Christmas in RD Congo

I hope this post gets published. One or two haven't and this is my last chance. They're going to cut off our e-mail access at the end of the year.

It's one week before Christmas, and it's easily 85 degrees out. Christmas dinner is a big discussion here between us expats. We have the basics, but that's about all. There's a flock of turkeys which roams around the village; I will try to find the owner and buy one from him. I've purchased some small gifts for all the expats, just to mark the occasion.

The Congolese vote for their constitution today. It's the first time they have voted since 1984. That time it was for the president: Mbutu or not. There was no other candidate. If you voted "no", you were beat up, sent out of the country, or you disappeared. If the constitution passes, they can move on th general elections, which are planned for June 2006. That would be great. It won't solve all their problems, especially here in the east of the country, but it would be a big step.

Here in Kayna, things are relatively calm for the moment. The military heated up the action against the ex-Rwanda faction a couple of weeks ago, and there were quite a few population displacements, but things have calmed down just before the elections. As a primarily Christian country, the holiday season should be fairly quiet, too. The biggest problem will be theft and looting, with people taking out whatever money they have for Christmas gifts, etc. And then, at the beginning of the year, we expect quite a bit of military action. Things will heat up again.

I gave my date of departure yesterday. It will be March 20-30. Afterwards, I hope to continue with MSF. I just had an evaluation by one of my bosses in Goma, and it seems that MSF is willing, too. My current plans are to buy a small condominium near New York. It's the easiest town in the U.S. to get in and out of for the missions; MSF U.S. headquarters are there; and I could fairly easily get back to Indiana to see my family from time to time.

I wish everyone a merry Christmas, and a very good 2006.
Ed

Back from Break

I'm back at work, now that the break is over. It was a great week. The southwest corner of Uganda is beautiful. I did a lot of hiking, some canoeing, quite a bit of photography, and ate and drank a lot. And it's actually good to be back in Kayna.

I had already forgotten the pace of work here. I beginning and end of the day are the busiest times. In the morning, we have to distribute the drivers, hand out a lot of money, see what has changed during the night, etc. At the end of the day, we pay the day workers, evaluate what has been done, see what has changed (again), and try to plan for the next day. Things change all the time: the security situation; people to be replaced due to illness, or deaths in their family; visits from regional headquarters or from Paris; hospital or field emergencies; car problems; or about anything else that one can think of. There's never a dull moment.

We are 6 at the house for the moment, one short of a full team. There's Anne-Laure, our site leader from Paris; Agnes, our anethysiste also from the area around Paris; Alexandra, the nurse from northwestern France who was on break with me; Stéphane, a doctor from Benin who will be leaving in a couple of weeks; Gedeon, a doctor from Kinshasa Congo; and me. We are missing a surgeon. In principal, Christophe, who was here when I arrived will be coming back for a week to fill in this gap until Paris can arrange for another one. He's a great surgeon, but has quite a personality to manage. We have a really great team, who get along well together. Apparently, this isn't always the case. When you live and work together 24 hours a day, it's appreciable when the team has cohesion.

I noticed during my break that a couple of blog updates made via email didn't make it. I don't know if this one will get there. I don't know, either what I said in the updates which didn't get posted. It's not important.

I'm now midway through my six months in this first mission. It's going very fast. I feel a lot better in my poste, and hope that I am contributing something to the work here. Anyway, it's what I want to do for a long time.

My Break

I'm on my break. Finally, it's in the southwest corner of Uganda, a region known as Kigezi. I wasn't really in need of a break, but it sure does some good. This area seems rich next to our region of Congo. The people don't have anything, but there's a stable governmentm and no looting.
Right nowm I'm on a huge lake, Lake Bunyonyi, with 29 islands. I leave on foot to town, Kabale, in a few minutes (about 2 hours) for some purchases for myself, coworkers in Kayna, and MSF too. After a night in town, I leave for a national game park, Bwindi, for a day and a half. They have gorilla tracking, but that's too expensive. I will be going on a foot trip through the park with a guide. Then back down to a border town where we meet up with the MSF contact, getting back to Kayna Saturday afternoon.

