It's Christmas

I had a great Christmas, like always on mission . But this year, I think I have never been so late in planning and preparing it. I went to a crafts market not far from our office on the 23 Dec to buy around 15 small gifts. I wrapped all of them the same night in photos from magazines. The same evening I went to buy some spices and other ¨white people¨ food products in a place in town called Park ‘n Shop. The evening of the 24th I met William, our head of mission; Chris, our medical coordinator; and Wodage, our supply logistician after work for a beer in a hotel just next to the office. Afterwards, we ate at home with William (his wife and daughter are out of the country for the holidays). Then Wodage and I took what was left to eat to the house guards and we stayed talking with them for about ½ an hour. They were very happy and us too. Before going to sleep, I put out the gifts for everyone in the house, as if Santa Clause passed

The 25th, we were invited to our medical coordinator’s house for dinner. There were 7 of us. I made a chocolate cake and an apple pie in the morning and we brought these with us. The food, drink and conversation were all good. Chris and his wife also have a 3 month old son, and he added to the entertainment.

My predecessor in this job, Nathalia, is leaving today. She has been working really hard to finish up some things before leaving. I appreciate that. I have been doing the day to day tasks in the job for a little over 2 weeks now, and it was good to have her here to answer questions. Now I will be on my own.

It looks like we will be doing a measles vaccination campaign, vaccinating 1,200,000 children between 6 months and 15 years in 2 northern states. With 30 vaccination teams we can do this in about 30 days. It is a huge effort. We will need about 630 people, 70 cars, the vaccines themselves and generators, refrigerators, and freezers to keep the vaccines cold. We plan on a month of preparation, a month of vaccination and a month to wrap up. It will be exciting.

And my financial controller and human resources officer from our office in New York will be arriving soon. They arrive the 6 January and will be visiting all our programs here. I will be accompanying them on these visits. So I will be very, very busy.