"Kandahar Chronicles is the ongoing story of the day-to-day life of an MSF (Médecins Sans Frontičres) Field Logistician based in Kandahar Afghanistan. You can email the author your questions and comments here: carlos@citizenlab.orgTuesday, September 30, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #19 - 29/09/2003Kandahar settles for the night, the new moon and the headlights of the traffic the only sources of illumination. For the last week there’s been no power, generators and kerosene lanterns have replaced the electricity once supplied by the Hydro electric dam in Helmand province. The romance of soft light echoing an earlier time has become an inconvenience to operations like ours that rely a lot on twenty first century technology to run smoothly. My timing is shit. Two days before the lights went out I’d sent our generator to Pakistan for a rebuild from the dealer and am still waiting for it to come back. I’ve rigged up the small generator we use for emergencies such as cholera outbreaks and it’s only strong enough to run our computers. Black smoke from unmonitored kero lamps stain the walls of our dining room and the whole city smells like a garage. posted by @ 12:02 PM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #18 - 28/09/2003 We stepped into the dark interior of the bamboo and mat structure that serves as an administrative office for Settlement Four. Seated along the far wall were seven men with great bushy beards and sharp eyes. Salaam alakom, brief handshakes and chai as we seated ourselves at the head of the rectangle of cushions. An elders meeting in the Zhare Dahst IDP camp. We sat talking quietly amongst ourselves as more men arrived in pairs or singly. Finally, it was agreed to start with fifteen wise men chosen by their fellow IDPs to represent them, as well as myself, Dr. Bertein, Safi our translator, and a few representatives from Intersos who manage the settlement. There was a shuffling silence as everyone got comfortable and then we began, all eyes on Bertein, the only doctor and woman in the room. posted by @ 11:56 AM EST [more..] Sunday, September 28, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #17 - 23/09/2003Sometimes it feels like I’m treading water in a whirlpool. Tick one job off the list and two more appear. When I first got here in mid May it seemed like I only had a couple things to do a day to keep on top of things. Tomorrow will be the official half way point of my contract and the “to-do” list is starting to take up some space on my D: drive. I have a crew of masons in the compound knocking down walls and paving over strips of unused ground to increase parking space. I also want to get a pit dug for the mechanic and rewire the compound with security lights (motion detector lights and seven cats, great). The list goes on from creating an office computer network to designing a more soundproof generator shed since it looks like the turbines in the hydro-electric dam in Helmand province might be down for a long time yet. All this pales though when a further issue looms in the near future, winter is coming. posted by @ 02:50 PM EST [more..] Friday, September 26, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #16 - 24/09/2003An opportunity for a night out is always welcome and despite the circumstances tonight was no different. My Log Assistant came into my office giggling something about our night driver, a land cruiser and a photocopy shop. It took a while for him to compose himself but then I got the story. Apparently, after making some copies for the medical department near a central roundabout in town, our driver emerged from the shop to find a couple armed police loitering around his vehicle. He was parked in a very recently established and unmarked no parking zone. They demanded that one of the police ride with him to the police station. He agreed to this as long as the cop left his rifle with his partner as no weapons are allowed inside our vehicles. So, after much discussion off they went. On route he called Jaweed on the VHF and so it came to me. posted by @ 03:09 PM EST [more..] Monday, September 22, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #15 - 21/09/2003Diary of an office day in detail 0630- wake up, my door is open, strange small cat at foot of bed looks at me sleepily. 0715 – sun comes through my window, get out of bed, small cat is gone. 0720 – at present there are two men, six women and two bathrooms. I stand dejected outside a door, towel in hand. Have a coffee. 0730 – breakfast, five different types of Alpen, Weetabix and flat Afghan bread. Two more coffees, people are chattering. I try the shower, it’s occupied again/still. 0745 – go for a shower, two women unaccounted for at the breakfast table. Two shower doors locked. Again, dejected with my towel. 