Friedensdorf Oberhausen: How Sick Children from Crisis Countries Are Treated in Germany – and Return Home Again

At Düsseldorf Airport, Red Cross paramedics are waiting for a charter plane from Angola. On board are 59 seriously ill children whose parents were not allowed to come with them. Because there is no treatment available in their home country, the parents have entrusted their children to Claudia Peppmüller of Friedensdorf Oberhausen. She picked the children up in Angola, and by this point she and her team have already been on the road for three days; the flight alone took nine hours. According to the film, an operation in Germany is the children's last chance at a normal life.

Claudia looks after the children until they return home, each with a different illness and their own needs. She describes how the children's fear fades the longer you spend time with them. By now, some were even joking during the flight; they had "found a basis we can live with." Two children go straight to the hospital, while the rest travel by bus to Oberhausen. In the coming months, they will shuttle back and forth between treatments and the village.

In the film, the Friedensdorf is described as a kind of children's home with medical treatment rooms and a small clinic. The organization was founded in 1967 after the Six-Day War in the Middle East; many wars and humanitarian crises have followed since then. The organization is funded entirely by donations. In addition to the children from Angola, there are especially many children from Afghanistan in the village at the time of filming; around 300 children live there in total.

The arrival of newcomers causes great excitement every time. Claudia points out that every child in the village once arrived in exactly the same way, so the others understand the initial fears well – a feeling somewhere between fear and curiosity. After around 20 hours of travel, the Angolan children get their first hot meal. At first they eat separately from the others, because it is not yet known whether they have any contagious infectious diseases. Later, the children are also separated according to other criteria: girls eat at different times from boys, out of respect for the customs of their countries of origin, and for the same reason there is no pork.

The next day, boys from Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Angola play soccer between their hospital treatments. Some have already been in Germany for over a year, a few even for the second time. For their bone infections, urinary tract infections, burns or orthopedic problems, the Friedensdorf looks for hospitals all over Germany that will treat them free of charge. After successful treatment, the children return to their families.

Claudia explains the principle: the visas are issued for medical care, so the children cannot apply for asylum. In addition, there are families waiting who love their children, "no matter what circumstances they live in." These families expect their children to be brought back without being "bent out of shape" or proselytized. The Friedensdorf has promised the parents not to tamper with their children, but to let them get well.

During the first examinations of the new arrivals, eleven-year-old Rosario is the focus of attention. He has an encephalocele, a malformation in which brain tissue protrudes through a gap in the bone. He is first examined by the Japanese doctor Dr. Yagura, who has spent his annual vacations volunteering at the Friedensdorf for over 20 years. Rosario does not speak any German yet, so they communicate using gestures and whatever they can.

As an orthopedist, Dr. Yagura also looks at Rosario's feet. Such deformities can be corrected relatively easily in early childhood, but that did not happen in Angola. If the foot remains untreated, Rosario will sooner or later face a bone infection. Asked about his motivation, Dr. Yagura says in Japanese, roughly, that the children who live here teach him how a person really ought to be, and what life and family mean – things he does not notice in his everyday life in Japan.

In the next room lies Jasinta, who had to be transported by ambulance. Since an accident three years ago, she has been dependent on a wheelchair. Surgeon Andreas Olk finds that the metal rods in her leg, known as fixators, have rusted – that is how long they have been in there. He says he asked about it because he could not believe it. The fixators have caused additional damage and urgently need to be removed.

Jasinta is in great pain. Olk describes her as traumatized by the past few years: removing a fixator and screws does not usually hurt, but the child is afraid and overwhelmed by the situation. Later, the team manages to remove the rods under anesthesia, discovering a severe bone infection in the process. Olk decides to first straighten the leg in a plaster cast.

That does not mean Jasinta is out of the woods. The bone has not healed and is mobile, Olk explains. There is a risk that it will break through the side, that the infection will keep festering, and that Jasinta will at some point develop a high fever and become septic. Then the leg would have to be amputated, "and that is of course a catastrophe." If that can be prevented, it is "simply brilliant." There are many bone infections like hers at the Friedensdorf.

