In Nyala Now

I moved from El Geneina to Nyala Monday, the 5th of November, with the 33 pounds of personal belongings I brought with me from France. The coordination has been split in two so that we have people in both states (El Geneina in West Darfur and Nyala in South Darfur) who can negotiate with the local authorities.

There are two reasons that I needed to come here. The first is that the small logistics base we have here has more than quadrupled in terms of personnel and property leases in the last month. The second is that we are gearing up for a new project in the state.

The Nyala logistics operation is going from 8 people to 36 in a very short time. We need to write the job descriptions, recruit and train the local people, and house and feed the expats and relocated national staff moving here. We are now 3 expats stationed here, plus 2 expats from El Geneina for the moment for the new project negotiations. We were staying in the office for the first few days, but moved into the house yesterday. It’s pretty nice. It’s a large house (5 bedrooms – this is a transit stop for new people coming into and leaving Darfur) and the logistics team has done a lot of work on it. The house for the relocated staff is nice, too. The office is taking shape; we’re still having some teething problems with the communications equipment and computer equipment. I’ve gotten pretty good lately at taking an IBM Thinkpad apart and putting it back together again, and at configuring internet connections via mobile telephones.

Unfortunately, the negotiations for our new project are not going quite so well. It’s an up and down situation. It is a 6-month project in a small town between here and the border with West Darfur named Kass. About 35,000 newly displaced people have arrived in the town since March, and they have not been registered in the food distribution programs. Our proposal is to work in the local hospital in cooperation with the Ministry of Health staff in the pediatric ward, adding a section for severely undernourished children who must be treated under hospital conditions. Currently there are 30 beds; we would like to staff for 100. At the same time, we would install an outpatient feeding center for undernourished kids who can take their treatment (the famous Plumpy Nut) at home. And we would also add a measles vaccination campaign in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, water treatment, and a food distribution program targeted at the entire population of children under 5 years old (22,000). All of this, of course, free of charge to the population and the Sudanese government.

Sounds pretty good, right? Wrong. Apparently, the HAC (Humanitarian Aid Commission) granted the rights to the pediatry ward to another NGO (non-governmental organization) who won’t name. They mean well, but are in over their heads, and they refuse to admit that there is a problem. (We are getting patients from Kass in our clinic in Thur, 50 kilometers away, so we know that there is a problem!) The local government officials who seconded them for this project are embarrassed to admit to a mistake. Some officials are behind us, but territories also come into play. So it is a game of egos, protection and stubbornness. I am involved in the staff plan and budget for the project. It’s a lot of work which may get thrown away if we are not allowed in. In fact, if it falls through, we will probably have to pull out of South Darfur entirely and will be moving back to El Geneina.