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.