The Sun Sets On The Indian Ocean And My Time in Sri Lanka

Socializing with Ard and Claudia

Another Chapter Ends

Every time I complete a mission with MSF I realize that it may be my last. Sooner or later I’ll be right, but hopefully not for a while.

The month I spent in Sri Lanka was both a great work and personal experience. MSF has once again been a great organization to work with and I still consider it to be a privilege to be part of their team. I jokingly told people at the Amsterdam office that I owe them one for this nice posting so next time they can send me somewhere really awful.

I returned to Canada last night and already I’m wondering if this past month really happened. While I’m content to return to Canada I do hope that my involvement with MSF will continue for a long time, both at home and abroad. Who knows if I’ll ever go on another mission, but I suspect that the desire will always linger.

My Last Call at the Galle Face Hotel

The Longest Day

Well, the new plan is for my departure tonight from Colombo. Now all is quiet as I prepare for the longest Friday of my life. Given that I will be travelling westwards and moving back against the time zones I will be able to cover more than half the globe on the day of Friday, January 25th. My schedule for this longest day is as follows (all times are local):

• 12:05 am – flight departure from Colombo
• 6:30 am – arrive in Frankfurt and catch a flight to Amsterdam
• 9:00 am – arrive in Amsterdam
• 10:30 am – 1:00 pm – meet at MSF office in Amsterdam (assuming that my flight arrives on time)
• 3:35 pm – flight departure from Amsterdam
• 4:50 pm – arrive in Vancouver

Of course, after my recent experience I realize that anything is possible. So when I was saying my farewells at the office today for the second time I said that I hoped to see them again either in the not too distant future or tomorrow for lunch.

Ho Hum Sri Lankan Beach Paradise

Historic Dutch Fort at Galle

Colombo Train Station

I Never Can See Dubai

Following a successful hand-over with my replacement, Claudia, it was time for a few days of vacation. I had a choice between heading inland to the hills for some culture and hiking or sitting at a beachside hotel and relax. After a self-assessment of my energy levels I decided that a couple days of being bored by the ocean would be a good opportunity to recharge for what would be a busy time ahead. I took the train south and stayed in a nice spot near the town of Galle.

Not being much of a beach person and with no TV to distract me I spent many hours sitting on my room’s balcony either reading a book, listening to my IPOD or just watching the waves. I contemplated whether or not I could ever again enjoy just a normal holiday. I also reflected on some of the things that I would miss about Sri Lanka:
• My 4-minute walk to work from the house;
• Not wearing socks for a month;
• The manner in which when responding with a yes Sri Lankans don’t nod, but instead subtlety bob their head side-to-side;
• The adrenaline rush of putting your life in the hands of a kamikaze tuk-tuk driver;
• Being able to leave my clothes of the floor of my room and later magically find them washed and ironed. Thank you Shanti;
• Swimming at the Otter Club;
• Working with capable and cheerful national staff;
• Drinks at the Galle Face Hotel;

I returned to Colombo by express train on Wednesday morning. I then had a busy day of shopping for gifts (I have a high expectations to meet from two 7 year-old Katie Anns, just to name a few), one last swim at the Otter Club, farewells at the office, and sunset drinks and dinner at the Galle Face Hotel with Ard, Claudia and Pamela (a newly arrived doctor on her way to Vavuniya). It was the perfect last day for me in Sri Lanka except that it wasn’t.

My return journey was to start with a 2:55 am flight to Dubai. I said my farewells, took the taxi to the airport and got rid of the last of my rupees. However, at check-in I discovered that although my flight reservation was correct, it didn’t correspond with my base ticket. It had been a rare mistake made by the Amsterdam travel agency that works for MSF and by the time it had been corrected it was too late for me to board the flight. Instead, I was back at the house at 4:00 am, with Ard waiting to greet me. I’m re-booked on a flight for tonight which will take me direct to Frankfurt so I’ll never have to see Dubai.

