Volume 14
October 17, 2004
Hello, everyone. It’s been a little more than two weeks since the last Ally Report. The primary reason for the delay is that since Allyson returned to Garsila after her week of R&R in Khartoum, her routine has changed quite a bit. Instead of spending almost all her time in Garsila at the hospital and the Therapeutic Feeding Center, she is now spending two days and nights each week, generally Monday and Tuesday, on “outreach” missions. She and enough other MSF people to fill up two Land Cruisers take off for villages within a day’s drive of Garsila to attend to the medical and nutritional needs of people in those villages. Sometimes, this entails bringing patients back to the hospital in Garsila, presuming they don’t get stuck in the mud on the way, which did happen one afternoon, causing Allyson and her colleagues to spend the night in the Land Cruisers, until help came in the morning. But usually, it just means taking care of folks on the spot.
House calls, Darfur-style.
Her travels, of course, mean that my communication with her has become less frequent. We still have our weekly phone call of about 15 or 20 minutes on Fridays, but daily email is a thing of the past. We’re down to two or three a week. When she’s on outreach, her only means of communication is via radio with other MSF outposts.
Those of you who see me or talk to me regularly know (even if you’ve had the grace not to say so) that this lack of communication has made me whiney and crotchety at times. To those people, I apologize. It’s been an adjustment, but I think I’m there.
Truthfully, what finished the adjustment period was a story in this morning’s magazine section of The New York Times – particularly, the pictures that accompanied the story (one of which, a picture shot in a feeding center much like the one Allyson works in, I've posted below).
All of these photographs, except one, were taken in places where Allyson has been in her work. The conditions they depict are truly beyond anything any of us here in America have experienced, and probably worse, far worse, than anything we will ever have to endure. Please read this piece. It offers a clearer explanation than any piece I’ve seen of why Darfur is in such dire conditions.
But in this horrible nightmare of a place, there are moments of joy. One of those came about two weeks ago, not long after Allyson returned to Garsila. It had to do with the opening of a small airstrip near the town, which will make it much easier to get supplies, both medical and nutritional, to the people in Garsila and nearby villages. I’ll let Allyson tell the story:
 |
| Celebrating the first landing |
"We have been trying to get an airstrip completed outside of Garsila, and finally this Friday, it was cleared and our logistician, Dawn, asked all the expats in the house if they’d like to come along and see the test landing of our plane. As soon as we arrived at the airstrip, we noticed the plane was coming in. and Dawn told us to make sure all the villagers cleared their animals off the strip. The plane came in and flew over, then came around again and touched down without problems. The pilot and the plane’s crew got out, and we greeted them and took pictures, and they said it was really great to have us there greeting them.
"Anyway, before we knew it, one of the local women came dancing up, waving her little ax/hoe around, jumping up and down and trilling her voice, 'Aiiiii Yaaa Yaaaaa Yaaa!!' She was so happy. Within seconds, she was joined by hundreds of other women, all jumping up and down, and before long they started moving back and forth, dancing and singing, between kawajas (foreigners, like Allyson) standing by the plane and the kawajas standing by the Land Cruiser. The pilot took a picture of the group. It was glorious. They were just so happy to see a plane that wasn't military and was there to help them."
We, my friends, ain’t got no problems.
Until next time,
Chuck