How much for a life? Shocking Facts and Figures

Ever try to fix a dollar figure to life? Here's a few figures I've come across this week...

$3,000,000,000--amount awarded to some guy in california who claims that he was tricked into smoking (has terminal lung cancer)

400 camels ($1,600?)--Blood money claimed for accidental death, Saharan Africa.

$100--Ransom demanded for safe return of family member abducted by men in uniform, Luhago. Note: the price goes up $400 if the individual is known to be associated with an ngo.

Nauseating, isn't it?

C 

New posts, wild pictures...what could possibly be next?

Hey, this guy’s trying to kiss me!

Right, so I haven’t written in some time, and as penance, I’ve published a number of entries at once, so be sure to scroll down a bit, see if anything catches your eye…

Ah, is anyone going to be in Djibouti or Ethiopia between the 8th and the 18th of September? Let me know, I’m heading out for a little break…

Sheikh Djibouti 

My very first cholera epidemic

This week’s adventure…Cholera epidemic response, Uvira town. I got word that there was an epidemic evolving in Uvira, way down south on Lake Tanganyika, and last weekend, it was official, there was an outbreak of Cholera in Uvira, and the RRM team was sent into action…So piled into the jeep, cut through Rwanda to save some time, and rolled into the Uvira hospital to assess the situation. For those of you who are not familiar with Cholera, its diarrheic disease caused by bacteria (I think), and very closely linked to water quality. You get it, you get the runs, that about sums it up, except perhaps the scale of the affectation—severe cases can lose up to 20ltr of water a day. So try to picture it, an enclosure, with a building at the centre full of beds with a single hole in the middle—everything made of tarp. Quarantine procedures require everyone to constantly step in and out of chlorinated foot washing stations to prevent any would be carriers from taken infected faeces out side (its very very opportunistic disease). So we arrived to get the figures, assess the state of the centre, etc, and wound up sidestepping faeces…there were so many patients, that the centre had run out of space and had people receving treatment outside, under the sun—unbelievable! Squalor and shit. To the credit of the hosipital, this outbreak had caught them by surprise as cholera is endemic in the area and this particular situation was at least a month early. In fact, they are about a month away from completing a brand new (gorgeous) Cholera treatment centre right next door to the one in question.
So what to do? We built another observation hall, rebuilt the wall to keep pedestrians and chickens away from contamination, and coordinated with the other stakeholders to implement a water chlorination and hygiene promotion programme in the neighborhoods worst affected by the outbreak.
Great, and my team did a fantastic job…the observation hall is decked out in shining grey unicef tarp, and they installed a 5000litre bladder, complete with a little hanger. But what would a blog entry be without a bit of humour, or irony or something? So how would you suggest filling a 5000litre bladder with water? You would think one might hire a tanker truck for the job. Correct, but for some reason this did not happen. A truck was in fact hired, but there was no tank. Instead, a 10,000litre bladder was hauled on to the back of a normal truck, and it was carted off to the Pakistani Peacekeeping battalion logistics’ yard for a filling. The Pakistanis were a little startled, but agreed to supply some water, but only let the driver into the compound (nice). So ten tones of water were pumped into this second bladder on the back of the truck, and somehow, it wound up punctured, at which point—again, try to picture this—10,000 litres of water blew out of the bladder mounted on the back of this truck, and proceeded to erode the foundation of the giant water tank mounted in the air…
Alright, the tank didn’t collapse, no one died, but suffice it to say, I was a little perturbed to hear that this had happened. And in the end, we were able to convince the PakBat to swing by the hospital and fill the bladder.
Weird, huh…and to top it all off, I went half blind for about 15 minutes and lost feeling in my tongue…apparently it’s a dehydration thing, so to all of you languishing in the stuffy Vancouver heat, be sure to drink lots of water, or you might go blind…
Amani cabissa
C

 

Real Evidence: crazy T-Shirts

Regarding those wacky shirts, here are a few Gems.

The Toronto Maple leafs
The Canadian Snowbirds
A beautiful elder, I caught, peeking through a window
and some guy who claims he survived an "extreme home makeover" which is deeply ironic given that he's had to trade his home for a plastic bag in a banana grove...
(For all those sontagians, rest assured that all subjects were remunerated for their services)
ah and the sound track for the week, my driver is really into canadian indy rock so we've been bumping to In Medias Res (way to go ashley poon), the winter sleep (halifax), and Sarha Harmer's sweet lulabies, mixed with a little bit of Tegan and Sarah, my team's favorite lesbian rock band!
Happy saturday
C

 

How to get out of bed...

