Bahai Beach 25

Bahai Beach

Thanksgiving day

23 November 2006

Francois our cook has made a feast meal; chicken in three styles ( tandoori-grilled and Chadian ) , potatoes smashed as well as roasted, salad, our famous red sauce and cake. He did an excellent job. Our dining hall was decorated with flashing Chinese red lights and a dj was spinning records. We also had a special guest; KC Herrman who is shooting a documentary about the relocalisation in the camp. I am preparing for a big clash with Gang (incoming field coordinator) . He loves chicken and I had informed him that the massive chicken we were eating could not be saved for him. Being a former middle weight boxing champ in Congo a bout is scheduled. Surprise surprise when I buy him a chicken Saturday and cook it for him as well.
There was another great piece of news as both air carriers gave as suspension form flights as we have to many non shows. I am sure this shall be solved though.
What will be harder to be solved is the increasing rift between the powers that be and the refugees represented by their leaders. On Wednesday the leaders were rushed to Bahai from the camp to meet a big big fish, however when push came to shove this hero had spent is time drinking tea with the local authorities leaving the camp leaders wait for 2 hours and then not speaking at all. O I forgot 2 representatives were invited in the rie to the airport.
It is hard enough to sell the relocalisation of the camp to the refugee community but the way the powers that be trample is sheer absurdism. Non dialogue as a way forward. Well our refugees are wise enough to resist. In the meantime our security is being guarded by the new playmobile police officers (coined by Dominique) as they were funky green helmets and red coats so they are good target practice. And they need to share 4 guns between the 12 of them. And then there are the flashy turbans in all colorzx of the rainbow but for camouflage. I do not know what these boys have learnt on their Police Academy but perhaps it is similar to the like named series of increasingly mediocre films starring Hightowers et all.
More good news; I shall be let out of the cage after our Health Coordinator comes back to Bahai around the 7th of December. NDjamena beware, mad boy on the loose. Our IRC demands have still not all been met but we are making progress. Yet the overall situation in Chad is bleak so it would not surprise me if we remain in minimal essential surfaces for some time to come.
My staff in the mean time is adorable. Adam has requested for 36 sunglasses as the sun is very harsh to the eyes. But actually I was not asked to supply no the sunglasses were already distributed if I could just pick up the tab. Bye the way they are darn flashy looking Raybaans from China. All most asked one for myself.
The camp is seeing more and more snotty noses. Believe it or not it is cold in the desert. Not only am I disallowed from sleeping outside it forms a good excuse for me to stay inside and not be frozen at night. Concerns are several neonatal deaths over the last month or two. Some how our follow up of high risk births is not ideal. When going into the camp and talking with the parents who just lost a baby (or actually their last 4) a solution must be found as well as a reason why this couple loses babies all the time: Sero- incompatability, cervix insufficience. And we are planning a vaccination campaign against measles next week a mass campaign so all children of eligible age are covered. I do not think I have touched on the sad news coming from the South. Fighting is intensifying and one humantarian aid worker from MSF has been killed, 5 are still missing. Very sad news indeed. It remains to be seen when interventions take place but it is clear that sooner or later similar to Darfur projects will be withdrawn due to the security risks. Leaving the refugees to fend for themselves. An undesired but possible outcome of political impotence.

The cat tips were well received thank you, And also all thank you for the reactions to the radio interview on www.theworld,org on the 20th of November with Lisa Mullins on PBR/BBC. Let us spread the message that this conflict deserves attention and a framework to come to a solution

The chicken all went through a health check up this morning after I spent half the morning chasing them to confirm their excellent health. It was a nice excercise and probably looked silly but I enjoyed chasing my chicklets. The grown up chickens are too fast for me anyways

Namaskar

Ashis

Bahai Beach 24

Bahai Beach 24

November 21, 2006

The convoy leaves…

This morning around 08.30 a convoy with IRC staff left for Abeche. Twenty nine of our national staff members are leaving until three indicators are met:

1. The two dacoits are sentenced according to the Chadian law and justice is dealt.
2. An increase of police officers to Bahai (as has been promised for 3 months now)
3. At the highest level in the country security of refugee camps and humantarian workers should be put back on the agenda.

I am proud that our staff were so firm in their conviction. Even the last 3 days 2 days gunshots were heard in town. They wish not to interrupt the program but want the minimum of safety to work in. The same goes for the expatriates. Two of us will return to Abeche and work from a remote control position. A feeling of sadness is also there. I know that several of our staff members wish not to come back to Bahai. Also going to minimum services is not the ideal scenario.
So in practice we have scaled down to a minute team of people. One vehicle available so we will we planning hard around all this one car. Remember there was a move planned. Well at least that has been put on hold for the time being. The powers that be have decided that water is an essential item to support life.
Spirits are high, the national staff that has remained behind has moved into the compound so the place is livened up. Today a large group of us were watching a James Bond movie for the first time in ages.
The camp in the mean time was fantastic. It feels like coming home every time I am there. We had a big meeting with all the refugee staff and they fully understood why we have suspended many of our activities. They themselves have fled for violence and wish nobody what has happened to them. The work to quote Osman Imam, our administrator at the health center will go on if for 3 days, 3 weeks or 3 months until our friends return.
Monday in the camp all snoozled up in the Toyota Landcruiser; at arrival it is quiet. Not many people at the health center. We are in between the diarrhoeal season and the season of respiratory tract infections. Time to talk with some of the zone leaders about the possibility of moving the camp in a more orderly way. The bottom line is that they are not against moving the camp, but want to have a strong voice in deciding where to. Fair enough I would say.
Never a dull moment in the camp though. As we were having lunch in one of the little restaurants (ful masri-Egyptian beans, salata tomatim with simsim and bread) a urgent call came from the security officer of UNHCR to inform us an injured man had arrived at the health center. He and four friends are from the camp but as goatherds men they had traveled into watery land 100 kilometer inside Sudan. There they encountered a troop of about 100 vehicles of Sudanese troops and janjaweed. After being pummeled with sticks they managed to run away but the last man Mohammed Suleiman was so unlucky to be hit by the bursts of fire of a Kalashnikov. As I asked Adam Suleiman (zone leader and my community health supervisor) why this happens his response was brief. They ‘janjaweed’ want to chase us Zaghawa of the land. A Zaghawa can be recognized by the earmarks his donkey has, the neck mark his camel has and his dark skin colour. All in this conflict are Muslim so is the amount of pigment in your skin a decisive factor if you have a right to live or not?
And then a ring on my satellite phone. An interview for www.theworld.org look under November 20th Chad interview. The whole interview will be made available as a podcast as well. I hope the message I want to make clear comes through. The vulnerable in Chad and Darfur deserve a better faith and no person with internet connection should be able to say that the magnitude of the drama taking place is unknown to them.
On a much lighter note. For those of you who are cat owners. Mimi or also known as our zagzag devourer has developed the bad habit of peeing on every couch or bed she sleeps. Does anybody know how to address this burning issue. I AM LUCKY THIS CAT IS TERRIFIED BY MY CHICKEN. Think about those fuzzy chicklets becoming prey. By the way as you must have understood the goat did not manage to escape and ended up as roast. In memoriam to him I have let the fence he had damaged in the original state.

Well I guess I am done for today,

More soon,

Namaskar,

Ashis

Bahai Beach 23

Bahai Beach 23

November 15

The soap continues….

Well and then there was a meeting and then another and slowly solidarity seems to be become more and more verbal but when it reaches concrete action the masterly crafty decision makers would like to go back to business as usual. At least within the IRC position about security is holding steady. Big fish are coming in today so decisions may be made today about where to go from here. Three boy scouts holding sling shots are not really a match to the heavily armed local dacoits, freedom fighters, army, loose elements, opportunists etcetera. Tis quiet and the powers that be are jumping off the camel hitting the dunes.
Highlight of the last meeting was a security officer who had the pertinence to ask what was the fundamental reason that our IRC staff does not want to work in these conditions anymore. His solution was to send a letter to the local authorities to highlight the present situation. This clown has been sent back after 2 days n Bahai Paradise.
More clowns are being flown in. Take a quick tour of the situation write up a bogus report about what is happening and how to proceed as nothing has happened. Wellcome to the real world Ashis. I sometimes wish I could tell you more about the absurdistic clownery going on here but we have partners and need to keep working with them despite all outrageous decisions taken.
On the move of the camp a little quiz
1. Camp moving where, when…really dude?
2. Neva
3. All ready in full swing
4. Postponed until the powers that be find a water rich environment

Answers next letter

Prize an all inclusive stay at Bahai Beach Paradise, flight too be self arranged.

Sancho Pancho and I are laughing about the tragicomedy of being in this situation. Wishing for better days to happen. And the battle for power rages on. The rebels/liberation front have announced their list of candidates for a Government including no people form the most populous part of the country the South. The civil war is being fueled by Sudan.
O yes we can hit lower and lower grounds yet.
Solidarity can be used as newspeak as well. Orwellian. We have a solidarity with you and with our wounded brother. If push comes to shove however we have a duty to go back to work. Security is an issue we can trample on with some 16 year old scouts coming over to save us. The beginning and focus of our escape plan. Let us shove our heads in the sand and pretend the houboub will blow all our troubles away.
Enough about this tragicomedy time for essential stuff.
I am preparing an evacuation plan for my chicken. They have given me reason to believe that they are no longer comfortable in Bahai. Either the singing in the morning is traumatizing them either the cold and violent climate will eventually lead to a displacement to a new site. I have got to make sure there is water in the new site though. Get some informed consent going. Sadly no eggs I guess our honeymoon is over.
Missing the kids in the camp. Due to current conditions we have not been to the camp since Saturday. We will see what happens. Sooner or later the camel trail must open up again.

Just a thought while inferno is breaking loose in Chad and the UN is squibling about sending troops in fancy resorts in Addis Abeba. Postponing because both countries need be involved in the decision making process. Chad has expressed its will to survival to accept a mix of African AMIS troops with UN troops. Can we for once bypass the dictatorship in Sudan. In my eyes enough shit is coming down to justify an appropriate response. Albeit late, better late than never. Central African Republic, Chad and Sudan are all suffering from destabilization. Truly the perpetrators of crimes against humanity are on all sides. Let us please intervene.

