Relief-Work

Well, I survived my first week as the log/admin for the Nimba project! The big event this week was me taking over financial responsibility for the safes and all the cash in the project. At the same time, I also helped close the books for June. We had a troublesome 281 USD to track down, but thanks to my training in Geneva, which happened to cover the precise tricky bit accounting we were having trouble with, I got it fixed. Of course, the majority of the work to prepare for closing the books was done by my assistant, Mr. Toe. He brings me the books ready to go, and I review them. He tried his hardest to get them to balance, but this time it was up to me to find the remaining errors. ...

On Friday, Jerome and I made the drive up to Nimba County. We took 2 patients, their 2 caregivers, and a baby. In Africa, hospitals budget for two people for every admitted patient. The second person is a caregiver, who is responsible for feeding and washing the patient. This doubles the amount of logistical needs related to patients (food, transport, etc) but it dramatically reduces the per-patient workload of the skilled nursing labor, which means the few nurses the countries have go farther. But the downside is that the families are more profoundly disrupted by someone going to the hospital, since typically the wife/mother is the caregiver. That means the older children at home have to do the work their mom was doing (gathering firewood, farming, doing the laundry) which may mean they leave school temporarily. So you can see that the ripple effects go out and out when MSF decides to admit a patient. ...

Today Jerome (outreach nurse in the Nimba project) and I are heading out to Nimba. The roads are in good shape, so it is only a 6 hour drive. We drive halfway and meet a car coming from the other direction. We transfer ourselves, our two patients, their two caregivers, and our cargo over to the other Land Cruiser. Then each car returns to it’s own base. That way each base only loses a vehicle for one day, instead of one base losing a vehicle for two days and one night. ...

Hey, just a quick update to let you all know I got to Monrovia safely. Arriving in Roberts International Airport was an interesting experience. First, the runway could use a paving job, so while the landing was perfect the deceleration part of the flight was a bit hair-raising, even for someone like me who doesn’t worry much about flying. Then as we taxied off the runway and almost immediately came to a stop, we passed about a million UN planes. They really gave me the “we’re not in Kansas, Toto” feeling! Getting through passport control and customs was very easy, but then all my baggage had MSF logos on it, and I was wearing my MSF t-shirt. I’m told it helps immensely with customs. ...

Just a quick update to let you all know that I have arrived safely in Monrovia. We rode in from the airport last night in an MSF Land Cruiser through an evening rainstorm. The weather here is comfortable… it is quite hot and humid, but not as bad as Mississippi or Guatemala was. The tropical rainstorms are strong, warm, and short, so they are easy to deal with. My room is comfortable, with a nice mosquito net and screens on the windows. ...

(Click for a huge version suitable for printing and fridge posting.) Wrapping things up here in Geneva. I’m staying the night with Sima and Steve, and they are dropping me off at the airport tomorrow morning at 7 am. I fly through Brussels, Dakar, and then I arrive at Roberts Field outside of Monrovia about 6 pm. I’ll send an update from MSF’s office in Monrovia in the next couple of days. ...

I am currently in Geneva for my briefings. I’ve been having fun in the evenings with friends from the old days at Bunyip in Montreal, Steve and Sima. During the day, I go around meeting people and getting verbal briefings, and doing self-study with various materials. Yesterday my biggest problem was that I was overwhelmed with reference material and couldn’t figure out what to look at. So far I’ve had a “general advice” briefing from Kath in New York, a meeting with the PR guys in New York (they are getting these updates; Hi Michelle and Michael!), a meeting about the political and program context in West Africa, a meeting about the purchasing system, and a briefing on how the IT and communications stuff works. My temporary office is in the logistics department, so I’m learning from them by osmosis, but I still need to make time to talk to some of the subject matter experts in detail, like how to maintain Nimba’s water system, what to know about the generators in use in Liberia, and how to maintain the fleet of vehicles. ...

During the last two weeks I’ve been pretty busy. I worked for a week at International Medical Corps in Santa Monica. During that time I spent a lot of time with a new mentor, Jon Thompson. He and his wife have worked in Liberia, and it was partly them that gave me the confidence to accept the posting with MSF. At the end of the week I visited old college friends in Los Angeles, then I drove back up to Redwood City (6 hours). I spent the afternoon and evening doing errands. The next day I drove to Roseburg (9 hours). I visited with family there. Mom made a great combination congratulations and bon voyage meal. The next morning I drove to Portland and commenced work on the Humaninet Simulation Day event. ...

I got my posting! And so the real adventure begins… the rest of this has just been academic. I’ll be working as a “log-admin” in an MSF-Switzerland project based on Saclepea, Nimba County, Liberia. The log part of my job is making sure things go smoothly so the programs keep running. The admin part of my job will be to handle paying salaries and keeping the books. My contract is for six months. ...

Sorry I haven’t sent out an update in a while. I’ve been visiting family and doing paperwork to get in the MSF system. I got my medical clearance from my doctor, extra eye glasses, etc. Kat the Dog and I traveled up to Oregon to see my parents and grandparents. A consulting job back in the Silicon Valley fell through, so Kat and I continued north to Seattle where we helped prepare my step-brother’s house to be sold. Good thing too, because he bought a new house while we were there! ...