Between doctor's visits and treatments, the children are meant to rest and settle down in the village. Many of them experience other sick children like themselves for the first time there – not being the outsider for once is comforting, the film says. Permanent caregivers look after the groups, from brushing teeth to going to bed.

Lisa Jung is one of them. One of her boys has just returned from urinary tract surgery; she shows him how to empty his bag and tells him that the bag is to be removed completely in November. She describes her role as a mix of caregiver, educator, "half a nurse, even if you haven't trained as one," and, if necessary, cleaner. You learn the necessary medical knowledge on the job. The medical staff are only there from morning until afternoon; in the late afternoon, in the evening, at night and early in the morning, the caregivers are alone with the children and have to know what to do.

For nine years, Lisa has worked round-the-clock shifts so that the children, far from their families, always have a familiar face around them. She cannot imagine a more meaningful task than giving children a chance who might otherwise not have one. They should become healthy adults and lead a normal life – "nothing more and nothing less."

According to the film, 276 children were nursed back to health last year with the help of monetary and in-kind donations, which also include hospital treatments. To be even more effective, an outpatient clinic was set up on the grounds four years ago. On Saturdays, the volunteer doctors have time to operate. Simone, who used to work in intensive care units, coordinates the surgical team.

This morning, seven-year-old Amanullah from Afghanistan is having surgery. He suffered severe burns to his face from a rocket strike, which are being treated in stages under general anesthesia. A few weeks ago, his eyelids were already operated on so that he can close them again and will not develop chronic eye inflammation. Today's operation is led by Raouf Onallah, head of plastic surgery in Duisburg. The goal is for Amanullah to be able to speak and eat better again; to this end, the hard scar tissue around his mouth is incised so that his face becomes more mobile.

After about an hour, the surgeon takes stock: they have achieved a good mouth opening, and the mouth can be opened and closed without any significant tension and without the scar pulling the eyes open. For that reason, they should leave it at this procedure for now. The team is satisfied with how it went. Besides the function of the mouth, the aim was also to lift the scarred corners of the mouth, which had been pulled downward and made the face look very sad. This should not be underestimated: a face that constantly looks sad conveys an expression of unhappiness, and that is hard on the children. While Amanullah comes round in the recovery room and Lisa visits him, the team next door is already operating on the next child.

A few weeks later, on one of the hottest days of the year, the children cool off with water in the village square, and Claudia gets completely soaked too. It looks like one big family, the film says. Claudia, however, speaks of a "very fine balancing act": they offer a home, but not a replacement. The staff are not the parents and not the family, and everyone at the Friedensdorf understands that, because otherwise saying goodbye would be harder. The children are "generally not stupid either" and see the team more as friends who accompany them for part of the way.

There is good news about Jasinta as well: her leg has not gotten worse, and according to her caregiver, the pain is subsiding. Since she started walking with crutches, everything has gotten better, and it is much more comfortable for her than the wheelchair. According to the film, there is hope that Jasinta will keep her leg and one day be able to walk again without pain.

Ten-year-old Oma is also present at a gathering of the older boys. Children who leave the village immortalize themselves on a large picture. Oma had successful surgery on his face and hand in the village and will travel back to Afghanistan with Claudia in a few days, where his family is waiting for him. The children support each other, and there is hardly any fighting. Rosario has settled in by now and found his place among peers; his first doctor's appointment has been scheduled.

Regular schooling is difficult for children who are constantly in the hospital, but the Friedensdorf still offers learning opportunities. In the film, for example, they practice counting up to 20.

