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01/12/2004: "Kandahar Chronicles #56 - 12/01/2004"

There are some dodgy characters here. I had a walk around the compound with an NGO security expert this morning. I wanted to get to the hospital but as he is in town only a couple of days I thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of the opportunity. Tomorrow for sure.

“Zis is where I would place ze device in order to cause ze casualties maximum.” He said, his eyes sad at some distant memory. “I saw it in Beirut.”

We stolled around the office and house discusses the measures I had put in place. He nodded with approval when he inspected these and shook his head with dismay at areas he felt could be improved.


“Alors, if you put ze razor wire and sandbags here, it would also detour those who wish to cause disturbance. It worked well for us in Chad.” A private chuckle. A distant explosion echoed like thunder.

“Americans at their base, no problem.” I said, a little pleased with myself.

“Bon. I would also be sure to check zee integrity of your roof, once in Germany I parachuted through the roof of a house and landed in the bed of ze landlord while he was sleeping.” He said with a frown.

As knowledgeable as he was, there was no way I was going to ring the compound with sandbags and barbed wire. We want to have effective security but try to keep it as unassuming as possible. He seemed happy, for the most part, with what was in place, despite the low-key look I was after. I won’t write about any of the specifics but he left after about an hour and promised to send us a report of his recommendations.

It was fun and interesting spending time with him but I’m getting a bit fed up with putting so much energy towards security issues. When I signed up with MSF I had images in my mind of building shelters and ensuring clean water supplies to needy populations, that sort of thing. I got a lot of that in the early days here but lately I feel like I’m in some military college. I think that, as interesting as Kandahar is, I might try to find a project that allows more movement to the field.

I’ll probably end up in Baghdad.

Replies: 1 Comment

Frying pan to fire.

Dobo said @ 01/13/2004 02:45 AM EST