Science Camp
May 17, 20130 CommentsBack late last year in Jamam, we had been doing some ad hoc monitoring of the water that people store in their homes, and what we saw surprised us. Oxfam chlorinates the camp’s water supply before distribution,... Read more...
An assortment of oncalls
May 2, 201312 CommentsIt's hard to give an idea of the bewildering breadth of patients that we are presented with during on calls. Even used as I am to the variety of humanity that compiles the average Emergency Department... Read more...Shifting scenes
April 17, 20131 CommentI’ve been somewhat neglectful of writing in the last couple of weeks largely because since moving from the outpatients to inpatient nursing role I’ve feel like I’ve been floundering around somewhat... Read more...Village visits
March 14, 20137 CommentsOutreach has been great the last couple of months. As my focus to date has mostly been on the OPD handover to the Ministry of Health I only get to go out with the team one day a week, but it is a day I seriously... Read more...Wild life
March 5, 20133 CommentsWith half the team away from the hospital on the mobile clinics, you’d think that we’d be in for some quietish time in the evenings – but this was not to be! Anabel our visiting WatSan [water and sanitation]... Read more...Never a dull moment
February 28, 201312 CommentsThere’s a lot going on in Nasir at the moment. Last week our project dispatched a small team downriver on an explo mission to find the source of an alarming amount of cases of Kala Azar – a sandfly... Read more...All change
February 21, 20132 CommentsA few days after the events of my last post Michiel my Project Coordinator (boss) approaches me and asks if he can have “a word”. I quail internally as I obediently follow him outside, racking my brains... Read more...Different kinds of happy
February 18, 201311 CommentsSome days it's just not your day. Today opened that way - A fidgety and restless night's sleep preluded waking to an uncharacteristically overcast morning. I'm stiff and sore as I crawl out from under... Read more...Sometimes it's hard to be a woman...
February 11, 201311 CommentsOne of the things that has come up unexpectedly for me as a result of a few conversations here is being feminine (being womanly, being girly however you want to phrase it) while you are out with MSF is a surprising... Read more...
Final Call from South Sudan
February 8, 20133 CommentsNine months have passed since I first arrived in South Sudan and it’s almost time to go home. It seems I have have spent the last few days constantly typing - staff evaluations, January’s medical report,... Read more...Things that go bump in the night....
February 8, 20136 CommentsI spent the first two weeks in Nasir living out of my suitcase in one of the guest rooms in the main house in the expat compound. Since then I have tentatively moved into what was my predecessors tukul,... Read more...Flying solo
January 30, 201310 CommentsAfter the initial disorientation and muddle of my first week or two working alone, a small amount of sense and routine is beginning to emerge in my days here. I wake up at seven and spend an hour or so pottering... Read more...Pause
January 29, 20136 CommentsI’ve stopped thinking. The last time I stopped to think something out, to parse it, to give it a name, was months ago. The last time I wrote anything in this cheap plastic book was November 7th. Almost... Read more...In at the deep end
January 22, 201313 CommentsWell, my ten-day handover period with Sally the outgoing nurse is well and truly over and apparently I should know what I'm doing now. Just to give you some idea of exactly how confident I'm feeling in my knowledge... Read more...The Traditional Way
January 21, 20130 CommentsI have only a few weeks left on my mission in Bentiu. Numbers in our nutrition programme have decreased over the last few months, which is a good thing. Nonetheless, the team are still busy as our project... Read more...Welcome to paradise
January 14, 20139 CommentsI've been in South Sudan 10 days now and feel pretty settled already which is awesome. The weather is drydrydrydustydrydrydry, but apparently it's the best time of year to arrive in terms of temperature... Read more...Kala azar and the long road back to Bentiu
January 3, 20131 CommentFrom the air South Sudan looks calm, peaceful, almost empty. Even now after the rains have finished much of the flat countryside looks green and lush, being taken up by the vast swampy wetlands of the Sudd.... Read more...Christmas in Bentiu
