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　　At Madhu/there were 28,000 refugees,/and yet/there was only one small hospital,/where we had only two nurses,/two Tamil doctors,/interpreters,/and health workers.// We had only the simplest medical equipment to work with.// There were times/when we felt sad/because we had to treat so many patients/with old equipment.//
　　We started at 9 a.m./and treated about 150 people each day.// They spoke Tamil.// We asked them simple questions/and decided what to do.// In the afternoon,/we treated people in our eight beds,/usually pregnant women and babies.// Sometimes/we went to a small camp/eight kilometers away from Madhu.// We worked from morning till night.//
　　Malaria,/asthma,/pneumonia/—these diseases were the most common.// Poor food and water were also serious problems.// When the rainy season came in October,/diarrhea increased/and we lost some of our children.// We treated everyone who came to us,/even soldiers carrying weapons,/but only after they put their weapons away.//
　　We were told we would be safe.// However,/there were times/when we were ordered not to go out at night.// We listened to the radio/to find out whether it was safe to go outside or not.//