Namaskar,

Ashis

Bahai Beach 22

Bahai Beach 22

Rough awakening.

November 12, 2006

Saturday for the first time in seemingly eons I went for a walk to the market. Chat with the local kids, look for vegetables in the market or some fruits. A met our cook Francois there as he was shopping and we strolled back together. Chatting about Sunday and the meal we could prepare. All nice meats passed our minds and we settled on camel. We arrived back at around 16.00. There was an expatriate meeting planned so he went to the kitchen do his wizardry and I joined the others. At around five we hurt a burst of Kalashnikov being fired. We looked at each other and reasoned it sounded like a drunk soldier showing off. How wrong can one be. Ten minutes later neuf-sheesha, our driver on call arrived saying that a terrible accident had happened. Our driver Gony was shot and bleeding profusely in the hospital. Dr Pounce , Marc and I jumped in the car to see what we could do.
The incident had taken place not far from the hospital. And it seemed about two hundred people were gathered in and around the hospital. Gony was in the operation theatre being taken care of by 4 nurses. A rapid assessment learnt he had been hit in the leg twice and one bullet perforated his thorax. Instant surgical exploration of the wounds gave us the feeling that he was not in a very good shape and would need proper surgery in NDjamena. For the night we could give him a blood transfusion, pain treatment and cleaning (surgical ) of the wound as well as bandaging the wounds.
Direct contact with UNHCR led Gony to be evacuated to a hospital in N’Djamena where he is still being operated on. All of us pray that he will come through.
Sometimes you are lulled in a false sense of security. Today was such a day. The authorities are not in control anymore. Promises about new armed forces arriving have been pending, Pending and pending.
Oure Cassoni will be off limit for some days and perhaps we shall be locked down into our compound. The gliding scale we are on for a while now has reached a new low. The camp as such will suffer as well. That we have to move is clear. Now to find a proper other place.
The meal was a bit subdued but Tandoori Beef, dal , macaroni, liver, watermelon and oranges do go down well.
It is Monday morning and we shall stay inside our compound and office for at least three days or until the local authorities wake up and reinforce local security conditions.
It is sad there has to be serious injury to an aid worker before nothing changes once again . No walls or guards can protect us from violence of this type. The local community needs to be on our side and clearly they are not. Let me predict some things; intense meetings between UNHCR , national government and local government to send extra police officers, secure the border, catch the perpetrators of horrific crimes. Nice declaration signed and then due to lack of shoes or cars or guns (amazingly yes guns) the allotted police officers will remain in Head Quarters, the perpetrators will disappear as .
Oure Cassoni camp is very dear to me, steal cars all you want. Just do not have the cowardice to shoot a fellow staff member. I hope this is the un-crossable line that has been crossed so we can move forward to find another site and leave this town resembling a lawless den of many evil wishers as soon as possible. So far goes the goodwill of the local community. Perhaps I can not put my head around understanding nomadic norms and values but violence disgusts me. It is so casual and so accepted how will these people ever progress to more peaceful societies but for fighting till the last man standing. The longer you live here the more complex you realize this conflict is. It is definitely not something that just spun out of control in 2004. A multi factorial explanation must be sought, competing for scarce resources, break down of local reconciliation mechanisms, armed patriarchical society, foreign meddling (Usa, Erythrea, Ethiopia, Chad), divide et impare (Sudan), deforestation, desertification, free availability of arms, natural resources (oil). The region of Darfur and the other side BET in Chad are regions were there has never been strong central authority and the arms was always the chosen way to solve issues. But after clashes there was a reconciliation mechanism which seems to have broken down. One example I have written about is the dia. When a child or adult dies by accident or in combat 50 camels are to be paid for a woman and 100 for a man. It involves elaborate negotiations and once agreement is reached a ceremony is held to make peace between the different families. A meal is shared and there is peace again. For now I am sure too much blood has been shed and a solution is not lying around the corner.

Talking about which, when I peep around the corner I find a stack of work waiting for some attention. From the camp at the moment no real issues.

Take care,

Namaskar,

ASHIS

Bahai Beach 21

Bahai Beach 21

08-11-2006

Toma returns

For those of you avid readers somewhere a couple months ago a young lady was sent to N Djamena to have a breast amputation. There was a lot of crackle about this case as we do not have budget for taking care of cancer patients. Luckily the health coordinator and the country director were moved by the case and gave permission. In the process I was to see here pop in a private clinic in N Djamena were she was to be operated by a Chadian Gynaecologist trained in Cameroun. Guess what in due time she seem to be lost/ had a major haemorrhage (bleeding) but all out of the blue she popped up in Bahai yesterday. Radiant as ever. Best news of all. Believe in miracles ! The 6 kilo breast seems not even have been cancer (pathology) but a benign laesion. I just pray this is true but for now she is smiling.
The hospital is turning into a joyous place as well. The soldiers are peacefully playing cards and smoking cigarettes inside. And as men they are complaining about the plasters and sandbags hanging from their legs in traction. Delight full as these lads are in the hospital the reality is that for at least one more month all the beds will be taken by them and given the weather. Believe me or not it is cold outside tents are not an option. We are recruiting as ever for nurses. I wish they would have the courage to come up to Bahai.
The camp in the mean time is drawing one line. No move. No going anywhere. Well I guess that response is to be expected when you ask people to uproot their newly built mudbrick homes to return to tents. On the border of the camp in Sudan however Government of Sudan troops are being reported. Tension is rising between UNHCR and the refugees. Few people have signed up to be displaced and for sure at night they are being pressured to withdraw their signing up.
A new inhabitant has entered my villa domain for chicken. It is a bearded hairy bleating goat pretending to be a big bird. My chicks are becoming audacious again. Perhaps looking for their father. Running around the compound again in the morning.
Sandstorms a plenty since 3-4 days. I do not have enough warm clothes and need to go shopping urgently in the market to buy some woolens and a cap to cover my ears. O and our new Environmental Health Coordinator Tim has arrived. It took him 12 hours to get from the USA to Chad and about 12 days to get from the capital to the field. Well he is highly welcome. In a way I am a blessed man. Sancho Yoda is back in town and it seems he might be staying around to play some ludo with me. As usual he came completely under prepared with one shirt, two socks and three pants. O and this time he managed to take one book as well. Poor sod I will buy him some clothes. It is a good thing he gets married. I am surprised he got around so along without kicking the bucket. The good thing about him is that he does take the piss out of me as often as he can. Like to giggly schoolboys we are always up for mischief. Our latest plan is to shoot a cult film in Bahai. Spread the message of the downtrodden to the masses around the world. A Bunuelesque or rather Kafkaesque feature film leading to box office success. Big cash flow and major prices. Getting us to hob nob with the fertile famous. Keep on dreaming I guess.
The closest I got today was in a recorded interview on the World Radio (USA) which shall be broadcasted Friday.
Talking about toast. I did it 2 computers in 3 days. I guess Dell is happy with me as a customer. The last computer lasted about 36 hours. I was happily tapping away when I started smelling something funny. Mostly it is the lamp which is burning so we turned it off. Five minutes later `I realized it was not the lamp. Too bad before that the lap top decided to croak on me. Ribbit no more laptop for me. Recommendation has come for me to continue work by Papyrus and Goosefeather .
People I am just so far behind with work it is hilarious. Every time I make a serious attempt at catching up in Administration a computer gets fried due to excess energy input. Should I just wholly quiet touching these malign machines. I am still on the fence.

Well before I fall of I am taking my catnap. Tonight I will not try my conventional place but my bed outside not in the wind. To much sand in the ear is not good.

Sleep tight.

Namaskar,

Ashis

Bahai Beach 20

Bahai Beach 20

Water shortage

November 5, 2006

The ugly truth has been revealed. There is not enough water in the new site. It was revealed on Voice of America several days ago so I guess it is in the public domain. In the camp in the mean time mobilization to move is still in full gear. However despite all security threats there is rarely anybody to be seen at the registration tables for the move. Some big fish in Geneva has put his/her wishy washy mind that Oure Cassoni will be moved as per November 10th.
Where to ? Unknown.
Informing refugees ? Who cares.
Involving refugees in the decision making process ? No time.
I guess when this place was set up 2 and a half years ago security was considered. People in the camp however will decide them selves if where and when they want to move. Services will be phased out in the camp. Yet for at least until the last convoy in let us say 2 or 3 months services have to be provided.
Maybe I wish not to understand real politic. Maybe decisions about refugees are beyond my level of comprehension. Yet the procedure being followed now to me dehumanizes the beneficiaries to passive parcels to be shifted to A o no to B o no to C. In medical school I was taught about informed consent. I guess in self created emergencies these rules do not apply to UNHCR. It requires a functional cerebrum only to see that accepting a refugee camp smack on the border with Sudan near a major water supply (the only one in a wide circumference) is asking for problems.
I hear that the refugees themselves have refused to budge when settling in 2004 and in several moments afterwards. Yet when the move is imminent the back up place to go has no water reserves enough to cater to our population even if they wanted to move. Where was the real contingency plan?
Chad is a not exactly water rich. One of the prime requirements for a human to live are access to water, food and safe shelter. I pray we find water quick.
I shall not go into ad hoc other solutions being talked about. These points are not official yet and await to be aired on Voice of America/ being told to the refugee community and their leaders.
Tuesday the next Leader meeting is planned. I shall be present and know it will be a hot hot meeting as we say here. The message of the lack of water will be revealed and also the alternative plan.
On a lighter note the hospital situation is calm. Fractures take time to heal. All patients are stable. My concerns now are that we have no place to admit the usual number of local community and refugees in the hospital. The medical team is near complete and we are hiring extra temporary staff to cover the needs of the hospital.
Mimi is turning to be a menace to the local mice/gerbils and is doing well. Yesterday another party (read visiting at 1600 and leaving at 1800 due to strict curfew). I managed to move one leg on the dance floor for at least 10 minutes.
In attempt to enlarge our collection of Bahai Zoo we have purchased two white goat. I am hoping to convince the cook not to slaughter as they may be the hard core of a future herd of goats. We will find a local boy and he may take care. This afternoon however goat rib barbeque most likely will be on the menu.
The airing of the document on 60 minutes Searching for Yacub has opened my eyes about the true power of the media. There have been reactions a plenty. And because of internet I can access many of them. The discussion on the intervention of UN troops in the Darfurian conflict is taking an interesting turn and I do hope that the African Union together with the EU, US and UN can muster an appropriate peace keeping for. Else it is free for all and judging about the incidents in Central African Republic, Sudan and Chad this may well become a regional nightmare. In the media (New York Times) one can read how Chadian Arabs are copycatting the terror of Sudan but also that the Arab community is suffering from attacks from the Black Africans. I do not want to oversimplify a very complex conflict but I know that if no intervention is taking place anytime soon Endlosung, fight till the last man standing will take place. While the local, regional and world community has not been able/willing to intervene. I just can not understand why a minute (comparative) conflict in Lebanon troops are made available in a hush and a puff and here nearly three years of impotent talks show the perhaps true interest to our Muslim Black/Arab fellow beings.
Well I just would like the public opinion to sway into the Human Duty. Protect the vulnerable. Open eyes and ears. Learn to care about what is happening in the world.
Big words- perhaps, but history will judge us harshly for being passive and non caring.

