Missions of mercy

Without an aspirator, Xu had to suck out the water and secretions.

The baby, like many rescued by Chinese doctors, was named Chinois (Chinese in French).

With the protection of a police squad, the medical team stayed on, growing accustomed to war, gunfights and the wounded.

That is, until one day in 1994, when a fighter, disguised as a woman and clad in a white robe, approached the hospital.

As the country was mired in conflict, doctors often became the victims of kidnapping.

The fighter had come to kidnap the doctors. But when hospital personnel threw him on the floor, they found that he was also strapped with explosives and armed with a dagger.

The medical team was ordered to scatter and scrambled to safety. But Xu ran back suddenly because she had left behind a booklet given by an obstetrician when she first arrived in Algeria, which documented common diseases and the French translations of drug names.

As she exited the hospital once more, she saw a fallen patient.

With little regard for the danger of the situation, she dragged the patient back into the hospital and began treatment.