Volume 5
July 27, 2004Hello, everybody.
Our girl has settled into life in Garsila. Here are some details:
The good news is that she thought, based on earlier briefings, that she would be living in a mud hut, but it turns out that she's actually sleeping in a house in the town of Garsila. She has been put in charge of running a feeding clinic for malnourished children in a hospital that DWB has set up in the town, so her days begin with a walk from the house to the clinic. She is dealing with children whose average age is 3, but whose average weight is only about 12 pounds. Their dire conditions, however, do not take away their sweetness, she says.
It turns out that there is an encampment of Janjaweed militia men very nearby, but they keep their distance from the hospital, the clinic, and the town, and she feels she is in no danger from them. Let's all pray that she's right.
And last night, after her first full day in the clinic, just as she was falling asleep, the town was awakened by a giant swarm -- Ally used the word "plague" -- of flying insects. She's not sure what they were -- "they kinda look like giant termites," she said. She wrote to me last night, "There are literally thousands flying around and they apparently die in about 3 hours. But I was just lying down and relaxing finally today, and then the plague started." As if her day hadn't been hard enough.... The good news: No bites and the plague gave everyone the excuse to get up, line up at the one computer and send emails home.
But the best news is that she's safe, and that she's doing what she went there to do -- help little kids. More details as they come.
Also, now that I've established email contact with her, I will paste the messages that many of you have sent me into a single email to her, and I'll cut out and paste her replies to each of you when she gets a chance to reply.
Chuck
Links to Aid Organizations
Doctors Without Borders UNICEF International Red CrossInformational Links
CIA Sudan Factbook United Nations Passion of the Present New York Times (Africa section)
NPR "Fresh Air" program on Darfur The Guardian's Darfur Diary
Last updated Wednesday, January 19, 2005