According to UN News, Dr. Thierno Balde, a physician from Guinea working with the World Health Organization (WHO), lived through the fall of Goma earlier this year when the M23 rebel group, backed by Rwanda, seized the city.

In the days before the takeover, Dr. Balde slept with a helmet and bulletproof vest beside his bed as gunfire and shelling shook the city. “We took the last flight out,” he recalled. Hours later, Goma was under M23 control.

Two weeks later, on his 45th birthday, Dr. Balde was assigned to lead WHO’s emergency response in eastern DRC. “I only told my parents once I was already there,” he admitted.

When he returned, the city was devastated: power lines destroyed, hospitals overwhelmed, bodies on the streets, and fear everywhere. Around 3,000 people were reported dead. WHO warehouses, luckily untouched, became lifelines, supplying fuel for hospitals and kits for the wounded.

The crisis deepened when cholera cases appeared in a MONUSCO camp, where displaced soldiers and families had taken shelter. “There were 20 or 30 people with only one doctor. Two were already dead,” said Dr. Balde.

WHO scrambled to respond with chlorine, vaccines, and emergency staff. At the same time, mpox spread from displaced camps into Goma itself, adding to the public health emergency.

At one point, armed men entered the WHO compound. Dr. Balde realized they needed dialogue with the de facto authorities. He met with M23 representatives, presenting his WHO ID: “I told them Ebola can affect everyone, cholera can affect everyone. We are here to contain them.”

Working in Goma came at a price. Long hours, curfews, and constant threats left him exhausted. Ramadan meals were taken alone in a trembling city. When he finally returned to Dakar, blood tests showed the toll on his health.

“It was a real personal sacrifice,” he said. “I did everything I could to go back, but I paid a price.”

Despite years of crises, from Haiti’s earthquake to Ebola in Guinea and COVID-19, Dr. Balde admitted Goma left a deeper mark. Yet his conviction remains unshaken: “I had to be there.”