Beach Time

So last week was kind of a haze. I was super sick for one of the first times in a long time. Total swiney flu if my remote doc, aka dr. mother-in-law, is right.

Sandwiched on either end of my flu were times sitting at the beach. The night before getting sick I sat on the beach and read and hung out for the whole later afternoon and evening. It was blissful. The sound of the ocean and an almost full Halloween moon, very delightful.

A week later when I was feeling better, I ended up back in the same spot, and wondered what just happened to the prior week. Incredible how much your health affects everything.

I am ever so grateful that my health is generally quite fabulous when I travel, and I don't suffer from most of the Africa inspired illnesses that abound. I am thankful for this indeed.

Now I'm off to Zimbabwe in the morning, via Ethiopia of course, with an all too short of a stop (not getting off the flight) in Ghana. I will suffer for sure knowing that I am so close, and yet so far away. Will have to make sure I have time for a real stop over next time I'm in the neighborhood.

Cheers,

Miel

Surviving Travel - Plan Z

In my crazy adventures around the globe, folks sometimes ask me how I manage. Let's face it, what I do means landing in a place where I most often don't know anyone, the language, the cultural nuances, the terrain, you name it.

While you can do all the preparation in the world, most often this falls to the wayside as soon as the first bump in the road comes along - of which there are plenty.

So the moral of the story is that it is to go with the flow and problem solve to find solutions, often minute by minute. Going prepared is all well and good, and definitely essential, but the most important part of surviving travel hiccups is going on to find not only plan B or C, but all the way down to Z.

For example, in my recent return from Sierra Leone to Liberia, I ran across many such hiccups. First, I came prepared, in that rather than giving myself the extra fifteen minutes to sleep, I opted to get an early start and leave the hotel at 6am to beat the traffic.

I had my office staff call the helipad to ensure that a flight was leaving when I needed it, as I had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't going to be there. Even after the call to confirm departure, when we showed up, there were no such flights available. This meant that we had to drive to the boat docks, which were truly on the complete other side of the city, with morning traffic starting to congest the rainy streets.

One of the keys to this adventure was my reliable taxi driver. I was connected with him through our former staff, but my effort to build a rapport with him paid off in dividends when it came to answering my questions about Freetown and his experiences in the civil war, and more importantly, showing up when I needed him. He was flexible and canceled his other rides that he had scheduled to help me get across town.

Once we arrived at the docks, the ferry wasn't leaving for another 45 minutes. More important was that it would put me at the other side with less than enough time to comfortably make it to the airport. We sussed out the options of a speed boat, a common by more expensive way to go. There was one such available speed boat, thankfully.


After some negotiations they took their time in getting the boat unstuck from the low tides, with about 15 guys trying to pull the boat free. At last it was free, and I had to navigate around piles of human feces and slimy rocks to reach the boat. I was helped by one of the guys, him grabbing ahold of my arm in an act of genuine assistance, but non-the-less made me pause to consider the strong grip and being the only white woman with a group of fifteen men in a culture where rape is an every minute occurrence. The driver was also concerned, and wanted to ensure that I made it safely. After more fully assessing the situation, I felt comfortable taking the trip across by myself, luckily only with two of the guys.


Once onto the other side of the water, I was whisked off the boat - first thinking I was getting another helping hand - and then being lifted right the boat and carried to the shore without getting my feet wet. For this one I was thankful.

I then negotiated for another taxi, as well as debated about the exchange rate with the speed boat driver. Once got in and finished dealing with the folks milling around my door asking for money, the back door opened. At first I thought that this was someone coming in to harass me further, but then it was just the local bus school service in action. About six school children, in their blue and white uniforms, all piled in to the backseat. They clearly knew I wouldn't have the heart to refuse them. I saved them about a three mile walk to school, as we passed all of their classmates on the way.

About ten meters from where we started, the driver stopped to change the tire. We'd already had to stop and do the same once on the way from the helipad to the dock.

Of course when I finally made it to the airport, all I had to do was sit relax, and read a book.

You never know where the journey might take you, how long it will take, or what the ride will look like. But it is important not to get hung up on the first, or even second hiccup, because there will be others to come. This is certain.

Safe journey,

Miel

Quick Impressions of Freetown

Before I head back to Liberia in the morning, I just wanted to share a few impressions of Freetown.
First, I'd have to say that the city was a breath of fresh air. It is situated on hills going straight up against the water, reminiscent of San Francisco, but Africa style. There are great historical houses, that from my best guess, and from locals, are still around from the 30s.

Overall the best part about the city is that it feels thriving. Monrovia has been great in many ways, but it feels like it is still under occupation from the UN and NGOs after the war. Sierra Leone feels as if it has pulled ahead and you can see business happening and people are very alive.

I've been extremely busy with work, so not a great deal of time for pleasure, but I did enjoy some great fish and even some lobster!