Namaskar

Ashis

Bahai Beach 19

Bahai Beach 19

November 3, 2006

Time keeps on ticking.

While Mimi our black four month old cat but already an expert in catching mice is trampling the keyboard in attempt to lure me into giving food things developments are as usual rapid, chaotic and unpredictable. The little chicken for instance seem to feel that Mimi is a big furry brother of theirs. One day a family drama is bound to take place. I am trying to brief my chicklets but the seem impenetrable concerning security threats. Their mothers however are much wiser. For at least 3 weeks no eggs have been produced. Their must be an inbuilt anti Kalashnikov gene in the reproductive system of these birds. War means no eggs as the offspring will grow up in dire conditions.
In Bahai in the mean time the merchants are packing up shop, inhabitants are leaving to other places and there is an eerie silence despite the increased presence of rebels in the wadi. A senior Chadian Government Colonel from Bahai has been killed fighting in the South and a wake is taking place next to our office ass that is his residence. In the history of Chad April and December are known to be months of revolution. Even last April there was an attempted coup from Sudan by Chadian rebels. December is nearing and fights are going on inseveral places within Chad. Also in Darfur itself the heat is on. GoS looking for an Endlosing and the Zaghawa and other tribes looking to carve out there kingdom. In the media one may get the feeling that Arabs are out to destroy the Black Africans. Clearly there are Arab villages being looted and pillaged by Black African tribes. It is nasty business war but calling this nasty would be to kind.
Back in the camp power play all the time. I wish you could be present at meetings. Yesterday I chaired a meeting with the Protection and Public Health team about collaboration. One group has Social Workers and the other has Community Health Workers. It was the first meeting with the Expatriate and Inpatriate staffs of both teams present as well as the senior Refugee staff. It starts out calm and positive with women and men coming up with good suggestions then at one point the leaders join the fray the discussion with the shopping list approach and with condemnation of the litlle effort we have done. So to give an example a woman will deliver in the heath center when we give her a piece of soap, fruit, meat, sugar or perhaps a bag of money. Or that a vehicle is required for emergency services as the horse cart owner living in the camp lives far away. The bottom line is men refuse women to deliver in the health center and they are the decision makers. We have a big work in that department. It seems however that an assistant reproductive manager is coming soon. Maybe even today she will join to the camp. She is Chadian and speaks Arabic. In the community there are many Traditional Birth Attendants who do roughly 60% of deliveries. When a problem arises they come to us very late. We need to create an incentive for them to come to us with the problems before the problems turn in to catastrophy. Last two months we lost some new borns and even a mother due to lack of clarity about when they can or not come to the health care center (24/7) These are issues to be discussed on grass root as well as leader level. In the clinic in the mean time due to overdue holiday breaks for national staff we were very much understaffed however most are back now. Yippie – a – yaay.
Dear Doctor Ponce who has been working 12 hours a day for 3-4 weeks in the hospital is off for a weekend break in the capital and after that he will be doing an assessment of our possible new site near Biltine. F~rom the information gathered sofar the Ministry of Health is more present there. I guess beating one chicken and a guard is not hard to beat. Reports are due a budget for this highly chaotic move with a minute planning time. Remember first convoy is supposed to start to leave on the 10th of November to a site where there is nothing yet. We as an organization need to step up to tell UNHCR that even given security threats it is impossible to move a camp to another place without planning from a moral, medical but mostly a human point of view.

My pancakes are awaiting and so are a hospital, reports, new staff, a child requiring a bloodtransfusion I am off.

All be safe.

Take care,

Ashis

Bahai Beach 18

Bahai Beach 18

CBS 60 minutes show hits like a bomb.

UNHCR must be very pressed. On the second day of Id the refugees were surprised with the official news that the camp would be displaced. It is one of the most holy days in Islam and cultural sensitivity is not high up on the list in UNHCR. The reaction of the leaders of the camp was as united as predictable. Under no circumstance will the refugees vacate their houses in Oure Cassoni to the preposed site in Biltine. For the refugees this is the region where the Janjaweed came from the same Janjaweed that chased them from their houses. ‘Like jumping in a put with a stone around on a rope around your neck’ . ’Sending us to hell’ It seems the home work by UNHCR has not been done well. Part of arguments mentioned maybe be valid. There are Arab tribes living in Biltine (the new site) The second argument is that the cattle/goats are being herded in Sudan by the men can not be taken to the new site. The third argument that the present region is like their homeland. The host population is from the same tribe. After a while (4 hours) the meeting was suspended to respect the day of Id and to be able to spread the message to the whole of the camp the next day.
We are so blessed with the cooperation of other NGO’s. Bless the International Red Cross and International Medical Corps for sending nurses, surgeon and anaesthesist. All the wounded can finally get the required traction to their broken legs. There will be one hall in the hospital with about 12 men with a sandbag hanging on their leg. Great photo op. Even the young man whose leg was considered to be amputated yesterday is being given another chance to heal. In fact all patients are stable. Even the boy who got shot in the abdomen. He had blood in his abdomen and an injured kidney but he is going well. And our man with a bullet in his brain is smoking cigarettes. All soldiers smoke in the hospital after all. To make sure the smell is not too bad tons of incense is burnt on a daily basis. By now Dr Ponce my Cuban-Congolese brother needs a break. He has been doing an amazing job since October 7th non stop surgery and molding plasters, cleaning wounds. I wonder how we will organize that. At the same time plans are being made to move the camp. And he will do an assessment of our counterparts in other words the ministry of health in the new site. I have heard it looks much better. It has a functioning hospital. Which reminds me that in a meeting yesterday our Medical Director of the hospital showed up. He has still not bothered to inform us about the fact that he has found a new job in Abeche. Well I guess we are better off without him.
The camp in the mean time is a strange place. You can feel the mounting pressure. As the registration for the move has opened on day one no people came for registration. I am told that it is always like this when a camp is moved for usually security reasons. The manifestation of rebel infiltration in the camp in the mean time is more and more clear. It is highly likely that there is active enrollment of men and boys in the respective rebel fractions. Jeeps and weapons are found in the camp at all times. In an environment like this we can not work. The Sudanese Government may decide to bomb the camp as they can rightfully claim it is a rebel stronghold and that the status of refugee camp is being abused to create a base for their enemies.
Finally I have been able to hear the documentary on sixty minutes. It was about 13 minutes but it send out such a strong message. The storyline was about the schoolbooks of boy called Jacob found in Sudan after a village had been razed and the quest to locate the boy. Eventually he was located in Oure Cassoni camp and ended up being interviewed. He told the reporter that he lost several of his relatives and that he wanted his schoolbooks to remain in the Holocaust museum to assure that people can see what is going on presently in Sudan. I had the good fortune to air my views on the lack of involvement of the world community. And ended up being quoted the next day on CNN to emphasize the plight of the refugees but more over the impotence of the local and world community to address the issue. I can tell you that viewing the documentary really shook my world yesterday. Shawn, John and their team congratz. No Emmy required. Perhaps this can tip public opinion to intervention in this devilish conflict. You did a hell of a job.
In the mean time it is back to the camp. Today we have an HIV sensitation day and I have been asked to attend this training. Also I am working on a plan of action for the transfer of the camp. Like in an absurdistic novel I have visions of setting up shop. creating great facilities to realize after several months that the deafening silence is due to the lack of playing children in the camp.
Shall we suspend educational services in the mean time until it is confirmed when the move starts? How do we address all these challenges?

I will look in my crystal ball.

Chicken are under threat of night frost. Planning to build them a nice and cosy stove so they do not end up as ice statues.

