Keeping a respectable distance away from this local mode of transport. I was later told that I faced greater risk when standing beside a donkey. 

MSFers Adrienne, Frank and Dave determning with locals whether or not the latrine hole is deep enough. 

Afghan children at Mohammad Kheil camp in Balochistan province, Pakistan. 

Trip to Balochistan

“The thunder of guns in the mountains of Balochistan has caused deep concern throughout the province…It is almost four days now that the security forces started action in Kohlu district following a rocket attack aimed at the gathering addressed by President General Perez Musharraf…The rocket-firing incident was generally considered contrary to the tribal traditions of hospitality.”

The Balochistan Times, Thursday, December 22, 2005


Its probably better not to even read the newspapers. Maria, one-half of the perpetually cheerful Swedish couple I’m working with, was recently assigned the duty of reviewing the local newspapers for stories that may be of interest/concern to MSF. I think as a result she’s looking forward to her departure in early January. Maria tells me that she has been too busy to write home and that her mother is monitoring my blog in hopes of any news on her precious daughter. Therefore, as a public service I forward the following message “God Jul mamma & pappa! Allt val har! Kram Maria.”

Anyways, let’s get back to talking about me.

I managed to sneak out of Islamabad for a couple of days and flew south to visit our office in Quetta and travel to the Afghan refugee camp at Mohammad Kheil (MK). To get to MK you head west from Quetta on the trade road to Iran. When you get close to the Afghanistan border you turn right off the paved road and across the train tracks. If the road is bad and you think you’ve taken a wrong turn then you know that you haven’t. It takes about 3 hours to drive here which tells you how close Quetta really is to the middle of nowhere.

Mohammad Kheil is about as barren a place as you could find. You wonder why people would come here of all places which is also what I think when visiting Edmonton (which for my Swedish readers is sort of like living in Eslöv). If this is their place of refuge you can only imagine what it was like in Afghanistan. This camp has been here since the early 1980s following the Russian invasion. The population size has varied since then from over 60,000 people to the approximately 15,000 that reside there today. The homes are built mostly of mud and clay and many are abandoned and in decay (hey, that rhymed). It almost has the feel of an ancient Greek archeological site rather than a place where are large population recently lived.

It was interesting to see what MSF provides to the camp. The Health Unit was a busy place and I was impressed with its range of services and how orderly it was. Also at MK there was a feeding centre for malnourished infants. Both locations were fully operated by national staff. MSF is also coordinating the provision of chlorinated drinking water and installing latrines in MK to ensure that sanitation standards are met. I have been in Pakistan for almost two months now and finally I was able to observe MSF at work.

Shake, Rattle and Roll

The earthquake started at around 2:45 a.m. By the time I was awake enough to realize what was happening it was almost over. Nothing dramatic happened like books falling off the shelves, but obviously there was a fair level of concern. Text messages were promptly exchanged between our MSF House and other locations. This morning we came to work with some trepidation (or at least those of us who had been awaken by the quake) wondering what the news might bring. It had measured 6.7 in magnitude and had struck the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan, about 350 kilometres away from Islamabad. While significant this was much less than the 7.6 that the Kashmir earthquake had measured. The day has passed with no further news so hopefully that’s the end of this story.

I’ve recently had a couple “It’s a small world” experiences. First, I had dinner last Friday with Gail, a woman I used to work with and haven’t seen for 14 years. She is now responsible for CARE Canada’s Emergency response and was in Pakistan for a one-week operational review.

Also, after several weeks of phone conversations I finally met Dave, MSF’s project coordinator at Quetta. I only know three people who grew-up in Dave’s home-town of Squamish and not surprisingly he knows all of them. More importantly, Dave is a fanatical hockey fan. Last Saturday morning we both surfaced from our respective offices after listening on the internet to the Canuck’s shoot-out victory over Ottawa, unaware that the other was also in the building doing the same thing. Today our topics included The French Connection, Moe Lemay and the 1990 NHL amateur draft. Did you know that the two players selected after the Canucks picked Shaun Antoski in the first round were Keith Tkachuk and Martin Brodeur?

Things are still really busy for me on the work front, but I’m hopeful that a more sustainable workload will soon be here. I’ve still only had one day off since arriving, but I’m optimistic about taking this Sunday off and I know I’m not working on Christmas. Its calming down at the office and I’m starting to feel like I’m getting my areas a bit under control. I’ve got a good handle on the financial component of my job, but I still have a ways to go with national staff human resources. That’s okay, as I still have 10 ½ months to have things cleaned-up and ready for my successor.

Steve and Roshan sorting through one of the MSF warehouses. 

Pakistani labourers hired to help with the warehouse loading and unloading. 

Logistics

Milo Minderbinder was a character in the book and movie “Catch-22.” His aim was to give the men of his World War II squadron the best meals in the world. To accomplish this his black market ventures included trading blankets to the Italians for fresh eggs and speculating in Egyptian cotton. Although slightly misguided, it is that kind of resourcefulness that would have made Milo a potential Logistician with MSF.

“Logs” are key to the success of MSF’s relief operations. This is especially true in Pakistan where tons of equipment and supplies are being trucked and flown into mountainous Kashmir. There are so many Logs in the country right now that the joke is that the organization should be called “Doctors Without Borders Without Doctors.” Of course it’s a bit of an exaggeration, as of the more than 70 MSF-Holland expatriates presently in Pakistan 22% are Doctors and another 22% are Nurses (my unofficial estimate). However, exactly matching the medical total are the 44% working in Logistics, Water and Sanitation (fyi, the other 12% include the Head of Mission, project coordinators, a psychologist and a few beleaguered financial/admin types).

Logs come from a diverse background. In my office Alex is an engineer, Maria was previously in a physics Ph.D program and Steve, the Logistics Coordinator, worked for many years as an overland trucker. Steve said that when he applied with MSF he was quickly interviewed, asked how soon he could start, and questioned as to how MSF could recruit more overland truckers. When I asked Steve if he had seen Catch-22 he responded that he hadn’t seen the movie, but had read the book four times. I’m not sure if this was for entertainment or as a training manual. Subsequently, I’ve started to pay more attention to Steve’s purchase requisitions, but haven’t spotted any orders for Egyptian cotton…yet!

Being situated here in Islamabad it’s a bit difficult to feel connected to the Kashmir relief operations. However, we realize that our work supports those in the field. Their accomplishments were summarized in a recent Medecins Sans Frontieres intersectional update for the three MSF sections working in Pakistan - Holland, Belgium and France:

- Medical teams working permanently in 12 locations
- Support to Pakistani district hospitals in Bagh and Mansehra, with two field hospitals under tents (160 bed capacity overall) focusing on surgery, emergencies and intensive care.
- An average of one thousand consultations carried out every day
- More than 18.500 children vaccinated against measles, tetanus, polio etc.
- 8,700 family tents and 130.000 blankets distributed so far
- 11,000 construction kits, including iron sheets, tools and plastic sheeting, distributed so far
- Hundreds of latrines installed in sites of displaced people
- 120 international and more than 350 national staff
- Provisional budget of 22 million euros