Things are heating up in our little corner of the world. Armed conflicts forced a partial evacuation of our mission on the 20th of January. I am in the part of the team asked to leave. The rest of the expat team left the next day. It was all done in the calm. The essential part of the team returned Monday, the 23rd. There are 3 of us left, along with 18 nationals, who will probably be able to return tommorrow. We are in Beni, about 7 hours away from Kayna.
All is fine. We really want to go back. I know that the team there, who are not exactly in a secure situation, are building links between each other that we (those of us left here) will never be able to have with them. But we also understand that it's best for everyone involved that there is a minimum of personnel there in case of armed conflict coming up that far.
Sorry that this is short, but I 'm pretty busy, even though I'm not on our base. I kind of head up the team here.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Friday, January 13, 2006
My last email message from DR Congo
They will be cutting off our email access Sunday evening, so this is my last chance to send or RECEIVE email (hint, hint).
Here, we are supposedly into one of the dry seasons, but after a long dry spell, it has now rained for three days and it's cold! I'm not really sensitive to cold, but I've worn a sweater during the daytime for the last two days.
For those of you in Jeffersonville, you won't believe this but Wapol, the assistant administrator, is a member of the Brannam Tabernacle! I was talking with him today and mentionned that I was from Jeffersonville, Indiana. He got all excited and started talking about his religion and their prophet. Apparently, there are quite a few members here in Congo.
The stay of Elysee, the cook for the coordination team in Goma, was heavenly. This guy can open a restaurant anywhere. He did some training with our cook and left some spices, so we are hoping for the best. Our cook, Jean-de Dieu (John from God), does pretty well, but it's often the same things. Elysee had some cookbooks with him, and I'm in the process of entering some basic recipes into my computer (pie crusts, fried vegetable batter, "creme patisserie", etc) plus a few other recipes of his, so that I will have them available on future missions.
They say that "first departures" with MSF are for training. I believe it. Now I know what I need to bring with me for 6 months ( tocks of deodorant, razor blades, chapstick, toothpaste), what I DON'T need (we're limited to 44 pounds), and what I need in my computer (music, films, recipes, photo editing software, my bank account). Remember, we don't have internet access, just email; and now not even that.
Things are going well here, although as hectic as ever. I finished the end / beginning of the month stuff. Now it's finding cars to transport emergencies, field explorations, mobile clinics and construction material deliveries; taking care of employee conflicts and problems; finding, negitiating and installing water provisions; making estimates, overseeing and reporting final costs for construction projects; planning programs with our site head; etc. Anne-Laure, our site head, consults with and counts on me a lot; the old guy on the team. That helps me to get an overall view of our projects (after all, we're called Doctors Without Borders, not Log/Admin Without Borders - we're a MEDICAL relief organisation), and it's also flattering. She's great. She's always looking for ways to expand what we do here, but I'm afraid she's going to burn herself out.
All in all, I'm still learning a lot, and still having a great time working with the Congolese. They are a great bunch who have been dealt a raw deal. But they maintain an optimisme and a desire to get ahead which is incredible.
Bye,Ed
Here, we are supposedly into one of the dry seasons, but after a long dry spell, it has now rained for three days and it's cold! I'm not really sensitive to cold, but I've worn a sweater during the daytime for the last two days.
For those of you in Jeffersonville, you won't believe this but Wapol, the assistant administrator, is a member of the Brannam Tabernacle! I was talking with him today and mentionned that I was from Jeffersonville, Indiana. He got all excited and started talking about his religion and their prophet. Apparently, there are quite a few members here in Congo.
The stay of Elysee, the cook for the coordination team in Goma, was heavenly. This guy can open a restaurant anywhere. He did some training with our cook and left some spices, so we are hoping for the best. Our cook, Jean-de Dieu (John from God), does pretty well, but it's often the same things. Elysee had some cookbooks with him, and I'm in the process of entering some basic recipes into my computer (pie crusts, fried vegetable batter, "creme patisserie", etc) plus a few other recipes of his, so that I will have them available on future missions.
They say that "first departures" with MSF are for training. I believe it. Now I know what I need to bring with me for 6 months ( tocks of deodorant, razor blades, chapstick, toothpaste), what I DON'T need (we're limited to 44 pounds), and what I need in my computer (music, films, recipes, photo editing software, my bank account). Remember, we don't have internet access, just email; and now not even that.
