatrician Joanne Liu has seen others. Many others.
Several events have tested the eternal optimism of the doctor from Quebec who chaired the international organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) from 2013 to 2019.
A crazy, stormy, dangerous period in several respects that she recounts in her fascinating book Ebola, bombs and migrantspublished in October by Libre expression.
The work, written with the journalist and former senator André Pratte, is structured around three significant events of his presidency.
The first, the terrible Ebola virus which particularly affected Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone in 2014. The medical community of the planet was confronted with this unprecedented epidemic which forced us to rethink the ways of doing things and contributed to the acceleration of vaccine research.
Dr. Joanne Liu on the ground in the midst of the Ebola epidemic. (Doctors Without Borders)
Joanne Liu also discusses in detail the Kunduz hospital in Afghanistan bombed by the American army on October 3, 2015. The blunder left 42 dead.
The mistake for which the Obama administration apologized deeply shook MSF.
“We have never lost so many colleagues in a single incident,” says Dr. Liu. We lost friends, we lost loved ones,” said Joanne Lui in an interview with Soleil.
At the time, she did not hesitate to express her thoughts to American President Barack Obama during a telephone call recounted in the book.
MSF demanded an independent investigation into the tragedy and president or not on the other end of the line, Joanne Lui was not going to be satisfied with flat apologies.
The third essential element of Joanne Liu’s time at the head of MSF is the migration crisis of 2015, which gained momentum with the civil war in Syria.
The fate reserved for displaced people detained in Libya almost made her break down.
She had never seen such “human cruelty on an industrial scale”, despite her decades of confronting the worst on the planet.
-“All the people who worked in the detention centers in Libya were extremely disturbed, extremely shocked. It was something that really devastated me at the time,” admits Dr. Liu.
The fate of migrants particularly resonates for this daughter of a Chinese immigrant, restaurateur in Limoilou. These populations are looking for a better future, daring to leave everything behind, even if it means risking a lot.
“Everyone is human. Everyone has children, a wife, a father, a mother. There are universal values,” she recalls. “A parent’s desire to provide a future for their children is universal. And for that, there will never be a sea too dangerous.”
No question of “open bar” in immigration, doctor nuance. But she would like us to consider migration crises as more human destinies than simple statistics.
A little more humanity helps us unite and rebuild ourselves. This is why Joanne Liu chose to write her book.
Ebola, Bombs and Migrants recounts three significant events by Joanne Liu with Doctors Without Borders.
(Jocelyn Riendeau/The Sun)
Putting her experience down on paper aimed to gain some perspective on these moving images, to share them to clarify her time as president. To address young people too, like those she meets daily in her work in the emergency room of Sainte-Justine hospital.
“It’s also about turning the page. I will no longer be as good as I was in this commitment. I will always do missions, I will always be available for them. But I will no longer have these responsibilities. It’s a great loss, leaving MSF.”
A mourning that Dr. Liu chose to share with the public in clear, simple language, which wonderfully popularizes the internal conflicts and debates at Médecins sans frontières.
And she had the happy impression of having hit the target during the launch of her book at the Librairie du Quartier in Quebec on November 14.
In the packed store, she saw students, people from all fields. “I told myself that there were only going to be doctors in the room. But there were almost none,” rejoices Joanne Liu.
“I said: My God, I think we won our bet.”
The bet of hope. Without borders.
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