Namaskar,

Ashis

Bahai Beach 17

Bahai Beach 17

Monday Id Fatur

For once the sun did not wake me up. Bursts of Kalashnikov fire, friendly fire for once. The local population is elated. No more fasting and big celebrations. Sheep are being prepared all over town. A month of fasting in a desert is not easy. Not drinking while it is up to 45 degrees Celsius makes people grumpy and sleepy in the afternoon. Inchallach energy levels of staff will be up and it is needed. Big work lies ahead. Sensitizing the refugee community and preparing them to leave for a camp located in a safer place further away from the Sudan – Chad border.
Saturday in the camp I had a very nice interesting discussion with some of my staff members. We were talking about the eminent threat. Antonovs (Russian planes used by the Sudanese airforce) are encroaching the Chadian airspace on a daily basis. These are the same planes that were used to bomb the villages of the refugees in Darfur. A trauma revisited. Look at the location of the pitched battle of Saturday 7th October with likely hundreds of deaths and wounded at a whopping 5 kilometer from Oure Cassoni camp. Who knows what may happen next time if a party decides to enter the refugee camp and use it as a battlefield. Given all that the answers of the staff were amazing. We will not move deeper into Chad. If we need to move we will go back to Sudan or to Libya. Allah will protect us and provide us with food and shelter if or rather when UNHCR and the INGO’s leave. Mayhap in a Kafkeskian twist a refugee camp may be set up for no refugees. Yet staying in this place is impossible given the security and water situation. My male staff made it perfectly clear that even if all the women and children wanted to move to the safer place one Zaghawa man saying no will suffice to refuse the move for all. Moving your house for a second time in 3 years is not easy. Their houses are mud brick construction which are really nice. Many people have sheep/goat/camels/donkeys and wish not to leave them behind. Oure Cassoni lies on the border to their home country and entry to it is very easy by either donkey or car. Many men are across the border tending to their herds knowing thqt their families are being taken care of in a refugee camp.
For us it implies running two camps for a limited time until all those refugees who wish to come to new site are transferred and then sadly we need to stop services at the old site. Old hands say that the reaction shown by the community are common. At first resistance but when the reality of the new camp sinks in more and more people may follow. For us to see if in this case it is true. Zagawas are fiercely independent and will make their own choices guided by their Umda (Sultan/King)
All the NGO’s working in Oure Cassoni have been visiting the new site. OXFAM is preparing a hydrological survey. Water points are being dug. Transportation of 25000 and a possible 15000 refugees more are being prepared. Setting up of a new camp while winding down the old site is being planned. I guess the whole transition is planned to take place in 3-4 months. If that is realistic is anyone ‘ s guess but that is what the time frame is.
The challenges that lie ahead are immense but I am confident that there is no other choice. The Chadian Government and UNHCR have decided that Oure Cassoni is not to be maintained at the current place. Let as plan for the worse and hope for the best.
On a lighter side I am proud that 7 chicklets are still winging it. On the way to grilled chicken according to some on the way to world conquering egg imperium according to me. They manage to roam freely in the morning but stay in their gate/residential area most of the time. Just to peek a boo at their beloving father early in the morning. A whited headed black bird is always popping up in the morning as well but our kingfisher seems to be less inclined hanging around violence. He or she has left.
The medical team is tired and they have done an amazing job. Taking care of over 100 injured soldiers in a war setting is just mind blowing. Deep deep respect to them. Three soldiers died in the hospital. One may still die. He refused amputation and is now septic (infection in the bloodstream) with a necrotic (dead tissue) leg. It may well be too late to save him. Yet only 2 days ago he in a clear state of mind refused to be helped. All his friends tried to convince him as well as the medical staff. His wiggling toes were proof to him that the leg was still functional. When the bandage was opened maggots crawled out. Disgusting as it may seem mostly they eat only dead tissue. Now his wound has progressed up to his hip. Amputation in a center like ours is impossible.
The camp has held well. Just a steep increase of cases of watery diarrhoea. We will map and try to find out if it is a single bladder, a latrine or a underusage of chlorine in the water. Luckily although cholera is around the corner in Sudan we are still unaffected. Essential services have been maintained even if the medical team could not go to the field every day.
Jan Pronk, the Dutch UN special envoy in Sudan is being kicked out of the country for saying what is clear. Sudan is continuing its cleansing of Darfur by airplanes. I am not saying that the Sudanese rebels are choirboys. After all most of the wounded and killed in the pitched battle of Carriari (the lake) were Government of Sudan and the attack took place during the month of Ramadan ( a month where war activities are usually stopped ) during the prepation of the meal to break the fast. Again against all war ethics. If you believe that there are just ways to fight battles at all?!
And the last disturbing fact many of the fighting rebels are not adults but boys. Child soldiers. When will the vicious cycle ever be broken. In the camp the only solution seen by the refugees is the immediate dispatch of UN troops. Why is 2 weeks of conflict in Lebanon enough to guarantee an influx of tens of thousand of UN troops and why is a far bigger conflict in Sudan ignored?
If anything I said on the CBS documentary 60 minutes called searching for Joseph aired yesterday in the USA I pray it to be the statement that it is time for people to stop closing their eyes and start caring again.

Have a great Id Faizal,

Namaskar,


Ashis

p.s. new photos of my chick farm will be posted today on www.flickr.com today

Bahai Beach 16

Bahai Beach 16

Round and about.

History of a camp on the move.
Can not even lift my heels and see what happens. Massive combat near the camp and the decision to move the camp can be made snap. Camels and trucks or by foot or dear refugees need to move again. After being bombed out of their original homes security leads them further away from their homes and into Chad. Given the precarious location perhaps an overdue decision is taken and water related issues (lack thereof), closeness to the war theater may be things of the past. As we are moving south and west there is a very big chance of fruits and vegetables to be available and maybe even milk of zebra’s.
As additional money making activities I am thinking of opening a well equipped camp site for expatriate staffs; Jacuzzis, sauna, discotheque etcetera. Bound to make a smashing amount of CFA’s.
As I talk over skype with my colleagues the intensity of the fighting and the casualities are coming through. On one day 104 soldiers with gunshot wounds were admitted. Three died only as to the valiant efforts of those working 24 hours a day to give these young men a chance. And then you read about Darfur. The fighting is picking of the Government of Sudan has suffered two big defeats, making their blood boil and unleashing again the demonized but also demonic Janjaweed (in this war none of the parties have clean hands) It is being said that when a military attack takes place often the vehicles are of NGO origin and a fleet of UNHCR, MSF, IRC, CARE vehicles mounted by a plenty soldiers and heavy machineguns attack other fleets of vehicles. Bombing from old Russian planes is taking place again. Ramadan is not even over. A time to reflect and to enjoy the brother/sisterhood of man.
Is it the oil, is it a quest for kingdoms, is it sheer madness or CIA induced ? Perhaps these and a myriad of other reasons.
The question why I am here for me is clear as it was the day I decided to take the post; No child deserves this. What adults do is their own right. Yet no child should be put through this.
Back to Holland and the UK a beautiful pool of babies has been added to the planet. All I managed to see and those I missed out on are what makes this planet a beautiful place. A place of hope that perhaps we will get it right one day.
Fruits-fish and milk. Sleep and loiter that is what I needed and I shall need again in 3 months. Mayhap in the Netherlands, maybe India maybe Mombasa I shall see. The distance gave time to reflect. To look back on the positive things happening in the camp. The enormous difficulties that are faced by the refugee population but also to a lesser extent those that are trying to help. The workload will be so high that there is only one way for the team and that is to gel and kick ass so while a group of 29000 are moved, a camp is built, normal things like water, sanitation, health, education go on as normally.
To all of you thank you for your thoughts, support, meditation, prayer etcetera. I feel it gives me the strength to keep smiling and digging in hard.
I am happy to be back with my chickens and colleagues. There is some mischief to be done.
Namaskar, Ashis

Bahai Beach 15

Bahai Beach 15


Novel attack.
01-10-2006

It becomes an elaborate play. A group of local dacoits enters a local ngo compound. They take hostage people present and start a frantic search for keys of the vehicle. The keyholder is so nervous that he forgets he has the keys in his pocket. In the mean time a security officer in hightened state of stress falls asleep on the floor. Four bandits move to their brothers of the police to kidnap some more people. They succeed and by now 10 people are held hostage. The guard of the compound escapes slithering his way over a wall and alerts the commander of the brigade. Just before he arrives some of the staff get smacked on the head as they are trying to send emergency signs by hand set. The bandits in a fine frenzy smash the front window of the car try to hot wire it but do not succeed. As the jeep of police arrives the crooks slip away by foot in the night. No one gets arrested and the hoodlums are still in town awaiting their next chance to heist a pick up.
To make matters better our gate is down to be rebuilt in a proper gate so at night we are without a gate with a vehicle in the compound that does not start. I guess at a point you just need to laugh about these events. Clearly the thieves are after cars and radios. No one has ever been robbed for money.
In the compound the chicken are breeding like anything. I lost count with the little ones. And therefore today I moved them to the gated enclosure. Mother chicken gave me a hard time to catch her before I managed to leave her in the fenced area.
There were two birthdays this week so we had a fantastic lunch with camel steak. In the camp in the mean time buildings are being reconstructed, gates are built, systems are put into place. It really is starting to look like a functional tweaked health care center. Yet I am curious how the big boss of UNHCR will respond when she visits.
O guess what today in open day light at 1100 in the morning one boy armed with a pistol stole the pick up they so much yearned for. One hour later it was spotted in Sudan and woo o woo the local police had no petrol to follow the perpetrators. In the larger picture at N Djamena and Abeche level heavy delegations are tumbling over the table with suggestions. We require extra police officers (fuel o and money would be nice UNHCR) Just cough it up. The thefts will continue but at least more of the people in Chad will benefit from your generosity. Somewhere in a compound today the brother of the president is laughing. He is our local sultan and he takes 10% of each and every deal made in Bahai. Bahai from the old days was a place where the outlaws used to hide, a place to meander, discuss and plan ahead like in a bad spaghetti western, but then eastern. If you lose the capacity to laugh about these events I guess you need to go. Safety wise I feel ok. I am trying to understand the motivation of the people here and it seems to be money spinning. How to milk the International community to the maximum. Their mandate after all is to take care of our Sudanese brothers in the process as we have no education.
As a short completion of the story. The awaited first clash between troops took place in Sudan leading to 30 plus casualties and unknown amounts of deaths. It was 5 kilometer away from the camp. Myself I was on route to N Djamena and now I am in Holland relaxing and trying to empty the mind. I shall comment more soon. My thoughts are with my colleagues.