According to the film, almost half of the children in the village come from Afghanistan, where the Friedensdorf tries to help particularly intensively. Claudia plans the next mission and stays in contact with the local partners, supported by her colleague Birgit Hellmuth. Claudia emphasizes that Birgit has been doing this much longer and under even more difficult conditions, such as during the first Taliban era or the time of the mujahideen. Birgit says the Friedensdorf always stayed, even when other organizations pulled out. She knows she cannot save the world, but she can help the children they bring back with them.

Before new children can be brought over, the team has to find hospital places, organize transport and recruit surgeons – an "organizational Herculean task," as the film calls it. This time, they are bringing nine healthy children back, including Oma. He now has a functioning hand again, which is very important in such countries, because the children usually go on to work in manual trades. Claudia and Birgit explain that Oma was "doubly lucky": without their own operating room, which has existed for a few years, they would not have put him on the list. In the past, what was decisive was that both hands were injured, so that a free hospital bed could be justified.

The two friends have been working for the Friedensdorf for over 30 years. During the selection in Afghanistan, they see every illness and injury imaginable, and the screening sessions last until four in the morning. Birgit says that when the talking and bustle in the room become too much for her, she withdraws and takes a short break. Claudia, on the other hand, immediately seeks out conversation when something is weighing on her. This has to do with her background: she comes from a home with two alcoholic parents, where you were not allowed to tell anyone anything, and so she first learned to stay silent. At 16, she voluntarily went into a children's home to get away from her family. Back then, people who did not look away helped her – that is what drives her, because she knows what it does to a person when others look away.

In Lisa's group of boys, there is a little farewell ritual: a few days before the flight, Oma packs his bag, helped by children he has chosen for the task. Lisa describes him as very open from the start. Once, when they were under stress, he made sure on his own initiative that the younger boys put on their pajamas and brushed their teeth – remarkable for his age, she thinks. While he packs, she praises his choices; there is even a winter jacket, although children never want winter jackets; it will be cold at home.

Oma was in Germany for eight months and is now leaving friends behind. A day or two before the flight, the children sometimes become sad, Lisa says, and no child forgets a time like this. But as soon as they set off with their backpacks, the anticipation of seeing their families again wins out. At that moment, there are more problems with the children who have to stay. Because only those who are healthy are allowed to go home.

For Rosario, recovery has yet to begin. He goes to the children's hospital in Gelsenkirchen. This was organized by Jens Große-Weischede, who, according to the film, has contacts with around 200 German hospitals. For the doctors, helping is a matter of honor, and the clinic covers all treatment costs. There are not many hospitals that could help with Rosario's case; in Gelsenkirchen, they have a "great partner."

Chief physician Lutz Schreiber examines Rosario thoroughly before the operation, because with gaps in the skull, even a minor injury can be life-threatening. For the rest of Rosario's life, the procedure is not just a cosmetic matter: if the brain structure is moved back and the defect closed, there is no longer any risk of an infection from outside reaching the brain. The ultrasound shows the transition from bone to gap and the bulge. What matters is whether there are blood vessel structures inside it; that is not the case, which minimizes the surgical risk. Rosario is scheduled to have surgery in a few months.

Children his age with this defect are rare in Germany, Schreiber explains. In Europe, encephaloceles are detected much earlier, often while still in the womb, and the parents then often decide against having the child. If everything goes well, the film says, Rosario will have a real chance at a healthy future in Angola too.

On the day of departure, nine healthy children return to Afghanistan. They were lucky to be treated in Germany, but they are returning to a country that still finds no peace. Claudia expresses concern that, given the desolate medical situation in Afghanistan, the Friedensdorf could be "overrun"; she has heard figures suggesting that 2,000 to 3,000 families will come. They also have to turn people away, and that is always the worst part: seeing families and children suffer and still having to say no.

In their smartest clothes, Oma and the other returning children are celebrated in the village like pop stars; most of the children staying behind would probably love to trade places with them on this day. Claudia says what she looks forward to most is the reunion with the parents, when fathers or mothers weep with joy and take their children back into their arms. Oma will probably never see Germany again, the film says at the end – but a big step toward a healthy life has been taken.