I enjoyed
my time in Uganda.
I was there for 2 months to bridge a gap
between the departure of one coordinator of finance and human resources and the
arrival of the new one. We are in the
process of closing an HIV/Aids project (handing it over to another organization
after 13 years of running that program) in Arua in the north. We also have a new program running health
centers in refugee camps on the northern border for South Sudanese refugees
fleeing the fighting in that country.
This second program continues to grow at an incredible rate. Currently, there are around 60,000 refugees in the camps. The South Sudanese situation, unfortunately,
is not likely to improve in the near future.
Although it is a full day ride to each site, I had the opportunity to
get to the projects several times in my 2 months.
Uganda is a relatively peaceful country in
that region of Africa, and it is beautiful. (Photo is the Nile)
The
Nile river flows from
Lake Victoria to begin
its journey through the continent. There
are many national parks, and on my trips to the projects, I saw several species
of monkey and baboon, as well as antelopes and elephants. The capital of
Kampala, where I was based, is a safe city
and has all the services one could ask for.
Uganda,
however, is a very homophobic country (typical in this region) with a new
anti-gay law voted into power in February 2014 stipulating life imprisonment
for homosexual acts. Many international
donors have cut funding to the country because of this new law.
I handed
over to my replacement and returned to France at the end of June. This was my last assignment under my 2 year
contract with MSF’s emergency department.
In those 2 years I worked in 7 different countries: Mali,
South Sudan, Congo, Uganda, Jordan,
Turkey (for our Syria project), Central
African Republic, with a second tour in Uganda at the
end. I really appreciate the opportunity
I had to work with this amazing department.
After
debriefings in Paris and a couple of days at
home in Lyon, I left on a vacation in the Philippines for 2 weeks. I had not travelled for pleasure in at least
4 years, and I had a friend I wanted to hook up with there. It was great, a few misadventures concerning
finding my friend along the way. It was
rainy season, so we decided that Philippines’ beautiful beaches were
probably not a good idea. We stayed in
Manilla for the 1st week, staying a few days in a rather luxurious
bed and breakfast in an upscale part of the town for 3 days, and roughed it out
in some seedier sections of the city before and after. Then we went to Baguio,
“the summer capital of the Philippines”
in the mountains for the second week. My
flight took off just before the first big typhoon of the season passed through
the area. Oufff. It was a great vacation, and just what I
needed to get out of my humanitarian mindset.
I had just
a few days back in Lyon before leaving for the Democratic Republic of Congo
(formerly Zaire) to start my new job, which is part of a small group trying to
resolve a crisis for our organization in that country. On July 11, 2013, four of our Congolese staff
members were abducted in the town of Kamango on
the border of Uganda
during a rebel attack. MSF has been
working ever since to find there whereabouts.
Although we have several indications and contacts, we still have nothing
concrete.
My job in
this group is primarily to be the focal point for the families of the victims, informing
them where we are and providing moral support.
I also do administrative and logistics support to the rest of the
group. As we do not know how long the
situation will continue, each of the positions in this group will be working in
a tandem configuration. For example, I
will work 2 ½ months, then hand over to my partner for 1 ½ month, then I return,
then I hand back over to the same person, and we keep rotating between
ourselves until the crisis is over. This
allows us to provide continuity in the flow of information and the contacts, and to avoid
starting over with new people every 2-3 months.
Much of
what we are doing is confidential, so I will not be talking on here a great
deal about the job. Suffice to say that
I am extremely happy to be part of this group, and very happy to be back in RD
Congo in the city of Goma (east side of the country at the north point of Lake
Kivu on the border with Rwanda), where I stayed 2 years 2008-2010.