With Gareth at the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo

Gareth departing in a tuk-tuk

It's A Small (NGO) World

The NGO expat world is a transient one. You meet a lot of people, get to know a few quite well, go your separate ways, and likely won’t cross paths again. You may stay in touch with a couple, but not too much effort is invested. However, if by chance you should bump into someone you quickly pick-up where you left off.

The NGO expat world is also a relatively small one. This has certainly has been evident to me in Sri Lanka. First, on Christmas Eve I bumped into a former MSFer now working in Colombo with another NGO. We looked at each other trying to recall where we knew each other from and then once we remembered wished that we hadn’t. The second instance was much happier when I connected with Gareth, a friend from Northern Ireland.

The last time I saw Gareth was when I in Pakistan in 2006. He had been the logistician and later the project coordinator in Quetta and he and I had enjoyed, amongst other things, sitting on the roof of their house watching the MIGs fly overhead. We also achieved prominence within MSF Holland-Pakistan by collaborating on the organization of the 2006 World Cup soccer pool. The last time I had heard from Gareth he was working in Somalia with Save The Children where he proclaimed that Quetta was like Disneyland compared to Somalia. Then the other morning I received one of his emails that he distributed to half the world, describing his holiday adventures in Sri Lanka. An email and phone call were soon-after exchanged and we agreed to meet that night at the Galle Face Hotel.

It was a great evening of recounting old stories and catching-up on new ones. Accompanying Gareth was Colin, a Scottish logistics coordinator with Save The Children. Colin has many years of international experience and in the mid 1990’s worked in Zambia with CARE with someone who I know from Canada. As I said, it’s a small world.

The next day Gareth flew back to the UK, not totally sure where his next assignment will be. He is also contemplating the possibility of settling in London for a while. Who knows if our paths will ever cross again, but if he continues to include me on his email distribution the chances are pretty good.

Mallika - the office cook in Colombo

Rukshia - my assistant in Colombo

But I Just Got Here!

Claudia, my replacement, arrived yesterday from Germany. This is her first MSF mission and she is excited to be here but nervous that she and I have less than two weeks to train together. She became slightly more nevous when I informed her that I was kind of planning on a little holiday beginning next Saturday, but that I was confident that we would have more than enough time together.

The schedule for her first day was intentionally relaxed as Claudia, Ard and I went for a swim at the Otter’s Club, had dinner at a Thai restaurant and watched Chelsea beat Tottenham on television. Not exactly what one would expect when they join MSF. Claudia and I also spent a few hours at the office, where we covered quite a few topics and I was quickly able to get a sense of her skill-set. It’s pretty clear that one week of training will be more than enough.

Booking my flight back to Canada proved to be a somewhat bittersweet moment for me. I’ve quickly settled into life in Colombo and have found it to be a pretty interesting and comfortable existence. While my year with MSF in Pakistan was probably about three-months too long and my nine-weeks in Zambia was just right, it would have been nice to have had more than five-weeks in Sri Lanka.

I’ll be flying out of Colombo in the early morning hours of Thursday, January 24th. I’ll change planes in Dubai and Frankfurt before arriving in Amsterdam for the night. My flight the next day to Vancouver doesn’t leave until the middle of the afternoon so I’ll be able to spend the morning meeting with people at the MSF office. I’ll arrive in Vancouver on the evening of Friday, January 25th, which will give me a couple of days to recover before returning to work the following Monday. It’s not that far away, but before then I still have a lot of training and a bit of holidaying to look forward to.

From the back label of a bottle of Three Coins Beer

Generations of beer lovers have valued Three Coins as a refreshing thirst quencher, a tasty relaxant and a wholesome lubricant for social intercourse.

