February Posting

I just returned from Khartoum. It’s really a capitol. We went out to eat every night: Italian, American, Thai. And I brought back some strawberries, one of the fruits we don’t see here (as if bananas, oranges, grapefruits lemons, apples, mangoes, and guavas didn’t suffice).

That was not, however, the objective of the trip – it was for work. I had two good days with my collaborators in finance and in human resources in the Sudan coordination office. We got a lot done, but as usual I came away with a huge list of things to do. Fortunately, I have already made a big dent in it.

I was pretty tired at the beginning of the year, but I’ve gotten my second wind. Getting out of Nyala to El Geneina, Niertiti and Khartoum helped. And we finally have a stable coordination team in Darfur - the changes here were also pretty tiring. Unfortunately, my human resources assistant will be going to Khartoum to replace someone who is leaving there, and my finance assistant will probably be hired for a position there. And my two closest collaborators in Paris have just moved from supporting our region to another. The only thing that is constant is change!

Politically, things keep changing, too. For the moment, the rebel activity in neighboring Chad is pretty heavy (their conflicts and those in Sudan intermingle). Today, the Chadian leader seems to have routed the rebels from the capitol of N’jamena. We thought that if all the rebels who are hiding here left for Chad to join the fight, that the Sudanese government would take the opportunity to go after their own rebel groups. For us in MSF, it means that we would need to get set up quickly on the rebel/government frontiers to treat the wounded. It’s something that we are looking at very seriously.

I just received a Christmas package from the MSF-Lyon office, which is the regional office where I applied to work for MSF. Of all the regional offices in France, they are the only one who sends out a Christmas package (coffee, tea, sausage, paté, and candy) to their affiliates, so I share with everyone in the house. Otherwise, they would kill me.

I also received news from Indiana, Savoie, Congo and Zanzibar. It’s always nice to hear from family and friends. That’s an unsubtle hint.

The work on my apartment is progressing. My builder sent me an email telling me that a lighting system I want will cost more than expected. I’m going for it anyway, it’s not THAT expensive. He should also put in the kitchen and some built-in furniture in February and March.
It’s hard to believe that I have already been here 6 months.