A Kiwi Red Cross nurse working in South Sudan has described the moment the hospital she'd been working in was hit by rockets and heavy gunfire.
Lucy Gallagher has just come home from the conflict-torn country and says that despite witnessing unimaginable suffering, she'd return to help again if needed.
The pre-winter Wellington wet is a long way from the heat and hostility of South Sudan.
During two separate deployments there over 15 months, Ms Gallagher has helped hundreds of war-wounded, including civilians.
"It's predominantly all gunshot wounds to anywhere on the body and they're pretty horrific," Ms Gallagher says.
During rural postings, the 30-year-old slept in basic huts; working in the mud was just part of daily life.
She'd been working at a field hospital in Kodok in 2015 when fighting erupted early one morning.
"We were about 300 metres from the hospital where our compound was and at seven o'clock I got woken up to just the loudest explosion I've ever heard," she says.
Newshub visited the hospital last year and spoke to one of Ms Gallagher's colleagues, fellow Kiwi Andrew Cameron, about what happened.
"A rocket came over from the other side of the river and hit the hospital and the team had to evacuate pretty smartly," he says.
"One hit the school over there - you can see the hole just above the window."
Ms Gallagher was part of the team that evacuated - but before doing that she got as many patients out as possible.
"So we went back to the hospital," she says.
"We gave pain relief to the patients, we tried to mobilise as many patients as possible so that they could leave."
She says it was "overwhelming", but not enough to put her off wanting to help the world's most vulnerable.
"As New Zealanders I don't think we understand or can comprehend the level of suffering that is going on in places like this," she says.
"If I can somehow help in some way then it's meaningful to me."
Michael Morrah travelled to East Africa with assistance from World Vision. Click here to donate to the East Africa Hunger Crisis campaign.
Donations can also be made to the Red Cross.
Newshub.
