纪录片《努巴的心》讲述南苏丹留守医生的事迹

The Sudanese people of the Nuba Mountains have faced years of war from the government of President Omar al-Bashir.

A few years ago, Russian-made Antonov warplanes bombed unarmed civilians¹, injuring and killing² many. Most medical workers with international aid organizations left the dangerous area.

But one doctor stayed.

Dr. Tom Catena works at the Mother of Mercy hospital in Sudan’s South Kordofan state. There, he serves as the surgeon, pediatrician and as the obstetrician-gynecologist. Mother of Mercy is the only major hospital in the Nuba Mountain area.

Catena does everything he can to save those in the middle of conflict. Rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North are fighting the government forces of President Bashir. The rebel group once fought along with South Sudanese groups. South Sudan became an independent country in 2011, but remains³ stuck in conflict. South Kordofan shares a border with South Sudan.

Catena’s story is being told by Ken⁴ Carlson in the documentary film The Heart of Nuba. Carlson recently spoke⁵ with VOA’s South Sudan in Focus program. He talked about how he created the film.

“I found out that he was in great need in the Nuba Mountains five, six years ago, in need of aid. We raised ($102,000), put a truckload together of vaccines⁶ and supplies, and I realized it was a great story to tell,” Carlson said.

The film has been showing in the United States and other countries. Money from ticket sales goes to Mother of Mercy. So far, the movie showings have raised $500,000 for the hospital.

From engineering to humanitarian⁷

Catena is from New York. He went to college at Brown University in Rhode Island, earning a degree in mechanical engineering in 1986.

He received offers of high-paying jobs, but he felt a different calling.

In the film, Catena talked about his decision to become a doctor. He said his brother did not understand it.

“I turn to my brother Felix and I’m like, ‘Felix, I should go to medical school.’ He’s like, ‘Tom, what are you talking about? You’re an engineer. What are you talking about?’ And I said, ‘No, I think I should do it.”

Catena first trained as a doctor in Kenya before going to South Kordofan state.

Carlson has known Catena for many years. He said he wanted to find out what made Catena so committed to people in the Nuba Mountains. So, he traveled to the area in 2014 and 2015 with his video camera.

The Heart of Nuba shows the difficulties of Catena’s work in the Nuba area.

Each morning, he wakes up early and goes to the small chapel⁸ to say prayers. After he drinks his tea, he goes to the hospital to start a long day. In one scene of the film, Catena treats a man who has just had his nose blown off by shrapnel.

Carlson said of Catena, “He’s furious! These families are being destroyed for no reason.”

The Heart of Nuba was recently shown at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Many donors⁹, activists¹⁰ and Sudanese people attended.

Nathaniel Nyoke was a displaced person, one of the so-called “lost boys” from South Sudan. He ran for five days to escape fighting in the city of Bor more than 20 years ago. He said one part of the film gave him chills. It was a scene in which young people were running from bombs. They sought shelter in a hole in the ground.

“Seeing the kids running from the Antonovs and then jumping in the hole to hide. That’s what I used to do,” Nyoke told VOA.

Nasima Catena is a Sudanese nurse. She and Catena are married. She described what it is like to be performing an operation while under attack.

She said, “No one comes out, but people always run to the foxhole¹¹ with patients who are able to go, who are able to run.”

I’m Ashley Thompson. And I'm Mario Ritter.

Words in This Story

surgeon –n. a doctor who performs operations involving cutting into people’s bodies in order to repair damage or remove damaged or diseased tissue

pediatrician –n. a doctor who treats babies and children

obstetrician-gynecologist –n. a doctor who treats women during pregnancy¹² and a doctor who treats women’s reproductive system

chapel –n. a small church

shrapnel –n. small pieces of metal that scatter¹³ from an exploding bomb, shell or mine

chill --n. a sudden feeling of coldness or fear

foxhole –n. a hole dug by a soldier for protection from the enemy

1 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

7 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

8 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

9 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 foxhole   

n.（军）散兵坑

参考例句：

• On an impulse he kicked some sand into Ridge's foxhole.一时性起，他就提起脚来将一些沙子踢进里奇的坑里。
• The sentry guard dived into his foxhole and closely observed the stranger towards him.哨兵跳入了散兵坑，密切注视着陌生人向他走来。

12 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

13 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。