Namaskar,

Ashis

Bahai Beach 14

Bahai Beach 14

Security training

The good thing about vistitors from abroad is that they bring a lot of knowledge, experience and sometimes good food. The down side is all feel that on top of the normal work program there are endless session in the day and at night. Sorry for those of you who felt I was inaccessible. In this case security advisors came, instructing our drivers on safe driving, awareness, convoy driving etc. etc. For ex and inpats there were many exercises on the context of the situation we are living in and the mental state that is security. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and not only personal but also for the group. I guess the best illustration is the fact that we are currently in phase orange. This means dangerous times. At all time an evacuation may be imminent so at all times documents and a carry pack of 15 kilo need be on you near you. During the exercise it became clear that only 1 of us was carrying his hanset, two a sat phone (one switched off, the other flat battery etc.etc.) A lot can be improved any way. It was a good reality check.
Today in Oure Casssoni again a young man presented with a bullet wound in his leg. For me I do not ask about the reason why (as there is military around) just make sure the patient is stable and move him to the hospital. Another sad story is a 10 year old girl with a heart condition, valvular disease by rheumatic fever. That in it self happens, but the parents kept her home for two years. By now she does not eat, too tired, does not play and is tired all day. We hope to put her on prophylactic treatment, buff up her red blood cells and nutritional status and educate the parents.
My holiday is rapidly approaching. My head by now is filling up with the plans I have for the next 6 months. Always baring in mind that the entire context may change. The water may run out in May, rebels may attack the camp, there may be strikes by the refugees as we will reduce our staff numbers. A plethora of potential worries. Yet overall I feel the spirit of the team is picking up. In the meeting of two days ago my assistant managers were taking the piss out of me and that to me is a good feeling. New expatriates arrive, old expatriates leave. Soon I will be the most senior person (time wise in Bahai) It show how fast time flies. One day you are the first and one day you leave. The new team seems to be rock solid with logisticians with 100 years of experience (and look a likes of Marc Anthony), fresh (Dr Ponce a Cuban trained Congo Brazzavillian doctor), Aphons our former refugee from Guinee (what a harrowing stories he has to tell and where is he now, helping other refugees and having 2 of his 5 kids in Australia a country he never visited)
The bird farm is doing well: 6 chickies by now however there is an alert on avain influenza in the country. All potential investors need bare in mind the possible destruction of the poultry.
UNHCR woke up after realizing that in their stock there are 5800 bed nets finally they have started distributing (well tomorrow inchallah) Sancho Pancho and I have to do our spiel through the world of skype. The lucky bastard is based in NDjamena so he can dance pretty much every night leaving me to suffer the tightness of nightly curfews. Some of you have asked me to describe the compound, well I shall put some pictures up on www.flickr.com get there through www.bahai-beach.blogspot.com. It consists out of chickenshit, sand, two bucket shower a massive diner cum meeting hall. About 14 rooms for expatriates and visitors, a kitchen, a houselet for chickens, about 10 trees looking to grow to mastodonts. Since the attack the walls are being heightened up to 2.50 meters with barbed wire and lights on the exterior. An added advantage may be the availability of internet from 1800 till 0500 in the morning.
Nature wise we cohabitate with zag zag (gerbils), desert lizards, massive spiders, scorpions, kites, sparrows, kingfisher and several other birds, exhausting amounts of insects and other animals. The donkeys are the sweetest of all.

Ladies and Gents,

The convoy is beeping

I need to jump in the car,
This afternoon I shall construct a chicken fence


All be healthy

Until soon,


Namaskar

Ashis

Bahai Beach 13

Bahai Beach 13
19-09-2006

Ramadan

After Hilel ( when the moon disappears ) and reappears on either Friday or Saturday this week Ramadan will start. This has many consequences for the project. Working hours will be reduced for our refugee staff from 07.00-12.00 with emergency services only. It is said that only the really sick people will come so the workload will be less anyway. To be followed up. Let us pray that during Ramadan there will be relative peace in the Darfurian conflict. It coincides with the departure of the AMIS (African troops) on September 30 leaving Darfur completely open to warlords (janjaweed) and Sudanese rebel groups (JEM, SLA fraction) and the Government of Sudan to do as they please. From time to time I get really sad tiding of civilians being slaughtered in villages not so far away (<200 kilometer).
Today our first confirmed HIV patient entered the camp. He was staying at another camp (Iriba) but his parents were in Oure Cassoni so with the last energy and funds he had he came to our camp. He refuses treatment (intravenous perfusion) and looks severely dehydrated. His father is blind and his mother very old so they were looking for a third person to take care of their sick son. Traditional healers had come and given him certain amulets and cuts to his chest to purge the illness. Not unlike we were doing in Europe until perhaps 100 years ago. This healer (uruk) instructed the young man not to use Western treatment. The next days we will try to respect his wishes but try to at least alleviate his suffering. He has near continous diarrhoea and is too weak to eat or even drink. Perhaps with an iman and a local leader we may help him suffer less.
While I am writing this I am in the souk (market) smoking a sheesha. Due to the security situation there are two convoys per day back to Bahai. We missed the first one. In our vehicle are two malnourished children as their mother does not have breast milk so they are fed goat milk. The human intestine is not prepared for this so both kids have diarrhoea. One is severely malnourished and dehydrated. The other twin is also weak. Another lady had a fight with another lady and her four front teeth were smashed loose. There is no dentist here so I will consult with the doctor in the hospital of Bahai ( if he finally makes it to a plane, he was on the passenger list but has not been in his hospital for near three months now) If not perhaps I will extract the teeth before she swallows one of them at night.
Yesterday afternoon was a big framework day for IRC in which the programmatic framework was explained to the international and local staff. The format was a group discussion. IRC mainly works with refugees in conflict areas and has several principals. Just to mention some; building capacity, collaborating with local institutions, preparing to hand over, saving lives. The program components include; Gender Based Violence, Education, Protection, Environmental Health, Reproductive Health, Clinical Health and Public Health. We talked about the context of the conflict in Sudan and Chad to make sure that the philosophy of our organization is understood by all.
In the camp this week we had a vitamine A mass distribution, a bed net distribution to the orphans and close monitoring of the quarters where two suspected meningitis cases were found two weeks ago.
My break is coming up and I am looking forward to meeting all newborns, friends and family in the Netherlands and the UK. Once I get the confirmation of my tickets I will inform all so I can see a lot of you. Also fruit, fish and sleep are high up my list of things to do. After the mini break in the capital I realized how stress out and tired I really was. Still the majority of my health staff is out of the project the next weeks and the past weeks due to poor planning. Well it is at it is. Next year the holidays shall be more evenly spread. Then again one of my assistant managers has taken liberty and has returned back about 10 days late. He is not the first and for sure he will not be the last. So this afternoon I shall have to have a nice conversation with him. Perhaps he has found another job. I shall see.
Sancho Yoda has returned and I shall hope to hear that he is getting married soon as he went down on his knees in France.

Be healthy,

Love to all,

Namaskar,

Ashis

Bahai Beach 12

Bahai Beach 12

Grandfather Ashis,

Dear all. It has happened. Three little chicklets have popped out of the eggs and are cruising the compound. They look like daredevils as there are hawks in the air looking for fresh meat. A contraption is made so there is protection against the predators. And yesterday as well a Sudanese refugee came to give me 2 birds of an undefined status. They look like waterbirds and have huge feet, eating grass and insects.
I feel like a grandfather and the owner of a bird orphanage. It is an elating feeling I assure you. I have been in the camp for two days after my stay in the capital and there are as usual some problems. What is new?. At the distribution of yesterday the 4000 peoples who do not have a ration card and therefore do not get medication/tents etcetera where about to revolt. It took calm explanation of the UNHCR coordinator Angele to calm down the masses.
The dicotheques in N Djamena are places jam packed with French soldiers, beers, women and doumbolo (African music). The Meridien was a nice place to swim whilst looking at the cruising hippotami floating bye in the Chari river. In a way N Djamena reminds me of Khartoum as it is also built at the conjuncture of two rivers. Yet Chad is much less rich than Sudan. In N Djamena I managed to visit two of our referred patients. A 8 year old Goran boy who did not even cringe when his leg was dangling. Now his amputated half leg is curing well. His father a commandant in the army is looking for an orthesis. The other patient was a lady of 25 years with breast cancer. This morning the operation was done. It is palliative care (not meant to cure) but it is the best we can do for her. Even for Chadians chemotherapy is often beyond the means. The rules with UNHCR dictate that refugees get the same level care as the local population and not better.
The end of the week I spent counting tablets and reorganizing the pharmacy in our base, in the camp health center and health post with the help of the logistical team. The business is still unfinished but perhaps on Sunday I can do some mental relaxing exercise to either Wim Mertens or Dj Tiesto. Will see how the mind state is. The pressure over the last week has been building up, but finally on Monday Dr Kaboo is coming (the medical hospital director, who is more often on holiday/or piss drunk. Thank godmy colleague Dr Pounce will be his counter part and I can finally focus on the camp only .It has been a hard time and as some have noticed very straining. The smile on my face is back however especially when my rest and recreation was approved for October. London, Paris and Holland beware. Next holiday may be skiing in the Himalayas or diving on Zanzibar.
Tomorrow also I wish to finally built a house for my chicken they cause stress to my fellow expatriates and I can no longer protect them from the cooking pot. The shitting and the noise pollution is just too much. It seems tonight we will have a projected flick under the starlight.
Our Muslim staff is gearing up for Ramadan. They are eating a plenty and are eagerly looking at the moon as it is to be decided at which day Ramadan will start by spotting of the moon. Our working hours will change and they say also the workload. It is said that because of the cleansing effect of fasting less people fall ill. The fasting is one of the pillars of Islam and the inhabitants in the camp take it very serious.
From Sudan nothing but bad news, more and more fighting and in 15 day the African Troops from AMIS will be withdrawn leaving no peace keepers as the UN is denied entry. All ready the fighting has picked up. Even in Chad between Abeche and Bahai there are pitched battles between Chadian rebels and the Chadian Government. As stated in the last letter a lot of people may come or they may decide not to cross the desert and stay with there animals. There remains inside of me a feeling that this conflict will not be resolved soon and that the real political will to address the Genocide is lacking. Possibly because unlike the situation in South Sudan these people in the conflict are not Christians but both warring sides are Muslims. The Government of Sudan is clearly out to boot out what they call African elements and Arabise Sudan. Making sure they get their fare share of oil out of it. Well to end on a more positive note.
The kid we sent to Abeche with the appendicitis has been returned as the man with the hepatic abces (almost dead on departure)
Life throws some ugly curveballs but some beautiful ones as well.

