About this Event
Since October 7th 2023, our TV screens, radios and social media have been filled with a never ending stream of horror of the highest magnitude emanating from Gaza. We have felt sickened to see the suffering experienced by thousands of innocent people, a large proportion of them children. Many of us have felt confused and powerless in the face of such destruction, especially as healthcare workers who strive to practice with care and compassion.
This event aims to bring together those working in healthcare (encompassing the whole range of staff who work in hospital and the wider community) and any others interested, for an evening of thoughtful informative speeches and a panel discussion, with opportunity for audience interaction.
Our speakers all work or have worked in the Highlands and may be well known to you. They will share their varied personal experiences and will invite questions from attendees. We will talk about the situation in Gaza, the human story, the historical context of Palestine and what we can do to help.
Speaker profiles are below:
REEM AL SOUFI
Dr Reem Al Soufi was born to a Palestinian family in 1977, raised in Jordan and came to the UK in 2003 to pursue postgraduate training and specialised in Emergency Medicine in the North of Scotland Deanery. She is now a consultant in NHS Lothian and a Postgraduate Dean with NHS Education for Scotland (NES). Reem founded GINA: Gaza Infant Nutrition Alliance, with a focus on breastfeeding support and early nutrition support.
Reem will speak about determinants of health, “what makes us healthy” and the Palestinian context, transgenerational trauma and transgenerational Summod (steadfastness) and how to heal and build up a better future as a collective.
ICO GARCIA BAUTISTA
Ico Garcia Bautista is a nurse working in the Emergency Department at Raigmore Hospital since July 2023. From the 8th of December 2023 to the 17th of January 2024, she was in the Gaza Strip, working as a Hospital Program Manager for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Khan Younis. She previously lived in Gaza for one year between 2016-2017. Gaza was her first mission as an Emergency Department Nurse in the Humanitarian field, a position that she covered full-time until 2023, mainly in armed conflict contexts.
Ico will speak about the humanitarian situation of the people in Gaza while she was there this year in comparison to her previous visits.
SALIM GHAYYDA
Dr Salim Ghayyda is a consultant Paediatrician at Raigmore Hospital who has worked and lived in the Highlands for the last 11 years. He was born and bred in Gaza, and his family are generations of Palestinians who have always lived in Palestine. Salim trained and worked in a number of hospitals in Gaza, many of which have since been destroyed. He naturalised as a British citizen 20 years ago.
Salim will speak about his experiences and give you a glimpse into his and his family's journey throughout history from 1948 until now, including his ongoing efforts to help his family currently trapped in Gaza.
AVIGAIL ABARBANEL
Avigail Abarbanel is a BACP Snr. Accredited psychotherapist with twenty-five years experience in private practice. Avigail works with individuals, relationships, families and groups, she is a clinical supervisor, author, trainer, and consultant. Avigail was born, raised and educated in Israel. She is a granddaughter of holocaust survivors on her mother’s side, and she served in the Israeli army between 1982 and 1984. In 2001, ten years after moving to Australia, Avigail renounced her Israeli citizenship in protest against Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people. Since then Avigail has spoken widely and openly about Israel’s settler-colonial project in Palestine and its pervasive indoctrination of its Jewish citizens. Avigail is the editor of Beyond Tribal Loyalties, Personal Stories of Jewish Peace Activists. The book focuses on the difficult journey to renounce the Zionist mindset and adhere to universal values instead of to the tribal loyalty, which is required from Jews all over the world.
Avigail will speak about her experience of indoctrination in Israel, about Israel’s culture, the accusations of antisemitism directed at anyone who criticises Israel, and about why people find it so hard to stand up for the Palestinian people.
SARA EL-SOHL
Sara is a junior doctor (F1) at Raigmore Hospital, previously a medical anthropologist working in global public health. She is originally from Lebanon and her family has been involved in the struggle for a free Palestine since 1948. She is a founding member of Health Workers for a Free Palestine, an independent group of health workers organising in response to the call from colleagues in Palestine to stand with them in solidarity. You can read their statement here.
Sara will speak about what we can do actively as health workers and concerned citizens.
ANDY KENT
Mr Andrew Kent is a consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic surgeon at Raigmore Hospital. Andy has spent many years working in humanitarian healthcare, including providing trauma training to surgeons in low and middle income countries. He served for 18 years in the Royal Army Medical Corps in various hostile and austere deployments. Andy travelled to Ukraine with UK-Med last year to help hospital staff prepare for casualties in the war zone. In the last 3 years he has been involved in several other missions with UK-Med in Beirut and Eswatini, the HALO Trust in Afghanistan, the World Health Organisation in Somalia and Yemen, and the Primary Trauma Care Foundation in Uganda and India. He is also vice-chair of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s Faculty of Remote, Rural & Humanitarian Healthcare in partnership with UK-Med and others. Their aim is to provide an academic home for humanitarian healthcare workers from across the spectrum.
Andy will speak about his experience of working in Gaza during the current crisis. He spent four weeks as a surgeon in Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, through the charity UK-Med.
We look forward to welcoming you to what we hope will be an engaging and informative event where we leave empowered to have conversations and ultimately contribute to change.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Raigmore Recreation Centre, 4 Woodside Terrace, Inverness, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