December 31, 20124 CommentsAs Christmas drew close I began to wonder what it would be like here in South Sudan. I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal in a place where most people live to day-to-day and can’t afford to make elaborate... Read more...No home to go to
December 11, 20124 CommentsKaderia* doesn’t know how old she is. As she tells me her story I try to guess her age, she looks about fifty but perhaps her difficult life has made her age quicker. As she talks her face betrays a life... Read more...Running
December 5, 20125 CommentsThe road had closed in-between the tall grass and it felt like we were standing in a long, narrow room when we meet them. We had been driving for about five hours along this muddy road, going north from... Read more...Nuoih - part 2
October 30, 20122 CommentsI have been trying to get an idea about people’s beliefs on the reasons for malnutrition here in South Sudan and having already asked the clinic staff for their opinions, I ask some of the mothers... Read more...Nuoih - part 1
October 24, 20120 CommentsThe reason for our work here in Bentiu is to decrease mortality and alleviate suffering caused by an on-going malnutrition crisis. According to our statistics this year we have already ‘cured’ over... Read more...The Taps Run Dry
October 15, 201215 CommentsOn Thursday we rose with the sun and headed out to the surface water treatment site to see if we could get the system to produce clean water. A day earlier, the pumps at the Bamtiko borehole — the main... Read more...Vast wetland of the Nile
September 26, 20120 CommentsIt’s been ten days since I arrived here in Jamam camp, and I haven’t seen rain like this yet. Every evening out here the clouds gather and rise along the horizons, putting on a light and thunder show... Read more...Difficult Choices
September 13, 20121 CommentNyakor* is back in our clinic, again. Her appearance is pitiful; thin, short wiry hair, tattered old clothes. She says she is about 23 years old, her son Chiang* is 4 months old and is losing weight... Read more...Perspective
August 3, 20125 CommentsBefore departing for a first mission with MSF people have to complete a PPD (Preparation for Primary Departure) course. This involves eight days of intensive preparation on issues such as team building,... Read more...Happy Birthday South Sudan
July 30, 20121 CommentAs seems to be the norm here in South Sudan there were a lot of different predictions going around about what the 9th of July, South Sudan’s first birthday would bring. There were rumours that the government... Read more...
Canada Day
July 27, 20124 CommentsIt is the 1st of July and I am back home in Canada having returned a while ago from my first mission with MSF. I would like to thank so many of you for following my blog from South Sudan; for the many... Read more...June in Bentiu
July 27, 20120 CommentsShortly after I arrived in this project in May I had a glance over some of the statistics from last year. It became quickly obvious that June was going to be very busy and I was arriving just in time for the peak... Read more...Nyachuol
July 25, 20121 CommentThe clinic is getting busier all the time. Now we have fifty children in the inpatient centre and numbers in our ambulatory and mobile clinics continue to rise. It can sometimes feel like a bit of an anonymous... Read more...
Day 30 - leaving South Sudan
July 20, 20124 CommentsRandra or Suby? The team are trying to decide what acronym they should use for me and Sandra, along the lines of Brangelina and Tomkat. Sandra and I have been inseparable. We work together, we share the same... Read more...Day 29 - the things you remember
July 16, 20124 CommentsShe wrapped her arms round my neck and I never wanted to let go. This little girl, as light as a feather, dressed in her best frock. It’s my last day. I have been bumped off countless flights but tomorrow... Read more...Long Journey Home
July 16, 20120 CommentsMy colleagues are often quick to remind me that the weather has cooled down a bit in the last few weeks with the start of the rains. At times I still find the heat stifling, my body covered in sweat, my mind... Read more...Day 28 - pressure
July 14, 20122 CommentsMaram* is not the answer to everything. We can use it to build new roads, to create stands for bladder tanks (huge 10,000L water distribution vessels) and even to absorb swampy lakes outside tents (!) but it can’t... Read more...Day 27 - silent children
July 12, 20124 CommentsIt’s the silent ones that you notice. In an outpatient’s department (OPD) full of people and screaming children you notice the ones that are quiet. It might mean something’s seriously wrong. The hospital... Read more...Day 24 - Happy Independence Day