The whole trip should cost about $250, with my purchases costing more than that. Fortunatelym most of them will be reimbursed.

Before the Break

Just a quick update before leaving on my break. We get a week off every three months. Yes, it's been nearly that! I was scheduled to go to Kampala in Uganda, but the recent riots there caused a change in plans. I will be going to a game park just over the border in Rwanda, with Alexandra, a nurse who arrived here at the same time that I did. Apparently, one of the things we can do is an overnight hiking trip to look into an active volcano! I also have a list of things to buy, for myself as well as for the mission and the other expats here. The purchases will be in Goma, our new regional headquarters.

I'm trying to get things in order here before leaving, but it's going to be tough. We are in the middle of budgetting 2006. I'm transferring all the files from our old computer to the new one which arrived Sunday. We have a mobile clinic right now for about 400 internal refugees about an hour south of here. And the planning for our 4 four-by-fours and a flatbed truck changes about every 5 minutes.

On the positive side, our new surgeon arrived Sunday. His name is Jean-Pierre. He's 70 years old, and he's here for a month. (Our last one, Sam, was here for 2 weeks.) He's a great guy, but the flight and the drive here from Goma really racked up his back. I feel pretty bad for him, but he's determined to operate, even though he suffers quite a bit.

We had a party Saturday evening to say goodby to a nurse, Dominique, and an anethesiste, Jean-Michel. Dominique is going to Beni, 6 hours north of us, to close the mission there by the end of the year. She should come down before leaving to celebrate new Year's Eve with us. And Jean-Michel is returning to France.

Got to go. Bye,
Ed

This Week in Kayna

Just to give you an idea how isolated we are: This week I went to the bank. It takes 4 hours each way. This was the first time I had been out of Kayna since I arrived at the beginning of September. The bank is in Butembo, which is a fairly large commercial city. On the way back, I bought 4 cheeses (dear to the hearts of our French expats) and about four quarts of strawberries. These are two items we bring back each time someone comes down from the north; they are both on the roadside during the trip.

There was some pillaging in town again this week. The thieves steal mainly the items needed to live: food, livestock, clothing, and any money they find. They sometimes kidnap someone to carry the loot for them, letting them go after they are away.

There is some population displacement south of us, around Butalongola, south of Kanyabayonga, due to armed conflict between the regular army and a faction which doesn't want to be mixed in with them. We are going to set up a mobile clinic in Butalongola for the medical needs of the 1000 displaced families in the area.

I managed to set up a system of batteries in the house, so that we can have electricity after 9:30 when the generator is shut off. For the instant, one electrical outlet is functioning, so we can listen to music or watch a film on the computer without depleting its battery. Next week, we'll have light after 9:30 in the living room, dining room and hallway. This is luxury! Anyway, I'm usually asleep by 10:00 or 10:30, getting up at daybreak at 6:00, so it won't affect me much.

I'm scheduled for a one week break the end of November/beginning of December. I will be going to Kampala, Uganda. Some of my collegues have already given me information about where to stay and what to do. I also have some shopping to do: deodorant, razor blades, chocolat, video and audio CDs, some Christmas gifts for here, and some Swiss Army knives for our emergency evacuation backpacks.

Until the next update!

It's heating up!

Action is picking up here in Kayna:

• About 10 days ago, our site head and a truck driver were imprisonned for a couple of hours by a maimai capitain. The maimais are the local militias, originally set up to help protect the local population, but who have become a bit like the local gangs back in the old west. The capitain accused the truck driver of trying to run over him, and when the site head showed up to liberate him, the capitain locked him up, too. After a couple of hours, he sobered up and let them go.
• The governor of this region has announced military action in Virunga Park (just east of us) this weekend, probably to flush out the FDRC (Rwanda army) who refuse the plan to be mixed into the new integrated Congolese army. This could mean that they will flee east and west, probably pillaging the local population for food and other provisions on their way. There is no circulation in the park this weekend. We are on security alert, as well as getting ready for displaced populations. We won't be going to our Supplemental Nutrition Center near the park on Monday.
• MSF Holland has just shut down one of their operations in the Virunga Park, and we have picked up the business of undernourished kids from this community. We now have 80 undernourished kids, along with about 120 family members, here at the Therapeutic Nutrition Center.