Namaskar,

Ashis

Bahai Beach 11

Bahai Beach 11
12-09-2006

Pigeon soup

Hassan one of my favourite drivers today showed me the nest of two fledging pigeons growing to adulthood on top of my room. He told me this in complete confidentiality and then he informed me Wednesday he will make lovely pigeon soup. I guess I shall accept his invitation to dinner. Five hawks are semi settled near our compound eating our scraps and awaiting the little chicklets to pop out of the egg. .I have not found a defense mechanism yet to ward of these predators. There is a plan to construct an irrigated vegetable field so we do not become vitamin deficient. Slowly our team is coming back to full strength. Alphonse the education manager has come, Dominique the gender based violence manager will come next week and so will Dr Pounce, who shall work in the hospital. Temesgen the Evironmental Coordinator is leaving early and our Field Coordinator Giorgio will leave as well.
My last few days I spent in both the capital N Djamena as well as Abeche (regional capital). In N Djamena I found a bar where a Morgan Freeman look a like plays the guitar and with his band African Jazz is played all night. Dancing in the local clubs is like entering a military zone. All French conscripts passing there weekend. In the hospital in the mean time our patient with breast cancer is awaiting breast amputation and the young boy kicked by a camel has a well healed wound and stump. Now he needs to find a good orthesis to help him walk again. In Abeche our patient with a liver abces was fine and I was so happy to see him return to his family in good health again. His parents and brother were beaming with joy.
In the camp in the mean time a drama is taking place. A sixteen days old boy whose mother died after child birth is not doing well at all. The family however cruel it sounds is directing it towards infanticide. I pray tomorrow the local leaders or imam can interfere because this is unacceptable. I wish but I fear tonight death will strike. The boy was already in a coma and severely dehydrated. The good news is that our health clinics are getting more and more visitors. We hope the people in the camp feel the services are improving. More transfers to the hospital (24 last month) but today even 5 patients were taken. We refer roughly one patient a week for surgery/obstetrics/severe illness to the regional hospital. Also we have a labtechnician who is doing good work so that helps us in making the correct diagnosis and provide the right treatment.
News flash of the day; UNHCR is preparing for 15000 people to come to our camp in the next 1-4 weeks. A fourth zone will be opened. And we need to hire exgtra staff, stock up medication, prepare water, latrines, do health screenings etcetera. It seems the stories will never end here. Also the security situation is not getting any better. We have one convoy to and from the camp a day. Our vehicles are locked in the UNHCR compound. We are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
Somehow my batteries were empty the last two weeks. But as I stated reinforcements have arrived. And I can focus on my own two jobs; clinical and public health in the camp. There is also the next Rest and `Recreation I am looking forward to. Let us not hope it coincides with the major influx of Sudanese refugees who are expected to cross the border by foot with nothing yet again. And so while big words are spoken in New York the reality of the day is unchanged for the inhabitants of Darfur.
Let us start to care…


Namaskar,
Ashis

Bahai Beach 10

Bahai Beach 10
31-08-2006

Dear all,

Another harrowing event this night. It seems like Ali Baba’s 100 nights. Schecheradze needs to keep on spinning stories to appeal to the sultan and extend her own life by yet another night. As a world champion powernaps I was lying in front of my villa when I was rudely awaken from my sleep. Half sharp no specs a guy was flashing his knife and telling me to follow him. In the corner of the compound our 3 guards were forced to squat on the ground. Marc our logistician was also there and hoodlum number 2. This chap was carrying an AK-47/Kalashnikov. In Arabic instructions were dispersed. Luckily we understood they wanted the keys to the pick up. Very unfortunately first the arm of one guard, then the head of another and then my wrist was used as stick wielding practice. Finding the keys in the designated place was easy and the crooks left us with schreeching wheels. A third mischief maker jumped in. All this took place in about 15 minutes at about 22.20 at night. Within three minutes the military police arrived. Our guard has a huge bruise, was bleeding and a bit groggy. The other guard is ok. And me well I am tapping the letter with a left wrist that is swollen by about 50%, Luckily karate reflexes saved me from a splitting head ache.
What to feel for such losers; contempt, grief, anger, or just sorrow. Well in the end they lose out. Bullet in the brain or a Chadian jail either perspective will not lead to a stairway to heaven or endless virgins. No just sadness, humanity can be beautiful at it fullest when laughing, creating art, being just and honest but also intensely ugly. Shrug the shoulder and dip the wrist. Initial reflexes like revenge are primitive and futile. So what box the guys? Their reckoning will be there. I got a job to do. Sure we do not take incidents like this lightly here. Bruises and blood are apparently part of the deal.
And then my mini break got cancelled. As I have mentioned before at times one in two flights does get cancelled.
Let me give some good news as well; a fifth kokai, konya, jedad entai was purchased. She is grey blackish and has great potential for gulus. The lady who has breast cancer shall be taken to N Djamena on Monday…
The 4 suspected cases of meningitis ( two deaths) have so far not become more (cross finger) and cholera is still 50 kilometers away from us in Sudan. Let us hope custom service keeps it out. Then again cases of hepatitis E have been found in a village not far away from here. In the hospital most patients are doing well many referrals from the camp have been returned home. We are trying to make a collage of the returned patients and a photo when they left to give our health center a more human face. With the vaccinations in place at the Health Post and Health Center we are getting tons of happy young kids frolicking around. I shall sure miss this place when `I go for my break in Holland. It may sound weird but I get more then give here. A sense of belonging, daily steep learning curve, managing motivated and unmotivated staff. There may come a day soon when we fire all 43 community health workers to rehire those people in the camp who are willing to work a full day instead of a half day. As you can understand not all is rosewater and honey but the smile of kid that was sick and about to day only days earlier makes my day.
All be safe. I wish you peace and love.

Namaskar,

Ashis

Bahai Beach 9

Bahai Beach 9
30-08-2006

Desert thought raising aftermath.

Hawks a plenty… about 3 thousand of them. It can not be the one donkey lying rotting in the wadi. Explanations range from Convention on Black Hawk down, yearly mating ceremony to a Rave for Confused Hawks. However it may be it is an impressive sight to see these mighty birds circle around. I am holding my heart as after about 10 days I am expecting 5 chicklets to be popping out of the eggs and they are edible for these flying rovers.
Yesterday night was yet another laughable event. As our guards tend to sleep at night we invented a reverse guarding system whereby all the expatriates take shifts to be awake to ensure the guards do not fade away. Long pokes and buckets of waters to ensure their collaboration. In case of sleepiness photos are taken and the most eloquently sleeping guard shall win the Sleepy Guard of the Month Award (so far three candidates)
The way to the camp (25 kilometers) has changed over a week. It is green-green-grass with stretches of sand in between. All goats and birds are having a field day, storks (hence the birth explosion), herons and kakatoos. It is surreal to see camels go through the Dutch green fields. The wadi is teeming with life, frogs, snakes and perhaps fish.
Reinforcements are due. A Doctor Pounce has been localized and he is willing to leave ihis snuggly Brazzaville house to move over and reinforce our hospital team. The local Medical District Officer has disappeared from the face of the earth but this way at least I am not the only doctor in the entire region. We send about 25 people to the hospital for treatment and diagnosis ranging from difficult pregnancies (echo available) to premature babies, malnourished kids, stroke patients, hepatitis cases, meningitis cases, malaria cases, elephantiasis case to difficult deliveries. The Chadian doctors in the mean time seem evasive. Even an interview in Abeche (the third largest city around) seems to be to much effort. I am afraid once they see the reality of the field they will turn around and leave. Honestly I can not completely blame them. Life is expensive here, with little to nothing to do and even the local population seems to be slowly moving on to places where there is more water. Even the sturdy nomads here are running into problems. If not through the conflicts (Chadian and Sudanese) then through the arid conditions. Our lab technician in the mean time is awaiting his contract. Administrative procedures take its due time here and in the mean time the hospital and camp will just have to be without. The region has been without for 6 months anyway.
Because of concerted efforts of the NGO’s, mainly the IRC the hospital is slowly getting on its feet again, just praying for Ministry of Health involvement and commitment as well. Nowadays our vehicles are full of patients we take to and fro. The peeps in the camp seem to get the message that there is a second tier of care out there and they are starting to present to our Health Post and Health Center. Sometimes a sad story may find at least a small solution. One of the female refugees who has breast cancer and delivered an anencephalic child 2 weeks ago is allowed to go to N Djamena to meet an oncologist there. Even if the treatment is only palliative. I can not do anything for a 5 kilo breast in terms of pain control, nor proper diagnosis or treatment. Chemotherapy in the desert is far far away. I feel humbled when the husband profusely thanked me today. As he said after the Government of Sudan bombed their house and they had to flee Sudan chased by the Janjaweed the had nothing left. He was counting on our generosity. Generally for an NGO taking care of chronic cases/cancer is not within the mandate/budget but for this lady I became a knucklehead on a crusade and let us hope that at least something comes out of it for her. As because of Machavellian powerplay I may be with her in N Djamena to ensure a proper hand over to the oncologist. At the same time I may visit our young friend who lost a leg due to a camel kick.
The camp lies under multiple threats; infectious; malaria, meningitis, cholera, security; the region is still heating up, water security; still less water then last year and this year we ran out in July. Also a dam has been built upstream.
We have a new temporary Congolese kick ass (rightly called Gang not Ganga) as Field Coordinator in place who is teaching me valuable lessons. If you are a knucklehead at least follow your bosses instructions on what to do and then inform her/him about the extra’s you will do that day/week. Plan ahead. Work and play hard. Communicate at all times. I guess desert whispers are teaching me lessons. By now our departures to the camp are at 08.10 sharp, people are taking initiative and responsibility in the team, slacking is no longer tolerated but also rest is an essential in a trying environment. In a way the 5 prayers a day that my colleagues here follow are an inspiration. Five moments in the day to reflect on ourselves and the relationship with the Allmighty or the surrounding nature.
The guard is awake doing his duty to switch off the generator. May I write two pieces this week? We shall see ?
Try www.bahai-beach.blogspot.com and post a comment if you would. I am thinking of all of you and the kids popping out left and right.