0755 – shower is free, I turn on the tap, a small dribble then nothing. posted by @ 11:02 AM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #14 - 20/09/2003 Today I got a call on the VHF from the PC. He was at a meeting with the HOM of UNHCR discussing WatSan. We had made a plan with the MedCo, HAO and LogCo at the CMT in conjunction with the DO and PO of UNICEF to investigate IDP movements with the DG of the MOH. The RC for AHDS and the HOPM of ICMC were interested although the NHC of WHO and the R-FSO of UNAMA were off duty at RONCO and UNICA and unavailable for comment. The GM of ICRC was busy as was the RRPM of MCI. After the meeting, I sent Kilo 6 from Zulu Delta via Zulu Delta 1 and Sierra 13 to pick up our PC-kilo mike 1, the MTL-kilo mike 2 and the IDW supervisor-kilo mike 2.4. Kilo 6 returned to our location, everything A-OK. posted by @ 10:59 AM EST [more..] Friday, September 19, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #13 - 18/09/2003Kandahar sprawls across the late summer plain in a harsh, brown glare. In the central bazaar, gaudily painted trucks wrapped in chains jingle slowly along clogged streets in a wake of choking fumes. Men on Chinese bicycles wearing their flowing, cotton sharwal camise jostle with donkey carts and motor-rickshaws. Pedestrians push through the mass, filling the spaces in between like oil. The roar and cough of the generators belch blue/black smoke into the hot air. Grinders scream and welders spit as artisans manufacture their goods along the uneven dirt sidewalks. A goat chewing on a cabbage leaf shits pellets on a pile of ripe garbage. A cat with a feather in its whiskers runs guiltily along an open sewer and disappears down an alley. posted by @ 10:23 AM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #12 - 17/09/2003 Today Dr. Kabirullah worked his final day with us in Kandahar for at least the next year. A fine young doctor and fun guy, he joined MSF in mid 2000 and worked his way up the ladder. He served as medical team leader when the expat team was evacuated earlier this year due to serious security incidents. After Bertien and I arrived in May, he continued to work hard supervising the Zhare Dahst medics out in the baking desert, enduring sandstorms and sometimes-hostile tempers of staff and patients. We threw a going away party for him yesterday afternoon and invited any staff or fellow doctors that wanted to come. Dancing, sweet pastries, tea, group photos and short speeches. A bit like an Afghan version of an old Dean Martin roast. He will be missed and hard to replace. posted by @ 10:21 AM EST [more..] Tuesday, September 16, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #11 - 16/09/2003Bridget Jones Diary on cable. This is what we do sometimes at the end of a busy day. We've got 35 channels, 25 in Hindi or Urdu or Dari or some such thing. Four movie channels, BBC World, CNN for a few weeks which then switches to Fox Sports for a while, a few others. One Pakistani channel shows unscheduled movie premieres within a few days of their release in Hollywood. I saw Terminator III in early July complete with sillohuetes of members of the audience heading for popcorn and all the cheers expected from an Arnie movie. Some dodgy bloke sitting in a theatre with a digital camcorder and a cousin in Karachi. The TV room is great, spacious and laid out Afghan style with cushions around the edges. Modern MTV style Indian commercials selling soft drinks blast out their sales pitch. I don't think this is a typical project but then again which one is. I need a Coke. posted by @ 01:48 PM EST [more..] Monday, September 15, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #10 - 14/09/2003We had a barbeque at the MSF compound last night and invited about thirty expats from the NGO community of Kandahar. The usual collection of friends and colleagues showed up. Good food, guitars, people singing out of tune, one of those nights where everybody needed to blow off some steam. It seems it’s been a tough couple of weeks for everybody and security has been tightened up lately due to several incidents in and around the city. I’ve worked driving trucks through the jungles of Africa, Asia and South America, dealt with elephants trashing a safari camp I managed and rescued panicky, novice scuba divers from getting into trouble they wouldn’t get out of. None of those jobs, however, seem to consistently generate the need to unwind like being a humanitarian aid worker. posted by @ 09:58 AM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #9 - 11/09/2003 The second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks came and went in Kandahar without incident. People went to work, the nephew of my purchaser got married, there were no public rallies of support for Al Queda or moments of silence for