On the other hand:

• We just implemented a new pay scale for the MSF and government hospital staff (whom we pay as well). It was a lot of work for Wapol, the assistant Admin and me getting it ready, but this is the first pay raise for the 150 employees here in a long time. We pay in cash, and as Log/Admin, I had the pleasure of helping to pay them Friday. They were rather euphorique.
• Monday (tomorrow) is Halloween. They don't know anything about our traditions, but I'm going to be dressed up as a Mohawk Indian all day long. They already know that I'm crazy, so it probably won't affect them much.

Email here is on a satellite link, which is very expensive and slow. It is used primarily for work communications, but we can accept comunications from outside, if we don't abuse the system. If you send a message, please include my name in the title ( "Ed" will do).
DO NOT SEND PHOTOS, OR OTHER BIG ITEMS. They block the system, and cost us a fortune. Keep the message short. The address is:

msff-kayna-sat@paris.msf.org

Take care of yourselves, and I will do the same.

First update from Kayna

Sorry for the time lapse.  I've been busy.  Also, the only internet access I have is a limited email connection, which is as expensive as hell. Fortunately, the good people from Google let me update this blog by email.  Here's the situation:

 

I left my house on the 31st of August and arrived in Kayna the 7th of September, after a short stay in Paris and Beni, DR Congo, where our regional headquarters are.  There was a lot of travel and some briefings between those dates.  I arrived to a warm welcome, then they sent me directly to work!

 

Eastern DR Congo has been an area of conflict for several years.  It is a very rich area with metal ore, diamonds, rich earth and plentiful water.  It is situated on the boundaries of Uganda, Rwanda and the DR Congo.  Between political conflict, ethnic conflict, economic conflict, etc., the habitants are used to being pillaged.  Now, they don't even bother to recontruct or restock afterwards.  This town, Kayna, has 20,000 inhabitants, and not one store, apart from some market stalls.

 

There are about five different armed groups in the area.  Even the regular army isn't paid regularly; imagine the rebel groups.  When not fighting between themselves, they provide for themselves off the local population:  crops, money, material, and sex.  Pillage, injury, rape, murder and displaced population are recurrent.

 

We are on the edge of this violence.  The major movements of the armed groups are in Virunga Park, a natural park east of Kayna and west of Rutshuru, where MSF-France has another installation.

 

Our programs here deal with these problems:

1. Supplemental Nutrition Centers - We have centers in five different outlying villages (1 a day, Monday through Friday) where undernourished kids are given nutrition supplements until they are back into their normal weight class.
2. Therapeutic Nutrition Center - Kids who are severely undernourished are encouraged to come to a special center here in Kayna (with a family member) to bring them back into their weight class, under medical supervision.
3. Victims of Sexual Violence - Women who have been sexually abused are encouraged to come to Kayna or the outlying centers for counseling and medical aid.
4. Hospital - MSF-France took charge of the local hospital 4 months ago, working with the local staff to improve the surgery, medical treatment and hygiene provided by the local health system.

In fact, we are on the edge of a conflict zone.  Between Rutshuru and us, we are in place if (when) all hell breaks loose here (again,) to assist potential  refugies.

 

My job in all this as logisticien/administrator is to provided an environment and supplies so that the doctors and unrses can do their thing:  payroll (in cash), human resources, contracts, purchasing, receiving, stock management, construction, maintenance, vehicle fleet and drivers, communications, security, etc.  I have six local assistants, who do the real work.  In total, we are 6 expats, 126 local employees   of MSF-France and 35 employees of the local health system, whom we pay as well.

