The United Nations of MSF

The majority of MSF’s workforce are national staff who are hired in the country in which MSF operates. They are managed and supported by expat workers who come from a wide range of nations. The twenty expats who have worked for MSF-Holland during my two weeks in Nigeria represent 16 different countries. Their nationalities are Danish, Indian, Canadian (2), Democratic Republic of Congo (2), Burundi, Columbian, Sudanese, Sierra Leonese, Kenyan (3), British, American, Norwegian, Philippine, Australian, Ugandan and German. What has been interesting about this group is how many of them were once national staff in their country of origin.

David, our Logistics Coordinator, is a great guy to work with and one of funniest people I’ve met. Originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo he has worked with both MSF and the UN. He once talked about being evacuated from Chad due to rising violence and joked how great it was to be an expat because they got to fly out on a helicopter. “When I was a national staff in Congo the evacuation strategy was just to run into the forest and hide…ha, ha, ha!” At our New Years Eve party he was a constant source of entertainment. When a western pop song was played he did his version of white people dancing. “Hey Oscar, look…this is from the people who brought us electricity…ha, ha, ha!” He then stuck his finger into an imaginary electrical socket and wiggled his body as though he had been electrocuted. It was his way of showing that while the white man may have brought many advances to the world, they sure dance funny.

The African MSF expats often have worked with MSF for several years in many different countries. It’s fascinating to hear their stories. Sometimes you find that you’ve worked with people in common in different countries. Yousif, a nutritionist from Sudan, last worked in Ethiopia where his team-mates included Jonathan, an English Project Coordinator who I worked with in Sri Lanka, and Stephanie, a Canadian nurse, who I knew from Pakistan and our MSF orientation course in Germany. Yousif and I agreed that if we were both friends of Jonathan and Stephanie then we must be friends, too. So is often the case with expats from Africa.