Namaskar,

Ashis

Bahai Beach 8

Bahai Beach 8

Rain and heavy heavy quantities of it… Three little boys running around the compound half naked crying and screaming. Singing songs and taking showers. Forty five minutes of bliss in the desert. Unknown to the project that it could rain so hard in Bahai. Even the day before we had been out at the water side to worry about the lack of lake. Now buckets and buckets full of it in one. My chicken were hiding in a small tukul (wooden hut with straw roof) but several eggs floated off. The next morning at 0600 bad news. The office has collapsed. (check out www.flickr.com) Luckily nobody got hurt. Pascal and Marc and about 15 others worked hard to salvage what ever was in the office and soaking wet. From computers to files to cupboards etcetera. The hospital has also been affected. Several cracks in the walls and leakage of water into the walls. Downtown Bahai walls a plenty came tumbling down. As we tried to access the camp to make sure our Health structures and Watsan structures were intact we were halted by the wadi (dry riverbed in the desert for seasonal rains). A mean wadi by now, wading is all you can do, no can pass by vehicle. (Try www.google.eartAll remains to be seen tomorrow. The weather has attracted falcons a plenty. They are circling the water and also the compound. I hope my chickens by now are so fat that they can not be taken by the falcons.
Insects are swarming around the lit lap top screen. Tomorrow for the second day I shall be interviewed by the American CBS show 60 minutes. In the camp in the mean time we lost a child to meningitis. This disease can kill in less than 24 hours from the first sysmptom. This means red flags up. Every day we go for active case finding to ensure we do not have a deadly outbreak of this disease. Also a class was given to all health workers on early recognition of meningeal disease and medication was prepositioned at the health center so early treatment may be started on suspicion of bacterial meningitis.
Bed net distribution, staff members refusing to dip bednets, Kafka could not have made it up better. UNHCR sitting on their butts like the Lords of Poverty. The conflict going downhill. Rape as a weapon war being used in Sudan. Cholera around the corner. Half of the health team out of the project for a bit. Hence my ranting.
The good news is I am off for a hard weekend of partying in the capital of NDjamena and also to find Indian spices. Which reminds me with some South African we had a great braai with goat.

As the hour of curfew is nearing and nowadays we do not have internet in the compound any more I shall send this bitlet now

Namaskar

Ashis

Bahai Beach 7

Bahai Beach 7

The show must go on.

Yet again a very sad tiding. One of our Chadian lady workers in the Gender Based Violence Department passed away more or less unexpectedly in N’Djamena due to hypertensive crisis. Our thoughts are with her family and friends. Today the bare minimum of activities was maintained and the national staff is preparing a ceremony to remember her in the house she should to stay at in Bahai. This afternoon we will attend. It seems that bad tidings are the flavor of the day; three days ago our Clinical Health Assistant Alexis who had just returned from N’Djamena found out his father is in a coma in the Teaching Hospital in N’Djamena so he flew straight back the next day. The program in mean times faces some restraints as the other expatriate doctor has resigned. He felt sick and exhausted. The reproductive health department is without a captain again. It is also the department within the health sector that needs the most care/improvement.
On a lighter note; the chickens are doing extremely well. At five they pop up at my bedside (as I sleep outside) and sweetly ask me for food & water. Well I gladly please my ladies and add a song or two because a wise man from Mexico told me if you sing to the chickens they will lay more eggs. Lo and behold two days ago I sang; 6 eggs. Yesterday I forgot; 1 sole egg. Either the guards/mice are eating the eggs, either my voice is indeed a miracle maker. And then the sparrow who think the drinking point is a path and my back is a rock to rest on (and shit on as well.
The access to the camp is getting less easy; rain dances have led to relative abundant rains and instant pulpification of the roads. Mush all over. Shaking the booty when driving the 25 kilometers to the camp every morning at 08.05. My goal of the perfect departure at 08.00 has not been reached yet. But with the arrival of Marc our new logistician in the project and Gang the acting field coordinator there is new power in the project as well as experience. Luckily Marc is ornithologist and Gang owns a 750 chicken poultry so the wisdom is on board for world domination with my chickenfarm.
Cholera is a major headache. Just across the border in Sudan cases are being reported and there is regular transportation. Our preparations are in full swing to prevent outbreak in the camp. Preposition of fluids, oral rehydration solution, antibiotics, classes, early recognition, warning, surveillance, isolation ward constructed and trainings done. Now waiting to face the storm. Talking about which a houboub is nearing, big sand storm right towards the compound. And believe it or not internet access during the evening hours. Not only cholera is at the threshold but also malaria. And given the system of UNHCR we need permission from them to distribute the bed nets while they bumble up the attempts to get the required insecticides to dip the bed nets in up here. I have never been a fan of rules and regulations and truly at times I want to run up the wall and shake some sense into some people working there.
How could I forget I delivered a baby boy in the hospital and the parents want to call him Hashish (ya man spread the message; green leaves are a blessing) . Also a young man who was kicked by a camel was evacuated. He fractured his under leg and because lack of money his parents could take him to the health post only after 4 days and then from the health post Bao (120 kilometer) to Bahai after another 3 days. Sadly his leg will have to be amputated as there is gangrene and necrosis at his underleg. Do you remember the guy with acute flaccid paralysis? He will be coming back on Monday or Tuesday and he is almost recovered 100%.
Yoda Sancho Panchez and I have started a work out program. I am focusing on the triceps as huge as Arnold Swarzenegger in his better days. He is complaining to me about this tiny little patch on his foot. After tons and tons of ointment I have given up on his foot and will amputate when he sleeps. It might resolve my promlems

Bahai Beach 6

Bahai Beach 6

August 11, 2006

On Wednesday we were struck by a true tragedy. Behind the compound lies our septic tank. For reasons unknown to all the lid had been taken off the septic tank. At 1600 a group of children came to our gate crying that something had happened in the back of the compound. When the guard arrived a 5 year old girl was found inside the septic tank. She had fallen in and had drowned. The emotions running through the hearts and minds of the national staff ranged from disbelief, anger, sadness, shame, fear, sorrow. How could we have neglected such an important and basic practice? The police came to do an investigation where it was found that the incident was a tragic case but there had been no intent on our side. We pray for the family and the girl that has lost her life. All I can hope for is that we at our side at times reflect more on the procedures we have in our organization. It is near impossible to avoid accidents, but clearly we do not look good on this issue. As a consequence UNHCR needs to give all the NGOs in the area clearance to go to work for the rest of the week. Perhaps the host community does not take well to the loss of life of one of their children and all men in this community carry knives and possess guns in their houses. You may have read in the newspapers that across the border in Darfur but also in Sri Lanka humanitarian aid workers are becoming more and more a target to violence. Several projects across the border have been abandoned. Also the peace agreement between the Government of Sudan and Mini Minawi ( biggest Sudanese Liberation Armee ) is unraveling rapidly. Mini Minawi’s supporters form the majority of the people living in Oure Cassoni refugee camp. There is infighting in the SLA as well and several split ups are against the signing of the peace agreement. On top of all this the Chadian president Deby who hails from this region has been installed for a third term as president after changing the constitution to satisfy his needs. Many of his detractors come from his own family/clan the Zagawa. Again the population in our camp is also Zagawa but those that live across the border in Sudan.
On a lighter note I am currently the owner of 2 chickens. Two more are being brought today or Saturday. Friday it is Independence day in Chad so no work. I feed them with grains and rice and they are awaiting the completion of the villa I am building for them. As I tap Kutidai (Zagawa for hen) and Jedada Entai(Arab for hen) are pecking way at the grain I have purchased for them. Kokiak (Goran for hen) and the Sara term for hen are to follow suite soon. And somehow five sparrows find the neon lighting I have very interesting and sit on top of it every night. Mr mouse (zag zag) or desert rat also seems to like to hang out near my veranda.
With the holiday of our field coordinator the health coordinator will be acting field coordinator for three weeks and I shall be acting health coordinator for the same period. For the camp we have a monthly activity plan drawn up for all the different departments. Some of the things that we are doing this week include; paying the incentives to our refugee staff, filling holes (avoid mosquito breeding grounds), distribute bed nets to all pregnant women (about 300) and orphans (about 2000), have health campaigns about prevention of diarrhoeal disease, monthly stock inventory of the pharmacy, international drug order, prepare construction of a water basin in our health post and center, work on the quality of the drinking water (being trucked in form the dam), have an active malnutrition drive where the community health workers look for malnourished children, jobinterviews with laboratory technician and doctor, monthly report. One of the good things that did happen to us is the arrival of Charles a Congolese member of the Emergency Desk who will help us with drawing up of Memoranda of Understanding on different topics; agreement with Bahai Hospital as we have new funding there for a 6 month transitional period in which we try to hand over (again) the hospital to the authorities, reduction of refugee incentive staff members. I think I mentioned in the health department alone we had 108 when I came here, possibly around 70 would be a more effective figure. Also we are improving the pharmacy and storage of drugs in the camp and I can go on for a long time more.
Whenever Yoda Pancho and Dr ~Chewbaca get frustrated we get out our big football (look at www.flickr.com) and kick the ball or end up discussing the lesser and greater Philosophers of the last 3000 years. I am blessed with such a neighbor. He keeps me sane in times like these. No visits to the market this week.
Does anybody have a good suggestion for a weblog site. I am considering opening one.