July 11, 20121 CommentHappy Independence Day South Sudan! And what festivities there were, even in Jamam camp full of non-citizens. There was music and laughter until the early hours and a military procession along the only... Read more...Day 22 - standing in line
July 7, 20121 CommentKowaja! Kowaja! Kowaja! Or the mouse shuffling round the tent at night. Or the dahl every...single...day! I’m trying to list all the things I WON’T miss about Jamam. It will make leaving easier. It somehow... Read more...Day 20 - rollercoaster
July 6, 20120 CommentsBit of a rollercoaster of a day. All the refugees have been transferred to Batil camp from T3. When we pass the site, we wonder whether we must have imagined there were 10,000 refugees there. It’s... Read more...Day 16 - camels
July 3, 20126 CommentsThe oddest sight is all the camels, cows and goats. You expect people to only carry the clothes on their backs and a few belongings when fleeing attacks, but some refugees brought their cattle. And I guess... Read more...Day 14 - motivation
June 30, 20123 Comments We interviewed every family at T3 today (the new transit camp where most of the refugees from KM18 have now been transferred). I still can’t believe this band of hardy outreach workers managed to carry... Read more...Day 12 - Triage
June 28, 20125 CommentsI grabbed the baby and started running. But where was the mother? She was still in the truck, way behind the throngs of people spilling out of the truck that had just brought them from KM18. I stopped... Read more...Day 10 - swamp
June 27, 20124 CommentsOur team is trapped at KM18. There was a downpour just as they were leaving the clinic and the landrover got stuck. They had to turn back and bunk down in the clinic overnight. We weren’t yet set up for overnight... Read more...Day 7 - Tears
June 22, 20124 CommentsToday I had to fight back the tears. We are trying to do defaulter tracing at the same time as the mortality surveillance. Defaulter tracing involves searching for children that have not returned for follow-up... Read more...Day 6 - Team Epidemiology
June 21, 20120 CommentsArun is my favourite. I know I shouldn’t have favourites but he brightens my day. He sometimes has no idea what’s going on but when I take my time and explain and that wonderful smile lights up all over... Read more...Day 5 - Operation Abacus
June 21, 20121 CommentOperation Abacus stormed into action today. Not to be out-done by the testosterone-heavy Water and Sanitation (WatSan) team with ‘Operation Liquid Gold’ and the logistics team with ‘Operation Rolling... Read more...Shelter. Water. Vaccination.
June 19, 20126 CommentsToday was a day for spontaneous applause. We achieved a non-food item (NFI) distribution for 25,000 people at KM18, the temporary site in which refugees fleeing the fighting in Blue Nile State, Sudan,... Read more...Drinking water?
June 18, 20121 CommentLeapt out of bed after a bad night’s sleep, dreaming of snakes and scorpions. We’d been warned that there are a few venomous species living in this area and there had been several deaths in children... Read more...Hurry up and wait!
June 17, 20122 CommentsHurry up and wait! That seemed to be the theme of the day. I landed in Juba, South Sudan for the refugee emergency in Maban county, Upper Nile State. MSF is has been treating patients in two refugee camps... Read more...A Father’s smile
June 15, 20122 CommentsElijah* one of our drivers pulls the MSF vehicle up outside the MOH (Ministry of Health) hospital in Bentiu. We are here to pick up a child whom I had brought in the morning to receive a blood transfusion.... Read more...Field science
June 13, 20121 CommentI have just spent a cold and rainy Canadian Sunday indoors, watching the 9th annual MSF UK Scientific Day, streamed online for the very first time, for the entire world to see. (You watch the videos here) 967... Read more...South Sudan calling
June 12, 20121 CommentThe 20 seater plane touches down on the gravel airstrip at Rubkona, Unity State South Sudan. It has been a long journey over a few days and four different flights to get here and it really feels a little... Read more...
Rupture
May 23, 201229 CommentsIt is evening and I am at the base, where all the expats live. I have found that 6-7pm is my Power Shower Hour, when the day is still warm enough that you feel hot and want a shower, and the water is still... Read more...
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