Politics, diplomacy, coordination, advocacy, inaction, obstruction, failure…
Yeah, in the humanitarian community, many of us wrestle with cynicism…
In a cholera outbreak, I saw people laying in their own filth at the Cholera treatment centre...there were tarps, there on site, and no one put them up, no one moved to bring shelter to those suffering, hudled against the (tarp) wall of the centre to escape the sun. Brutal, I couldn’t believe it. Cyniscism, yeah, it gets to you, at you, its brutal how it can creep up. There were children there too. Unbelievable.
But seeing children get a hand up and out of desperation, now that’s something that get’s me up in the morning, something worth fighting for…

Each of these children have a name (most I've forgotten) but they helped me pull it together last week...keep a bit of perspective
C 

hey, is that a white guy coming up the mountain?

Hey, I mentioned the story of Luhago over a month ago but I don’t recall letting you know how it all passed…Well, after the initial assessment mission, it was decided to deliver emergency relief kits to the 1,512 families who fled to the area, and protect/rehabilitate 6/2 water sources to ensure there was enough water and sufficient water points for the entire community. Hardly flawless, but the work went off well, and the water points are gorgeous. I took follow-up trip two weeks ago, make survey to make sure everything was in order…unbelievable, stunningly beautiful(there’s that phrase again). The place is pushed up against the southern flank of Kahuzi biega park (remember the fiasco in Bunyakiri?)—hence the security issues—rolling mountain-hills. Me and my team mate dr tierry decided that we would touch each population group that received assistance—7 groups spread through the valley. That was the goal, and we accomplished it, though it was punishingly difficult. When we had decided on the intervention, or the follow up goal of visiting every community, I had realized just how far flung these sites had been, nor the topography of the valley. I think we covered 15km tops on foot, but it took all afternoon and the following morning. Up and Down, and back up again, then across a ridge, then down and up, and oh, there’s a short cut, and so on…I was in over my head! Or my bum leg, rather! But we pulled it off. We were applauded by crowds of beneficiaries, apparently I was the first honky in the hills in over 50 years…applause of appreciation for the assistance, or some cynical sarcastic applause for the white guy who actually came to pay them and their families a visit? Not sure, but the children were intrigued, we sang and danced our way down to every water point. Not sure what will happen to these people, I suspect that they are being terrorized by thugs, ex-militia men who’re camped out in the forest, extorting the locals. So on the back end of an intervention, my job turns to advocacy, see if it isn’t possible to leverage other actors to step into the gap. In this instance, it’s a question of getting pressure on the DRC army to station more troops there, try and secure the area against further incursions. Helas, this not an area high on their priority list—Gen. Nkunda, a dissident from a little further north, just declared his new republic of the volcanos, squarely within Congo territory…and tomorrow, there will be the announcement of the election results. Too some, this is far more important than the people leaving under plastic bags on the hills of luhago.
Enjoy the pictures, of Luhago.
C 

Yeah, who wants to live in Dubai?

So, Dubai, simulacra…Sheikh Zeyed Road, lined with some of the most amazing skyscrapers ever built(all in the last 10 years or so), manhattan on the edge of the persian gulf. Yet, 100 metres to either side of this spectacular street, your spot in the middle of a wasteland, not even that gorgeous empty desert, dunes drawn out to the horizon, but flat dusty waste (old sea bottom?) Its flat, fabricated, so artificial, but still pretty cool…a giant free trade zone, malls like you’ve never imagined, and a culture that’s all but disappeared (where are the bedoins, the camels, the tents? See “syriana” with george clooney) I’ve been to dubai a few times now, but I don’t recall having ever met a citizen of the emirate…Bangladeshis, Lebanese, Jordanian taxi drivers, southeast asian waitresses, but never a national of the UAE. It’s a strange thought, really, that one could visit a country and not once have an interaction with someone from that country…I even went for a drive in the desert, up and down the dunes, supper under the stars at a ‘real’ bedoin camp, a ‘real’ tourist extravaganza, and not one emerati! That said, I’ve seen them, mingled at the mall, seen them at a distance cutting fresh tracks at the indoor ski-slope (and it is no small thing, this ski slope in the desert!) Flowing white jalabyas, that constant fidgeting, adjusting the kaffya, ladies in black, head to toe…As much as it is touted as a great place to live, its 43c at night, the malls are still malls, and for the most part, it’s a desert wasteland. I’d much rather live in the jungle.

