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Though I have quite some experience as an interpreter of mostly spiritual talks from English to German, I dread the task of a written translation from a language as stilted as German into English.
But nevertheless, since I learned about the ugly frog thing here on steemit, I thought I´ll give it a go.
So I have decided, for those of you who don´t understand German, to translate into English the following article by Dr Michael Wilk who is on a humanitarian mission behind the Rakka frontline in Syria.
For more background information check out my last article regarding him here.

Day 11: A Moment of Helplessness

It has been a fretful night. It is not only the audiotaped voice of the muezzin at 4.45 a.m., but also the constant sound of shelling lasting through the whole night that lets me startle.
The IS now only holds on to about 20 % of the city´s area and is under massive bombardment.
Affected by this bombardment is also an unknown number of civilians, many children among them.

The screeching of brakes and the sound of heavy vehicle doors makes me jump into my clothes and hurry to the gate of the trauma stabilization point. Normally those sounds announce the arrival of one or more injured. But when I look into the loading space of a newly arrived military vehicle, I see the closely packed dead bodies of children, provisionally covered with blankets.
Four children and one woman, as the Kurdish militia men tell me with gestures.
At the same time a car arrives, lamenting women break down screaming in front of us while we lay down the dead bodies in the courtyard of our base. The faces, bodies and limbs pierced and torn to shreds by projectiles, rigid children´s eyes.
In the end it cannot be clarified what exactly has happened. Presumably the young mother got caught in the crossfire at dawn. At least I could not find any indication of a close range execution while examining the bodies.

In such a moment humans react differently, some talk, some remain silently introverted, serious and sad faces, also furious maledictions.
Afterwards we begin with our work, attending to arriving patients, the cook takes to his kitchen, routine can also be good for you.

Everybody here is familiar with death. The men and women of the Kurdish Red Crescent have known it since the beginning of the war in 2011. Many have lost brothers and sisters in the struggle against the IS, I have seen enough in Syria and as an emergency physician too.
But nevertheless, it is first of all the dead children which is again and again a moment of horror, of helplessness and also rage. At no time children are being made more into victims than in the wars of the adults.

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Original in German by Dr Michael Wilk, translated into English by likedeeler.
Here is the link to the German original.