 

Life at the house:  For the moment, we are 6 expats who live in the compound.  There is Chris, a surgeon from northern France; Jean-Michel, an anysthesist from southern France; Stephane, a doctor from Benin, Gedeon, a doctor from Kinshasa, DR Congo; Alex, a nurse from northern France and me. We are expecting two more this month:  our site director (There has been none for 2 1/2 months.  We depend on the assistant director who does a great job.) and another nurse.  We live in two houses which are adjacent, one also housing the base operation.  The two together are enclosed together, with guards on duty 24 hours a day.  We aren't allowed out of this enclosure after dark (6:00 pm all year round.  We are on the equator.)  We have a cook and two housekeepers, who also do the laundry.  There is no running water, and electricity is provided by a generator, from 8:00 to 12:00 and from 5:30 to 9:30.  There are water storage vats in the bathrooms and the outside kitchen.  Showers are "by the bucket":  the compound guards heat water in a large vat and we go out in the morning with a bucket, pour in a couple of pitchers of hot water, go to the bathroom, mix in several pitchers of cold water and, voila, the shower is prepared.  Everyone has his/her own bedroom.  We eat together and mostly spend the evening together after dinner.  Entertainment in the evening consists of conversation and listening to music on the laptop. 

 

All in all, I'm very happy to be here.  There is al awful lot of work to do, and it's great.  I'm learning new things every day, once again.  I have the blues from time to time, because I don't feel up to the challenge.  But the people are so great here, and so encouraging, that they pass in 24 hours.  I am living again.  I just hope I live up to expectations. 

 

 

 

 

I leave tomorrow

I leave here tomorrow for MSF Paris at 1:15 pm and leave directly from there for D.R. Congo on Friday. I think I am ready, but I'm pretty sure that I will forget something major. The toughest part is getting 6 months of baggage into 44 pounds. This restriction is more for security reasons than for the airlines. If we have to leave quickly, we are each limited to this amount of baggage. I'm taking my computer, but not the printer. There's no internet access available locally, but my reference manuals are on CD and paper. With the weight restrictions, I'm leaving the paper manuals behind.

Until I know otherwise, email will get to my mailbox, but I don't know how often I will be able to access it. Mail should be sent to MSF Paris, and they will forward it on to me. I put my mailing address in the header of this blog. Don't expect quick delivery. It will go from you to MSF Paris, then to MSF Kinshasa, then on to me in Kayna.

I'll get back in touch when I get a chance.

RD Congo, here I come!

For those of you who have been waiting with baited breath (hello?), it's confirmed. I'm going to the Democratic Republic of Congo. I telephoned MSF Tuesday to accept the post of logisticien / administrator in Kayna. I will leave here the afternoon of August 31 for MSF Paris for briefings with the staff there and a medical visit at Institute Pasteur. I leave Paris for Kampala, Uganda on September 2 and go from there to Kayna, arriving on September 3.

Apparently, there's no internet access from Kayna, so future postings to this blog may be sporadic. MSF Paris will forward mail to me. I have placed my mailing address in the header of this blog. Please note that it could take a while for any mail to arrive.

I have quite a few things to do before leaving, but I'll check in here before that.

Map of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Here's a map of the RDC, just in the case that there are others out there who are as geographically uneducated as I am. If you look over at the eastern border, next to Uganda and Rwanda, you will see Nord Kivu (written in green). That's the province proposed. Apparently, Kayna is on the road between Goma and Beni (hard to see on the map but visible in the southeast and northeast corners respectively), about 6 hours from Beni. Even though it is only about 50 miles south of the equator, it seems that it can be cold and windy, since it is at an altitude of over a mile.

