German

The deeper the night, the closer the day

The clinic in Mweso in the D.R. Congo counts 13,000 inpatient admissions per year. Wolfgang and his team often reach the limit of exhaustion.

07 Nov 2019 / 4 minute read

The medical and the human side of care

Wolfgang's time in the D.R. Congo is short, just five weeks. But the team is eager to learn. And also Wolfgang is learning a lot - not only French and Swahili.

25 Oct 2019 / 3 minute read

I still have a suitcase in Minsk...

... it will stay there too, which has a meaning of its own. This is how the journey lasts. And if I long to, then I’ll go back… (With apologies to Marlene Dietrich)

23 Oct 2019 / 4 minute read

Football, family and a new challenge

Wolfgang travels by jeep from Goma to Mweso. A big project and an equally big challenge are waiting for him. But first Wolfgang looks for the most important thing: contact to the people.

11 Oct 2019 / 3 minute read

First stop: Goma

After more than 30 years in business and most recently in a management position, Wolfgang fulfilled a dream: he returned to his roots and set off into the unknown. He blogs from the start of his latest posting, the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

01 Oct 2019 / 3 minute read

Nurse dispensing medication in a TB dispensary

TB in Belarus: Facts and figures show us the way

Impressions can be deceiving. For Christian, a German psychotherapist working in Minsk, facts and figures show what really works.

09 Sep 2019 / 5 minute read

Belarus

Addiction

Data collection

Multidrug- Resistant Tuberculosis

Stefanie

Medical team leader

"We are humbled by their courage": Treating psychological trauma at sea

When people are pulled to safety by search and rescue teams in the Mediterranean, many carry invisible psychological wounds from the trauma that forced them to flee Libya. Stefanie, who leads MSF's medical team on board the Ocean Viking, shares their story...

27 Aug 2019 / 5 minute read

TB in Belarus: Two steps forward, one step back

At an MSF tuberculosis project in Belarus, German psychotherapist Christian learns how to be patient with progress...

26 Jul 2019 / 3 minute read

Half-time in Minsk

As he passes the half-way point of his time working at an MSF tuberculosis project, psychotherapist Christian reflects on six months in Belarus…

04 Jun 2019 / 4 minute read

An MSF team member examines a patient with multidrug-resistant TB in Minsk

TB in Belarus: "Discuss, argue and take patients seriously"

Overcoming tuberculosis (TB) requires a lengthy and careful treatment. However, in Belarus, many patients are also battling another issue: alcohol addiction. German psychotherapist Christian Falkenstein writes about putting patients at the centre of their own care…

16 May 2019 / 3 minute read