[Previous entry: "Kandahar Chronicles #46 - 15/12/2003"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Kandahar Chronicles #48 - 27/12/2003"]

12/16/2003: "Kandahar Chronicles #47 - 16/12/2003"

My head was clouded the next morning with too little sleep and too much vodka. Coffees and frantic last minute organizing quickly cleared the fog from my brain and in the two hours we had before the flight left we felt most things were in place. The order of responsibility was agreed and I’d left lists of jobs tacked to the walls of my office for the guys to look after over the next three days. I felt a bit like a worried parent but reminded myself that these guys had already been through an expat withdrawal earlier in the year after an ICRC expat was murdered in Uruzgan province to the north of Kandahar. They knew what to do to keep things going smoothly and were already ticking things of the lists as I ran around trying to pack some of my gear. Everyone came out to see us off as Hamil and I loaded our bags into the cruiser. I felt terrible. It wouldn’t have been too bad if they were all packing up to leave as well but with them staying behind I couldn’t help but feel we were abandoning them. They laughed this off and wished us a speedy return. In three days most of them were going to have an extended paid holiday and looked forward to spending the extra time with their families during this tense time.

We flew out on the ICRC plane and arrived in Kabul feeling a bit better after a sleep on the hour flight. MSF Belgium, France, Switzerland and Spain all are headquartered out of Kabul and we were taken over to the Spain office where we usually stay on transits through the capital. Vickie and Nelke were there waiting for us and after a good lunch we settled down to debrief. This was the first of many such meetings over the next few days we were there and by the end of it I’d had enough. Nelke had suggested that as I was still owed a further two weeks holiday this would be the ideal time to take it. I couldn’t agree more but I hadn’t done any preparations about where to go or how to get there. Hamil, on the other hand, was to continue to work but this time twice as much as before. An MSF project in Bagdis in the northwest of the country was short a doctor and had heard he was free with nothing planned except chilling out and playing the guitar. On top of this, there still needed to be a coordinator of the Kandahar project in the absence of Vickie (who had gone back to the MSF UK office in London) and he was it. The only work I had to do was a security assessment of the new MSF Holland compound we are setting up in Kabul. Unfortunately, after seven and a half months in Kandahar, I have become fairly proficient in this area.

That brings me to now. I’m sitting in the MSF Holland office in Islamabad, Pakistan using a free computer in an empty office. I think Dubai in United Arab Emirates sounds nice for a holiday. Good for scuba diving and sunny beaches but Christmas might be a bit quiet. I’ve agreed to a two to three week extension in Kandahar to facilitate the handover to the new Project Coordinator and the Logistician who will replace me. Time is passing quickly now and when I get back there I’ll only have about eight weeks left in my contract. It’s important that I extend a bit because I have what MSF terms as “Institutional Memory” of the project based on my experience there. I know the history of our work there, the actors who we deal with on a regular basis as well as the environment and how to deal with it. I agree with the powers that be in MSF that Kandahar isn’t the kind of place to extend long term though, for as much as I love the place, to do a long term extension would be more likely to make my institutional memory institutionally bound.

Where’s the beach?

Replies: 1 Comment

howdy! how are you? this is a nice blog, seriously, heh. i can't believe your in afghanistan (well pakistan, no i think?) well if you ever go to Kabul, make sure you say Hi to my grandma :) heh

janet said @ 12/16/2003 05:49 PM EST