the victims of that infamous day. In fact, the guys from the office thought it strange that westerners attached such importance to dates. My logistic assistant told me that when an Afghan man is wronged he would never forget the incident but might forget the month it happened. That wasn’t the case when the news first broke two years ago. At first the feeling was the same as anywhere, shock and disbelief. Then however came a different feeling, a sense of grim foreboding. They knew that the American fleet would soon sail seeking retribution, and Kandahar, as the traditional support base for the Taliban, would be at the centre of the storm. posted by @ 09:56 AM EST [more..] Thursday, September 11, 2003Kandahar Chronicles #8 - 08/09/2003"There's four positive cholera cases in Spin Boldak."the Project Coordinator (PC) Manuel tells me in passing, the mobile pressed to his ear. Here we go, I thought, a cholera campaign.The facillitators (instructors) always throw this one at you during the pre-mission training. Two weeks of battling cholera, measles, rebel insurgents, poppy warlords, poor sanitaion, malnourished under fives and dodgy supply lines deep in the Dutch forest. While there, I'd casually leafed through the cholera guidlines and certain bits still stuck in my head. Chlorine, Wellington boots, dehydration, camp beds with holes cut in them. It's a bit more in your face than diphtheria. It's late in the season for cholera and , Inshallah, these cases may be contained, but I've had to get my nose down and do some reading. posted by @ 02:38 PM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #7 - 06/09/2003 The haunting cries of the Mullahs flood over the city calling the faithful to evening prayer. Five times a day the tinny loudspeakers come to life, the first call in the dark of the morning and the last after dusk. It's a beautiful sound, full of ambiance and mystery. There's three different Mullahs who call from the mosque near our compound, two young and strong and an older chap who always finishes sounding a bit winded. Every place has its sounds and smells which will forever trigger memories. Kandahar for me is the call of the Mullahs competing with the squabble of roosting birds in our lemon trees and the smell of burnt dirt. posted by @ 02:37 PM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #6 - 03/09/2003 In July, the medical team had successfully identified a disease as it crept through the IDP camp. Young kids were especially vulnerable and three died during these first few days. Diphtheria manifests itself first as a sore throat and can be identified by whitish splotches on the membranes in the back of the throat. After a while, swelling can occur leading to asphyxiation. It can spread quickly through contact and could thrive in IDP/refugee camp environment. The first group that seemed to be hit were kids between eight to fifteen. Kids under five are the most susceptible to infectious disease and therefore, have often been vaccinated against enough nasty diseases to turn them into little, hostile pincushions. posted by @ 02:35 PM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #5 - 31/08/2003 Afghanistan. After a ten-day break in Turkmenistan it was nice to get back. I did all the things there that I couldn’t do in Kandahar; went hiking in the mountains, swimming at a hotel pool, strolled around at night, visited restaurants, talked to pretty girls, but it was still nice to be back. This I only felt when I got to the border. Until that time I only thought of the restrictions I would live under again. I was going back to a life governed by curfews, limited movements, constant vigilance and security briefings. Trying to decipher a truck backfiring from a rifle shot used to be more exciting before complacency settled in. I was trying unsuccessfully to get back onto my toes but my mind couldn’t grasp the excitement of the work and only focused on the negatives. posted by @ 02:31 PM EST [more..] Kandahar Chronicles #4 - 01/09/2003 Two weeks after the bombing in Baghdad of the UN headquarters, which left twenty people dead including the organizations top envoy to the mission, aid agencies have been reconsidering their position in that country. A few days after, BBC World announced that the ICRC (International Community of the Red Cross) had decided to suspend their operations in Iraq as they feel that the risk to the security of their staff was too great. The decision to halt humanitarian activities is never an easy one for any organization and the line that separates acceptable operational risk from evacuation is often grey and blurred. An attack on one agency quite often has to be perceived as an attack on the aid community as a whole. posted by @ 02:29 PM EST [more..] |
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