Take care,
Namaskar,

Ashis

On Thursday all of a sudden 40 trucks with military rolled into the wadi. One kilometer from our base. Straight away we rushed to the compound. UNHCR found out it was Chadian Government troups. In the same night a soldier and a civilian got into a brawl over a women and the soldier shot the civilian in the abdomen. This morning we spent arranging a flight for the man as well as for a second case a young girl who had fallen in a hole. It is hot and the conflict in Darfur is getting more and more hot

Bahai Beach 5

Bahai Beach 5
05-08-2006

Mission chicken is about to succeed. I have decided to start up a chicken farm. After searching the local markets and considering the prices of an egg (about one $) calculations showed that it would be more fun to keep some hens. Sunday I am building a little house for them and Monday they shall move in. Names are being assessed and high on the list are the following: Jedada (Arabic for chicken) and the Sara, Goran and Zagawa names for a hen. Some people tell me I need a rooster as well otherwise there shall be no eggs. Well we shall see. In case it is required I shall distribute earplugs to the other expats before they strangle my rooster. The market is my place to chill out. And I have found jawafa, a sweet local fruit, which is then made into a fruit shake. Also the sheesha (waterpipe) is still one of my favourites. Slowly slowly my Arabic skills are improving and even some Zagawa words are picked up left and right. Zagawa is the tribe that has been chased out of Sudan by the Government of Sudan and the Janjaweed. On the othe side of the border things are heating up. There are more and more attacks on the local populations and humanitarian aid workers. Here in Chad there are always rumours of what may or may not happen. To illustrate the unpredictability of the Darfur conflict: Mini Minawi (Zagawa Sudanese Liberation Army) is now the third vice president of Sudan and is supported by George Bush et al as well. He was in Washington last week and until 1 month ago he was fighting GoS. Now the other rebel groups have turned on him. Our refugee community are mainly Mini Minawi followers. The camp I have visited 5 out of 6 days this week. And as I said last week it gives me energy to struggle through administrative battles as health incentive staff for 96 people and monthly reports (due Monday) about 16 pages. Luckily Sylvie the new health coordinator has arrived and she is great. Finally I have time to plan ahead instead of always be in the troubleshooting mode. Also our reproductive health doctor Joaquim (Burundian) has returned. But work has a natural tendency to be heaped upon our shoulders. UNHCR expects us (Sylvie, Joaquim or me) to chair the taskforce on HIV/AIDS for the region and camp. A brilliant challenge yet it has to fit in with all other ongoing business as cholera preparedness, clinical care, transfers to the hospital in Bahai, or by airplane to Abeche and N Djamena, clinical supervision, public health programs, teaching sessions, meetings, reporting, security awareness and all. In short a great way to learn how to multitask, prioritize, delegate and hand over. Fresh blood is coming into the program and it gives it a real boost. Also there is more of a work hard play hard atmosphere in the camp. Dr J likes his beers, dancing and music. And Sylvie is taking over the responsibilities I was covering as Acting Health Coordinator. Some good and some sad stories to tell as well. The sad story is a refugee arriving in Bahai hospital (25 kilometer from the camp) on Wednesday. Bravo Golf Julliet 39, my call sign went off and I was requested to come to the hospital immediately. A lady in labor had obstructed labor because her placenta was in the way of the delivery channel. While I was busy to arrange an evacuation by airplane she vomited once and collapsed. She died. If only she would have come two hours earlier she and her baby would have survived or if we had a surgeon (we = actually the Chadian Ministry of Health Bahai Hospital) on call. The good doctor however is now not on his post for 37 days. What ifs do not help. All I can wish for is that the job interviews we have next week will bring as a dedicated surgeon with a caring heart. It is well to be understood that living on the fringes of a desert are not first choice for many medical people. I am sure we will find one. Several applications have been sent as well for a laboratory technician. Both will increase the functionability of the hospital as well as save lives. The beautiful story was a 5 year old boy who drank pesticide. He was brought in respiratory failure and with brusque intervention we managed to pull him back. He left the clinic two days ago smiling and that just makes my week. And to top it all I had the good fortune to do a normal delivery a healthy baby girl in the new maternity clinic today. O yes it is raining I shall send some photos so you can see how urgent it was. The lake is empty and we truck water from the dam now (10 kilometers from the camp).

Let me stop here. I am still happy here and Yoda Pancho, my loggie mate is snoring to loud so I will have to take some of his ear plugs. He gave me a nick name as well: Dr Chewbaca. Me a Don Quixote to him or vice versa is unknown. Enigmatic paradox.

Take care,

Love and peace,

Ashis

Bahai Beach 4

Bahai Beach 4
30-07-2006

The Libyans are the main suppliers of goods in the souk (market). They travel in huge Mercedes Benz trucks convoys loaded so full that they are twice as broad as usual. You rarely meet more friendly people. In a mixture of French, English, Arabic and Hindi We exchange stories and share foods and teas in copious amounts. One can not leave without having a full belly. The bring to this isolated community: clothes (buying a FZ Barzalona Shirt), food items, but also satellites, television and other goodies. The souk provides opportunities to starta proper chicken farm in the compound. Need to haggle hard because as a khawadja (white man) the price for items is twice the local price. Also me being a leading expert on chicken they may sell me infertile, blind or mentally retarded chicken defeating my vision of an egg emporium in Chad with little outlets all over the country. If this plan is succesful however the camel breeding project is second on my list.
Water is becoming a major issue. Although it has rained it is not yet in the amounts we long for. Trucking is our second options from a dam about 10 kilometers from the camp. This body of water should suffice for about 3 months. In any scenario it needs to rain across the border in Sudan so with the gravity and aquifers it can fill up our Lake Cassoni and I can have a massive swimming pool to my disposition. Sancho Yoda, our midget logisticians is back in the project and we spend our nights exchanging list of most senseless movies- innuendo – mischief and other projects two 35 year old with the mindset of a 12 year would engage in. And new staff is about to be rolled in the project a new health coordinator and a member of the emergency response team. Charles (ERT) is here to reduce staff numbers in the health departments and work out a proper memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Health Hospital at Bahai. And Sylvie will be here to coordinate the different departments: Reproductive, Clinical, Public and Hospital Health. I hear we are recruiting for a Hospital Manager as well. Let us wait and see what time brings us.
The most impressive story of this week was the prolonged labor and delivery of a child in the maternity ward in the camp. After an episiotomy (cut) and lots and lots of help the mother managed to push out a baby boy. No cry, no heartbeat, floppy, bluish immediately neonatal resussitation was started but after 15 minutes of mouth to nose mouth breathing, medication and heart massage the baby boy had to be declared as a stillborn. On seeing the sadness in my eyes the traditional birth attendants responded in a touching way. Dr Ashis do not worry, the mother is still alive and inshallah she will deliver again in a years time. No need to further express the survival mechanisms the Sudanese people in the camp are used to. Another boy took some traditional medicine or improperly prescribed drugs in the camp and developed a severe fixed drug skin eruption. He had blisters all over his body. Yet after nursing him properly he is improving day by day. As in all countries I have worked in the danger of HIV/AIDS is eminent. In our wards are two patients who have all the signs and symptoms of this lethal disease. The MoH hospital is understaffed however. The doctor is on a sick leave/strike/holiday and the lab technician has left them as well. And well we are at the end of the world in semi dessert how can you blame them ? I am getting to know the health staff better and better and overall I am very happy about their motivation and skills sets. They love teaching session and traditional birth attendants, nurses and community health workers each have 2 sessions a week on those topics that are relevant given the season or because they are basic skills for their work. Last week we discussed malaria, malaria in pregnancy, diarrhoea and prevention thereof. Also we have started a bed net distribution program for pregnant women and intermittent treatment of all pregnant women with an anti malarial drug in the second and third trimester. Malaria cases are expected to shoot up in the next two weeks. Every week a new challenge is up so the learning curve is still steep and is what I like. The final words for this week will be that although we have a total rupture of vaccines since 1 week, a case of acute flaccid paralysis is in the camp (possibly polio), incentives for the 96 health staff need be prepared, drug order for hospital and health centre are being arranged, weekly and monthly reports are due, rupture of water delivery may be on the way and many many more things going to the Oure Cassoni camp six days a week is like filling up my tank brimfull of asha (hope) and energy for the next weeks and months to come.

Namaskar,

Ashis

Thank you for all you for writing your tidings I really enjoy it.

For those of you who wish to see some pictures: try www.flickr.com and search for polio or ashis_brahma.

In due time a myspace photolog will bein place as well. But having difficulty uploading pictures there.

Bahai Beach 3

Bahai Beach 3

21-07-2006

Matthias picks up his shoe and smacks it on the floor. Bang another cockroach less in this world. But no it is a scorpion size about 8 centimeters. Both John and Matthias will be sleeping inside both have been bitten before and have felt the excruciating pain in the past. Frankly there is no treatment for a scorpion sting in our pharmacy. Luckily I have gone to the local uruk (traditional healer) and he has made a leather amulet to ward of scorpion stings, snake bites, knive stabbings and bullet wounds. Comes in handy these amulets.
Two days ago a young chap arrived who had been attacked with an axe like weapon. Part of his skull has crushed. All we could do here was stabilize him and get him evacuated to Abeche where there is a surgeon. By the way our Ministry of Health doctor has self evacuated and we pray that he may return here. Presently I am the only doctor in an area with 30000 refugees and 40000 host population and surgery is not my cup of tea. Challenges, challenges, John the Kenyan male midwife is traveling on Monday for a new mission in Liberia leaving me in charge of the Clinical – Public – Hospital – Mental -Reproductive Health for two weeks. The good news is we are recruiting a Chadian doctor and a new Health Coordinator shall be arriving Inshallah first week of August. As these interviews have to be done in Abeche I will probably fly up there next week to conduct them. The score for cancelled flights this week was 3/5 however. Mechanical failure.. Always good to hear when you are flying. We are encountering some sensitive political issues. The sultan is more or less demanding that we recruit local people only. It is hard to deny him many things as he is the brother of the Chadian president. Yet the illiteracy rate in this region is very high and trained doctors or labtechnicians are not available in the region. We have tried recruiting local nurses but there are just none. Some posts therefore stay open even if the budget is there because Chadians from outside the region are not always accepted.
The first party since I have arrived was in the UNHCR compound. Main guests were the staff member of UNHCR (security man) who was leaving, a gazelle (male), 2 ladies and about 40 men. Yet when the African music hit the speakers hips were churned a great mélange of dances from Benin, Burundi, Ethiopia and Holland were shown off. The cleg dance went down very well indeed. Since about a week I go to the souk (market) regularly to work on my Arabic and Zagawa, drink tea, gossip and get to know the people living in Bahai. In the camp nowadays we share breakfast with the Sudanese nurses. Either lentils, or beans or camel with bread.
An attempt is being made to contact the foci (healers by scriptures from the Koran) and bada (trained to remove djinn through there own two devils) yet it is culturally unacceptable for them to talk with a khawadja (foreigner). Overall besides the security the program is up and running with potential for improvement. Our expatriate staff numbers are low however and will not be replenished very past so although we are consolidating better to say we are trying to float.
Since the cock awoke me at 0430 and otherwise the pigeons at 0500 I am closing my eyes and want to thank all of you for writing it makes my day. Will attach a photo of the lake. Or what remains of it