But helas, we were there on business…8-5, in the conference room, learining about every department in the unit…how to do field finances in an emergency deployment, rule of law and the protection department, sexual violence in humanitarian crises, the importance of having a will and a ‘proof of life’ question in case of abduction…yeah, grandma, its pretty important. But to be in a room full of some of the most experienced relief workers around—many of whom I worked alongside in Darfur…what a priviledge. And while we were meeting, the unit was also preparing to deploy to Lebanon—what a terrible trajedy. So, I’m still pretty new to this business of humanitarian relief, but I have to say that I felt a part of the community that makes up this team…less experienced, to be sure, but to be there together, to hear of their experience, and share my own, I realized just how significant/valuable my little bit of experience happens to be—I wasn’t silent, I had thoughts and experiences and questions to contribute to the different workshops. I think I’ve found my dream job! I was so impressed by the creativity and leadership brought to bear on the development of this Emergency response unit. Most of the members were young in their careers—late20s to mid-30s—and they weren’t simply functioning as an office in a box, ready to be shipped to whatever disaster…they rove through other country programmes and develop the internal capacity of the agency as well…very cool! Right, keep it brief, two shots for y’all:
1.Dr.Carmen at the gold souk
2. mystery location—hint:one could be excuse for thinking it was a pyjama shop…note the gender composition of the persons in the frame!
3. lovely ladies—Carmen, Jen, Melissa (can you guess which one loves George Clooney?)
Peace,
C

 

Bukavu to Dubai and Back, this month’s misadventures…

So, this month has been pretty quiet, not much for the Rapid Response Team to respond to (though for some reason, what we managed to accomplish we did at an alarmingly slow pace) But I did get to flex my tough manager muscles, I fired or failed to ‘rehire’ the protection officer for a general lack of competence, handed out ‘demands d’explications’ to logistics for their inability to find and load trucks in any less than 3 days for an emergency intervention that’s suppose to be complete in 72hours…and though we are still locked down for the election (which would appear to have gone off relatively well), I’m making plans to dismiss those who escaped the initial purge, by the end of next month, my rapid response unit will be the most amazing, the most competent, and the most expeditious of all the emergency response units in Central Africa!
Alright, maybe its too lofty a goal, but in all seriousness, I’m not sure how most of my team made it to an interview, let alone to the status of ‘permanent employee’, and I have no apologies for being so tough, as a team, we are responsible for getting emergency assistance to those in desperate need as quickly as possible…medivac victims of rape, airdrop relief supplies, giant water bladders, we’re the front end of the humanitarian response in this province, and yet, the environmental health officer can’t get a latrine dug in a timely manner, and the logistics’ department can’t find the trucks needed to ship supplies, even at 3x the market price!
So I’ve been cleaning house, and yes I’m going to fire more people and stack my department with the best staff I can find…the best.

Alright, so maybe I’m being to hard everyone, overreacting, a little stressed out…sure, its possible and most likely true—its amazing how this place, or Darfur, or any other complex humanitarian emergency can run you down. But consider the following example of the Log’s departments uncanny ability to obstruct accomplishment. I was invited to participate in the IRC’s Emergency Response Unit’s annual conference which was held in Dubai. The task: get Christopher a plane ticket, Kigali to Dubai and back. Easy peezy, right? Well I suspected that something would happen, some unforeseen complication, so I involved myself in the whole process, chased the purchase request through every department involved, I even worked with the Rwanda office to make sure the right itinerary was booked. So the day came to leave, I packed up my stuff, sent off the final emails, hopped in the car and made off for Rwanda. So, we drove past the iridescent tea fields on the edge of the rain forest, up and down, mountain roads, through the Nyageze(sic?) park, monkeys on the road, monkeys in my stomach, stunningly beautiful, and then, a call on the radio—Zulu romeo onze, zulu romeo onze….(that’s me) (static) and then something about authorizing a purchase…stop the car, what needs to be purchased and why would I need to be involved in this? (static) **500$...what, 500$? (something is terribly wrong) no, I’ve misunderstood, 1500$, what, you want me to authorize 1500 bucks so you can purchase my plane ticket? Didn’t we buy it last week—I’m sure I’m going to be sick, and my mind is racing to figure out who’s going to be fired for this, and no I don’t authorize the purchase…I need to be in Dubai in 2 days time, its Friday afternoon, we’re 4 hours from Kigali, and I’m not sure the travel agent will be open when we finally get into town…generally, I find travel somewhat stressful, but this was over the top! Eventually it worked out, I booked a new ticket that evening, but I found out that somehow, the logs department managed to cancel my booking, and it was a miracle that there were any seats left at all.
Lesson of the Day—make your own travel bookings.