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Conversation with Tom Catena

Conversation with Tom Catena

The Q&A was part of the 2018 Aurora Dialogues Berlin that brought together global humanitarian activists and organizations. The conversation between Der Tagesspiegel Editor Dorothee Nolte and Aurora Humanitarian Initiative Chair Doctor Tom Catena, physician at the Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains and 2017 Aurora Prize Laureate, took place on December 11.

Doctor Catena recalled the years when he had been studying in the college. Even then his life-goal had been to become a missionary. After graduating the college, he studied medicine and eventually went to Africa – that was 20 years ago. For the last 14 years he has been living and working in Nuba Mountains, Sudan. For many years he was the only doctor working there, as during the civil war most of the NGOs and humanitarian organizations left the place – but not him. “I said can’t get out, because people don’t have a doctor. At that time there was no other doctor in Nuba Mountains. I think I could not live in good conscious leaving people behind,” he noted.

So, he stayed and continued his mission. Doctor Catena has been the only doctor there for more than a decade and does over 1000 surgeries a year. Now he is an Aurora Prize Laureate traveling through the world to scale up what Aurora does. “I hope during this short time that I have with Aurora I can do that, I can bring people together – people that are underground, people that do work, and these big humanitarian groups and other actors. Everybody’s got to pitch in and work together, and try to find some solutions,” he stressed out.  

You can watch the full video with the conversation below (in English).