Field Tripping

Packing list for work trips in SF: 
1. Blackberry
2. Fake power suit 
3. Company credit card. 

Packing for a work trip in South Sudan: 
1. Mosquito net
2. Wilderness first aid kit
3. Sat phone & High-frequency radio   

After getting all of the security clearances, necessary signatures and approvals in order, which take about 48 hours, you are then ready to leave. 

In South Sudan we must travel by caravan and every hour we radio back to base to let them know where we are.  However, we use radio names and avoid certain details in case our messages are intercepted and we can’t travel after dusk.  On long drives it obvious that you would have to stop and pee along the way, but with no rest stops you stop at certain points and do a ‘tire check’ code for bathroom break.  Peeing alongside a road is a bit of a strange interaction to have with your colleagues, especially as on some of these trips I have been the only girl. 

Why you travel in convoy Reason #1: Getting pulled out of the mud

Why you travel in convoy Reason #2: Flat tire

Why you travel in convoy Reason #3

The road to Yei: note the tilt of the car

The first place I went was a town called Yei, (pronounced YEAH!) where we have a TB ward and some HIV projects.  Its 100km south of Juba and due to the poor roads it took us 4 hours to get there.  It is also the main road from the border of Congo, so there are many huge trucks that must make this trip to Juba to bring things in to sell. 

The TB ward

I was there because a documentary crew was going to be coming from Geneva with a funder and I needed to scope out potential people for them to interview.  Being inside a TB ward was intense, our idea of a hospital and sanitary environment is much different.  The nurses don’t use any protection even in the contagious ward.  Moreover you see things like leprosy, which I thought had been eradicated.

Record keeping at the hospital

One man, Edison, I talked with was very enthusiastic and vibrant, which many people are not happy in a TB ward.  He told me his life story of being a carpenter and the getting sick from TB, and about the good care he got.  He said next time you come back I will be running.  He then asked if he could ask me something.  I said sure.  He said there is no food here and could I help.  Hearing that almost broke my heart.

Another woman, Agnes, who I had met twice and had the pleasure of spending time with her and her family in their village was a patient and when I returned had gotten better.  Her husband died in the war and left her with their 4 young children as well as HIV.  Her father took her in to care for her and the children, he also took in her 2 sisters and their children who were also widowed by the war and left with the legacy of HIV. 

As a result Agnes is going around to the community and educating people about the disease and encouraging them to get tested and protect themselves, which can’t be easy in a closed society.  It also is sad to see how an entire generation of people may be lost.

The Hospital Monkey - never would be allowed in the US