MSF just proposed a post

I just received a call from MSF in Paris, proposing a mission. The post is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, also known as Congo - Kinshasa, formerly Zaire. The site is Kayna, in the eastern province of North Kivu. The main program on this site concerns severe and moderate malnutrition. There are also programs for victims of sexual violence, displaced populations, and cholera. It is a very unstable area, with several different militias vying for power. MSF has about 98 local employees, and 6 expatriates. The person I am to replace has already left, so there will be no "hand-off".

The mission should be really interesting, especially as a first departure, in that it covers most of the types of operations and programs that MSF is involved in. It's going to be a baptism by fire! Fortunately, it's not a new mission. They have been installed at Kayna since the beginning of 2004, so the camp is installed, and the local employees are already trained and operational.

I will do a lot of reading this weekend, and will probably say "yes" Tuesday (Monday is a holiday here in France). The thing is that they need someone as soon as possible, to replace the guy who left over a week ago for medical reasons.

Photo: Souvenir from PPDL Training

The second day of training, I backed into a historical moment, a stone-lined well at the training site. Don't worry, the well survived intact. In the field, we are discouraged from driving the vehicles ourselves. We have chauffeurs for every vehicle. In my case, at least, that is an EXCELLENT idea.

Back from PPDL Training

I got back from training around 2:00 am Saturday morning. The training was great! We hit on a lot of subjects really quickly, but we also got an abundance of information on where to look for references the first time we need to do something. Topics included:

1. Where logisticiens/administrators fit into MSF
   
2. The MSF technical library (where to look for references and info, based on 30 years of experience)
   
3. Health indicator statistics
   
4. Urgencies: needs and responses
   
5. Security
   
6. Energy (providing electricity needs in the bush)
   
7. Water, hygene and sanitation (finding and cleaning water, public facilities like latrines, and waste treatment)
   
8. Malnutrition campaigns
   
9. Purchasing (local and via MSF France)
   
10. Transportation
    
11. Accounting
    
12. Human Resources (managing the local personnel)
    
13. Communications (radio, telex, telephone, etc. in the bush)
    
14. Refrigeration (active and passive, especially for vaccinations, including the use of kerosene-powered refrigerators)
    
15. Vaccination campaigns
    
16. Mechanics (maintaining a fleet of vehicles)
    
17. Cholera treatment
    

Not bad for 5 days, huh? The trainers were all MSF veterans, with a lot of field experience, and my 10 co-trainees were super people. I would be happy to go into a field mission with any of them.

I'm continuing to get my life together so that when my mission proposal comes in, I can leave with with a minimum of hassle. Wish me luck!

Leaving for Training

I am leaving tomorrow morning for logistics training in Bordeaux for a week. I'm driving down. It should take about 7 1/2 hours to get there.

The training looks pretty intense. It starts at 9:00 am and ends at 8:00 pm each day. If the training goes well, MSF should propose me a mission for departure within the next three months.

I will report back in here when I return.

I'm going to be trained!

Yes! I received my official invitation to the "Preparation - First Departure - Logistics" at Bordeaux. This training will take place between the 24th and the 29th of July.

The training is in French. I haven't mentioned, but my written French sucks. I understand everything anyone says. I can express myself verbally with no problems. I read French with no problems. But it is a terribly complicated language to write. In twenty years here, I haven't had to write too much; forms are easy. I have probably written more in French since I sold the café than in the preceding 18 years. Anyway, they are warned. I just wrote the coordinator an e-mail. And I will be taking along my dictionary to see if a certain word is masculin or feminin. Or if the long A sound at the end is written as é, ais, ai, ait, et, er, ez, etc.

Dedication

This blog is also dedicated to the two women in my life, my two best friends: Chris Carney and Martha Weeks.

Photo from my last vacation, in Egypt 

Background: Why MSF?

During my last few years at the cafe, I gave a lot of thought as to what to do afterwards. Basic considerations included:
- No more "working for myself". Once was enough.
- More travel.
- A job where I can learn new things all the time.
- I need to earn a living, but I can live modestly.
- A job where I can help to make the world a better place, at my own level.
I've had a lot of luck in my life, and I would like to help those less fortunate than me to have a better life. I decided to explore the humanitarian relief or development fields.

