The mid-August Blog(s)

When I’ve raced in Ironman triathlons there was always a point in the day where the event stopped being fun. This generally occurred early in the marathon with about 20 miles still to go. I learned to just slog through that stage as best I could with the hope of re-discovering my enthusiasm (and running legs) upon picking-up the scent of the finish line.

I’m presently in a comparable phase in my MSF-Pakistan event. I’ve an incredible experience, but things have become fairly routine and I’m kind-of in slog mode right now. My successor has been identified and my Pakistan departure date of October 20th has been projected. I know the finish line is approaching, but with two months still to go it still seems to be far off in the distance.

Part of my slog includes coming-up with new points of interest for my blog follower(s?). The following is this week’s attempt:

· By early September we will have 16 Expats working in Pakistan. This is still a few more than the pre-earthquake number, but significantly fewer than the 60+ Expats we had here during the peak of the emergency response. I have now been in Pakistan for almost three months longer than any other Expat still here.

· My seventh and final boss will be arriving next weekend. Tom, an Australian, will be here for two years, which will provide much needed continuity for the mission.

· August 14th is Pakistan’s independence day and August 15th is India’s. Some of our national staff in Kashmir insisted that both days were statutory holidays for them. This claim was unfounded and I can only speculate that it was based on the theory that until jurisdiction over Kashmir can be agreed upon between Pakistan and India that they should be able to celebrate both national holidays.

· My replacement will be Mario from Austria who has just recently finished working for MSF in Columbia for 1¾ years. We met last March during the Finco workshop in the Netherlands. Having an experienced person come-in will allow for a shorter and hopefully more efficient hand-over. I have no doubt that he will find things in much better order than I did.

· Luis, our Medical Cordinator from Columbia, has been recently joined by his wife Janeth and two-year-old son Juan. Juan is a cheerful, playful and outgoing little fellow and he and I have quickly become buddies. The fact that we can’t understand each other hasn’t been an issue and is possibly beneficial.

· Providing short-term coverage as our Logistics Coordinator is Begench from Turkmenistan. He is a dynamo at work and a great guy. A big sports fan, his favourite English soccer team is Chelsea (its owned by a Russian so he refers to the team as the Moscow club). He is also a keen hockey fan (“Ian, remember when the Soviets beat Canada 8-1 in the Canada Cup?…ha, ha, ha!”… “Ian, Evgeni Malkin has just disappeared from Mettalurg (his Russian team). Doesn’t he know that it isn’t the Soviet Union anymore and he doesn’t need to escape?…ha, ha, ha!”). Begench is also a former member of the Turkmenistan national table tennis team. There is a table at our house and Begench has been quite eager to practice (“I ‘vill’ be playing my ‘brewther’ in Moscow next month”). We’ve played only once so far and most of my points were courtesy of his errant serves. When I couldn’t succeed with my forehand or backhand I tried my old specialty and fired a couple of shots at his head. He just laughed and replied, “Ian, try more top spin…my point…ha, ha ha!”