Cheers,

Miel

Unique Experiences

Sometimes I get lulled into thinking my life is somewhat normal. Then I pause during moments like tonight and realize that it is anything but.

Yesterday we had lunch at the local UN Pakistan camp where one of our Bangladeshi doctors has befriended one of their doctors and share advice around patients and so forth. They invited us for dinner this evening, and it was certainly a feast.

They ship in a 5,000 calorie diet (and junk food isn't part of that) meal service for the troupes, so needless to say, they eat well. Though they have plentiful food available, the difficult part is that they aren't allowed to gain weight either. So it is a delicate balance for them.

After the meal we sat around having tea together outside under what I had hoped to be a blanket full of stars, but rather, total cloud cover. The Pakistani officers were all dressed down in their civilian clothing, but none-the-less looking as though they had primped for a high school days. As I sat in a circle with this group of men, along with my colleagues being an Ethiopian surgeon and several Bangladeshi doctors, I realize that this is certainly a once in a life time experience.

All of us sitting around had given up a considerable amount, friends, family, spouses, children, to be in a foreign place and serve in the aim of creating a more peaceful world. Certainly such a goal seems grand and distant, but the commitment is still there. The one thing that units us in our work.

Peace,

Miel

What's a Little Mud?

Adventures in Africa come in all forms!

On Monday we spent 13 hours driving in Liberia, this was after 7 hours the previous day. We'll have somewhere in between to look forward to in the morning.

The roads in Liberia are overall much better than in Congo, but now my standards for road quality are incredibly skewed. However, the roads worsened considerably after it got dark (an underestimation in the time it took to get from A to B on the part of my Country Director).

We came upon a patch of road that was dug out to at least the height of a four wheel drive vehicle, taking a huge chunk out of the middle. Surveying the scene, it was clear that going down the middle wasn't an option. Thus, we preceded along the left side of the road. Not ten feet into the forty foot stretch of treacherous road, did we begin to slip badly into the left bank.

In no time we were stuck.

After a few attempts at spinning our wheels, it was clear that this wasn't going to cut it. We got out and dug around the wheels and then proceeded to try and push the vehicle out.

As you can imagine, two of us pushing didn't give us a chance. Eventually a few others came to pitch in. It took about five or six goes at digging and pushing to get us out of there. By the end, the mud was flinging in all directions and I was covered from head to toe. Wet juicy mud from about my waste down, and luckily the more dry cakey mud above.

Needless to say, our driver and Country Director were slightly mortified to have me doing the heavy lifting. I'm certain that the slew of people walking through as we final got our car out were making comments about the white lady covered in mud.

It wasn't my first time covered in mud though. My twin sister reminded me of the pictures we have of us covered in mud as children playing.

My favorite other mud memory was in Australia. On our first day into the Outback, after traveling about 1,000 kilometers, we got seriously bogged in the mud only about ten miles out of Birdsville. It took us about two hours or more to get ourselves out of there. It was a similarly muddy situation, and we arrived at the pub covered from head to toe in mud. Welcome to the Outback.

In this case it was welcome to Lofa County! The moment we arrived at the guest house it started pouring down buckets! Just glad not to have to sleep out there.

Miel

Into the Bush

This morning we are headed into the bush for the next five days. More unknowns than knowns, so it is hard to say how the trip will pan out.

What is known is that we'll be driving around 24 plus hrs during that period. Hard to say for sure until you are done, as you never know where you might get stuck along the way. I'll let you know about that when I return.

It seems that there are at least a few more resources in the field, as in a place to stay and food. What that looks like is hard to say though. In DRC at least you know there is nothing, so you must bring whatever you need with you.

I'll be headed up to do hospital assessments in two different areas along the Guinea border. One is for a hospital we already manage, and the other we will hopefully be managing soon.

Wish me luck and see you when I get back. I do have a modem that might work in the bush, so if it does I may try to use it just because I can.

Safe travels,

Miel

Opportunity

When traveling overseas there appear to be a great deal of opportunities. The thing is, these opportunities are always there, we just fail to recognize them. I know, I live in Washington DC and too rarely enjoy all of the sites of the city.

While it is always good to be open to new opportunities, take the time outside your comfort zone to seek out new opportunities and experiences whenever you can.

Top on my list is friends of friends. Last night I met up with a Kenyan from the World Bank who I was introduced through my Croatian friend who used to live in Liberia; talk about connections!

I was able to see the real Monrovia by going out to a couple of places to see the night life. While it is possible to seek these out on your own, it is always best to find a good host to show you the lay of the land.

Now I'm headed out to the beach this afternoon to take advantage of the beautiful weather we have here. Tomorrow I'll be headed out to the bush until Thursday so you may not hear from me. I do have a modem on my computer that supposedly works some out in the bush, but we'll see how that goes.

Enjoying Africa,

Miel