After selling the bar in July, 2004 (and a couple of vacation trips), I decided to dive back into the basics of inventory control, thinking that I would best fit into the logistics part of a relief organization. I ordered a couple of books from Amazon and dug in for a couple of months. Then I put my resumé in order, worked on a couple of cover letters, and did some internet research on ONGs in relief and development.

In January, 2005, just before one last vacation trip to Egypt, I applied to several ONGs. They are not extremely rapid in their responses, but most said no because I had neither experience in humanitarian work, nor studies in social sciences. Peace Corps, however, proposed a development position in business counseling for small start-ups in french-speaking Africa. And Médecins Sans Frontières proposed a logistics/admin position in relief work.

Peace Corps is a great operation, but several things attracted me to MSF. It has an excellent reputation for useful, efficient work in the field. It is independent of any government, religious or industry influence (80% of its funds come from private sources). They go where they feel they are needed, do what they think is necessary, and WITNESS to the world what is going on. And from the people I met during the interview process, they don't take themselves TOO seriously, like some of the ONGs I talked with. I also feel that I can learn a lot more new skills in this job than the others.

So I'm ready. I have a huge document that I'm reading for the moment which explains the organization and philosophy of MSF. I had some routine surgery done, and am getting my life in order so that I can leave for 6 months to a year without too much hassle. And I am scheduled for a one-week couse entitled "Preparation for departure - logisticiens" at the end of July in Bordeaux, France.

I have no idea where they will propose that I go. But I'm excited. I don't intend to go for only one mission. If all goes well, I hope to do this until I can't move anymore. This means that I will need to decide where to have a "base" between missions, but I'm not there yet. We'll see how the first mission goes.

Background: Tonton?

You will notice that the title of this blog is "Tonton Ed at MSF". MSF is obviously Medicins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders). Ed is me. Why Tonton?

Tonton is a familiar, informal term in french for "uncle". So this is partially a tribute to my nephews and nieces in Indiana.

It is also a tribute to some of my customers from the bar in France, who have become like family to me.

Background: Family

I am single. I had one long relationship, but that's another story.

I tend not to stay in touch with people, and unfortunately, this remains true with my family. My mother died many years ago, and my father passed away in 2002. Both parents were from eastern Tennessee, and most of my uncles, aunts, and cousins are still there.

I have two brothers in southern Indiana. We don't see each other very much, but they have been very good to me. I participated in the wedding of one while moving between Germany and France, and missed the wedding of the other because of the start-up of the bar in France. Both of them are doing very well for themselves, and I am blessed with two great sisters-in-law.

Between the two brothers, I have five nephews and nieces. I hardly know them, but they seem like really good kids. It's my fault that I don't know them; I never get back to see them. I am making an effort to be more involved, but I'm not good at this.

Photo: Café Français Bar Américain

Cafe Francais Bar Americain

Background: Cafe Francais Bar Americain

At 34 years old, I decided that if I ever wanted to see what it was like to work for myself, I had better get moving. The idea of owning a bar had been trotting around my head for a few years. In Lyon, I met someone who had the same idea, so we went into partnership. After several possible purchases fell through, we finally found something in April, 1999. It was a bankrupted restaurant / bar in Aix-les-Bains (Savoie) France. We bought it in an auction, renovated it and opened "Cafe Francais Bar Americain", no longer a restaurant, in July, 1989.

We came up to speed pretty quickly, because the young crowd in this town of 25,000 people really liked our Happy Hour! Over the 15 years that we operated the bar, the regular customer base shifted around some, but we still had a solid core who were with us from the beginning until the end. It was 90% a local group, from 16 years old (legal in France for beer and wine) to 80 years old, with the biggest part between 20 and 30 years old. I really appreciated most of them. There were, of course, a few whom I would rather not have known. A lot of our customers are still very good friends. I'm happy to say that more than a few couples formed in our establishment, and more than a few marriages occurred.