The main pool at the Otter's Club

1936 Otter Swimming Team

Sabreen of MSF Logistics in Colombo

MSF office in Colombo

The Otter Aquatic Club

Humanitarian work and maintaining one’s physical fitness don’t usually go well together. Often you’re posted in locations where it’s not safe to participate in outdoor activities and indoor sporting facilities aren’t available. However, in the case of Colombo none of these limitations is true. Therefore, following a couple weeks of physical inactivity I’ve been off to a surprisingly active start to 2008. This is because I am now a proud member of the Otter Aquatic Club.

Established in 1931, the Otter Aquatic Club is a full-fledged fitness centre and social club with tennis, badminton and squash courts, a decent exercise room with fitness advisor, restaurant, bar, meeting rooms, kids playground and three outdoor swimming pools. The big pool is about forty yards in length and never seems to be busy. Swimming in a near-empty outdoor pool is a wonderful thing. Running on a tred-mill isn’t quite as wonderful but it will help me retain some level of fitness. Also, I am able to sign-in one guest with each visit, which has made me an even more valuable team member in the eyes of my Head of Mission, Ard.

To be honest, I’ve only obtained temporary membership Status. However, my six-month membership will sufficiently cover my last three weeks in Sri Lanka. When submitting my application the lady teased me that maybe I would find a Sinahlese wife. I thought that she was serious for a moment and was intrigued that this was one of the club’s membership options. I jokingly asked her if she was trying to get me kicked-out of the club and advised her that I have less than a month remaining in Sri Lanka and frankly, I’m not that good.

The club has a definite colonial feel to it. Along the wall of the restaurant, under the spinning ceiling fans, are old framed photos of club swim and water polo teams from days gone by. A plaque on the wall proudly lists past club presidents and captains. One can easily imagine all of the activities that have taken place here since its inception three-quarters of a century ago. Although my favourite place to be so far has been watching the sun set on the Indian Ocean from the Galle Face Hotel’s outdoor bar (which also harkens back to colonial times), the Otter Club is a close second and has more importantly provided me with the opportunity to show that humanitarianism and exercise don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Vavuniya admin assistant, Dammy

Hospital rounds with Steve

Vavuniya hospital ward

Vive Vavuniya

Following the unfortunate claymore incident from my first day the rest of my stay in Vavuniya was calm and uneventful. I had a nice visit with the MSF expat team and also got to know the national staff, especially their wonderful administrative assistant, Dammy.

On Saturday morning I joined Steve for his hospital rounds as he visited with over 100 patients. The hospital only has about 55 beds so the over-flow slept on mattresses on the floor at night and sat on benches during the day. We saw a bit of everything, from those with injuries from motor vehicle accidents, burn victims, and those suffering with kidney stones. There were also injuries more specific to the local situation including a young man who had lost his right foot while sweeping for mines and three men injured by Thursday’s claymore explosion. Steve kindly warned me beforehand of which patients’ injuries I shouldn’t look at, but I still ended-up seeing more than I had anticipated. It was just another day on the job for Steve, but for me it was one I will long remember.

Sunday was a day-off (except for Steve, who made his rounds without my company) and a relaxing day was spent at the house. Because of security concerns expats here are limited to either the house or the hospital, which must get claustrophobic after awhile. Although we were far from any of the fighting, as a precautionary measure the washroom/shower section of the house was surrounded with sandbags. I have no doubt that this location was selected strategically, but if I it had been up to me I would have sandbagged the TV room.

Jonathon, the project coordinator, returned from Kilinochchi on the Monday afternoon and I stayed one final night to celebrate New Years with the team. We barbequed on the roof-deck and had a few drinks. Some locals entertained themselves with firecrackers, which surprised me as I thought that they would be sick of the sounds of explosions. At around 9:00 pm we heard an impressive exchange of artillery, which then settled down to just a periodic distant thud. Over all, it was a quiet affair and I didn’t even manage to stay-up till midnight. I thought back to my last two New Years spent in Zambia (fun) and Pakistan (not fun) and knew that I would leave Vavuniya with some lasting memories.

MSF surgeon Steve and anethetist Rowella

MSF expat house in Vavuniya