Things are going well here, although as hectic as ever. I finished the end / beginning of the month stuff. Now it's finding cars to transport emergencies, field explorations, mobile clinics and construction material deliveries; taking care of employee conflicts and problems; finding, negitiating and installing water provisions; making estimates, overseeing and reporting final costs for construction projects; planning programs with our site head; etc. Anne-Laure, our site head, consults with and counts on me a lot; the old guy on the team. That helps me to get an overall view of our projects (after all, we're called Doctors Without Borders, not Log/Admin Without Borders - we're a MEDICAL relief organisation), and it's also flattering. She's great. She's always looking for ways to expand what we do here, but I'm afraid she's going to burn herself out.
All in all, I'm still learning a lot, and still having a great time working with the Congolese. They are a great bunch who have been dealt a raw deal. But they maintain an optimisme and a desire to get ahead which is incredible.
Bye,Ed
Sunday, January 08, 2006
News from Nord Kivu
We are into one of the dry periods of the year here (mid December - end February). Apparently, its more severe this year than usual. We will have to add two additional springs to the two we use to have enough water for the hospital, our theripeutic nutritional center, and the base operation. This involves getting the authorisation from the spring committees (we collect the water during the night so the local population can have access during the day, making the estimates for the cost (connecting to our two pumping stations), and doing the work. This is my biggest project for the moment (while continuing all the others.
I just finished my end of the month / beginning of the month marathon. That includes the pay (in cash, this time including the calculation of the end of the year bonus and holiday pay for 170 people), finishing the accounting for the months, the logistics / administration report, and the calculations and reports for consumption of diesel, gasoline, and kerosene for the cars, pumps, eletric generators, lamps, etc. We just finished the accounting yesterday, having to find a BIG error in the cash.
On the positive side, we are eating incredibly well this week. Our direction has recently moved from Beni in the north to Goma in the south. Their cook , Elysee, is here for a few days during the transition. We already eat pretty well, but this guy could start his own restaurant. Our regular cook is on sick leave, and will probably never work again because of a heart problem, and he is replaced by one of the housekeepers. He defends himself pretty well in the kitchen, but with the training of Elysee I think we are going to have a whole new culinary future here.
However, we may also have to augment our daily contribution to the "food fund", which I also have the pleasure of managing here. Hereés the way it works. As a volunteer of MSF, we are paid 610 dollars a month in an account in Paris. (We can't tap into this here, because there are no banks. The closest is 4 hours away. And anyway, there are no credit card withdrawals at the banks either.) Here in RD Congo, we are paid a daily living allowance of 7 dollars. Of this I collect 3 dollars per day for the "food fund". (Beer counts pretty heavy in this fund.) In December, with Christmas and New Years, we exploded the fund with purchases if european style stuff from a trip to Butembo, 4 hours north of here. I had to ask an additional 20 dollars from the seven of us expats here to finish the month. If our housekeeper/cook, Jean de Dieu, wants to keep up doing what Elysee is teaching him, we will have to add purchases, particularly spices, from Butembo each month, but we could still come out even at 4 dollars a month. It will be worth it.
That's All,
Ed
I just finished my end of the month / beginning of the month marathon. That includes the pay (in cash, this time including the calculation of the end of the year bonus and holiday pay for 170 people), finishing the accounting for the months, the logistics / administration report, and the calculations and reports for consumption of diesel, gasoline, and kerosene for the cars, pumps, eletric generators, lamps, etc. We just finished the accounting yesterday, having to find a BIG error in the cash.
On the positive side, we are eating incredibly well this week. Our direction has recently moved from Beni in the north to Goma in the south. Their cook , Elysee, is here for a few days during the transition. We already eat pretty well, but this guy could start his own restaurant. Our regular cook is on sick leave, and will probably never work again because of a heart problem, and he is replaced by one of the housekeepers. He defends himself pretty well in the kitchen, but with the training of Elysee I think we are going to have a whole new culinary future here.
However, we may also have to augment our daily contribution to the "food fund", which I also have the pleasure of managing here. Hereés the way it works. As a volunteer of MSF, we are paid 610 dollars a month in an account in Paris. (We can't tap into this here, because there are no banks. The closest is 4 hours away. And anyway, there are no credit card withdrawals at the banks either.) Here in RD Congo, we are paid a daily living allowance of 7 dollars. Of this I collect 3 dollars per day for the "food fund". (Beer counts pretty heavy in this fund.) In December, with Christmas and New Years, we exploded the fund with purchases if european style stuff from a trip to Butembo, 4 hours north of here. I had to ask an additional 20 dollars from the seven of us expats here to finish the month. If our housekeeper/cook, Jean de Dieu, wants to keep up doing what Elysee is teaching him, we will have to add purchases, particularly spices, from Butembo each month, but we could still come out even at 4 dollars a month. It will be worth it.
That's All,
Ed
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