We were definitely a "beer" bar. We sold 15,000 litres (about 3,750 gallons) of draft beer a year. For a place that only has 28 seats inside and 20 outside during the summer, that's not bad. We also sold a lot of white wine, bottled beer, coffee, and "pastis"(the REAL French aperitif). We did sandwiches and ice cream, too.

The thing that I missed was travel. Running a bar is not too difficult, but it takes up a lot of time. We were open 13 hours a day, six days a week. Add to that the time for the accounting, trips to the bank, purchasing, cleaning and maintenance. We ran the place by ourselves; just the two of us. And we couldn't really close very often. In 15 years we had two weeks of vacation. (We did close for holidays, however.) With all of that, my travel was very restricted.

What did I gain out of my time here? I learned how to run my own business. I also learned patience, accounting, purchasing, listening skills (the major asset needed for ALL barmen), maintenance skills, crisis management (including staying financial viable, crowd control and how to deal with vandalism), and how to work in a partnership.

I also gained an unacceptable alcohol level. And I stagnated some, too. After a couple of years, you learn very little in this activity.

We sold the cafe in July, 2004, to a couple of former customers! They have now changed the orientation towards a rum bar. They seem to be very happy in their endeavor.

Background: Hewlett-Packard

After Purdue, I made the big move to California with Hewlett-Packard. I started there in 1979 in a sales support group at the Cupertino factory. A lot of us who started there together became very good friends. A few of them are still my best friends. After a year, I was invited into the international sales support subgroup. Wow! Not only did I have the best boss I ever had, I boogied. One month out of three, I was out of the country. Another year, and I became head of this group, then the same function with sales support for a couple of U.S. regions. The U.S. regions were politically more important, but not as much fun as international. In February, 1984, I transferred to HP in Boeblingen, Germany. One and a half years later, I transferred again to l'Isle d'Abeau, France. I stayed in HP France three years, but in three different jobs. I left HP in 1988 to work for myself.

I probably learned more at HP than during me studies at Purdue: public speaking, teaching skills, multitasking, implementing quality control, preparing a business plan, managing a group of people, conflict negotiation, adaptation to new environments, foreign languages, and much, much more. I was always learning something!

The best thing about HP was the people. At the time, computer sales were booming, and we each had a lot to do. There were seriously motived, intelligent and FUN people. A few of them are rather pissed off that I don't stay in contact, but I am very bad about that. Besides the people, HP is (was?) a very human-oriented company. And the salary wasn't bad, either.

Background: Purdue

I spent seven years at Purdue. The first five were for a BS in Industrial Engineering (in 1977), including 5 semesters of co-op work with Miles Laboratories. My last two years were in Krannert School of Business for an MS in Management (in 1979), specializing in financial management. During my first year, I even participated in the Purdue band, playing trumpet.

I paid my way through school, primarily with my salary on the co-op program with Miles Laboratories. I also worked in the Purdue library, worked on a proposition for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (on which computers they should by for their research sites), taught a course for beginning engineers called "Enough Fortran", and was a counselor in the Fowler Courts dormitory.

Going to Purdue exposed me to people from outside southern Indiana. That was an eye-opener! I also gained my independence, since Dad decided early-on to stop paying for my studies. It's probably the best thing he ever did for me. And I gained confidence in myself.

I also started my travel bug during this epoque. In the summer of 1977, five of us who were counselors at Fowler together took at 5-week "Eurorail" trip to Europe. It was a blast, although looking back, I'm ashamed at how "American" I was. (Why isn't it like at home? Why do they think they are so good? Why can't they all be like us?)

I alsso ALMOST began my humanitairian work at that time. I interviewed with the Peace Corps, and they wanted me! But Hewlett-Packard made me an offer that I couldn't refuse, and I'm glad that I didn't.

Okay, I haven't got this down yet, but here goes. I am very happy and proud to join Medicins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders). This site should help my family and friends to follow me in my adventures and misadventures with them.