Finally in Chaman!
Door: Anton Frima
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Anton
29 Juni 2008 | Pakistan, Chaman
Hi all,
Almost 2 weeks ago i arrived in the project I was officially assigned to: Chaman! A village of 120.000, based on the border with Afghanistan largely based on trade between both countries and for a large part consisting of Afghan people. At first I was not able to come here due to lack of travel permits and David (the other log) covered Chaman while I was in Quetta. Since all papers are now in order, we swapped projects after a hand-over of 1 week in Chaman.
Chaman is a nice project and it’s nice to be more directly involved in the hospital and medical activities (the Quetta office and hospital are separated by a 1 hour drive). MSF runs it’s program within a compound that belongs to the Ministry of Health (MoH), so we are working side by side each covering different departments. We run mostly mother and child care: pre- and post-natal care, gynae surgery, a small in-patient ward with 12 beds. Soon we will start a nutritional program for malnourished children.
We have around 50 Pakistani staff members including 3 doctors. The logistic team sizes 25 (supply, store keepers, cleaners, drivers guards) which are under my supervision. It’s a great team although the HRM part of things can be quite challenging at times.
During daytime, from 8.00 to 15.00 I am basically not allowed in the hospital and will be mostly in the office. It’s culturally in appropriate to be in the hospital since only women are present. Sometimes it’s a bit frustrating since it’s nice to having a feeling for what’s going on medically but I’m always being well informed by the female expats at lunch and dinner time. The expat team consist of 1 female doctor, 1 midwife and me. A small team and currently we are awaiting the arrival of the new doctor so it’s currently just the two of us.
Although it’s much hotter here in Chaman (45C) than in Quetta, living is good. We have a nice guesthouse with a garden, nice bathroom (flushtoilets!), shower and the food is good. Since Chaman is quite big, we can find almost everything we need (European bread, cereal, cola, feta-cheese, Pringles and tons of different fruits). Since we are not allowed outside the compound, we send our cleaner to go shopping and it’s always a big surprise to see what he returns with and what’s available. Coffee is bought for us in Islamabad and arrives always in time before running out of stock. We watch sat-television and watch the Eurocup through German channels, which is probably why they are going to win tonight. Physical exercise options are very limited since our cyclo-trainer should fit a toddler so I am restricted to keeping a soccer ball in the air for hours.
We are not allowed to leave the compound for security reasons so getting a glimpse of Chaman town is limited to the car-trips to Quetta.
I have started Urdu lessons. Each morning from 7 to 8 learning to write, read and speak the language 60% of all Pakistanis speak and is one of the main languages in India. It's quite tricky but will prove itself useful hopefully.
In 2 weeks I will go back home for a 2 weeks holiday full of sailing and meeting up with friends and family.
Hope you all enjoy the pictures!!
Cheers,
Anton
Almost 2 weeks ago i arrived in the project I was officially assigned to: Chaman! A village of 120.000, based on the border with Afghanistan largely based on trade between both countries and for a large part consisting of Afghan people. At first I was not able to come here due to lack of travel permits and David (the other log) covered Chaman while I was in Quetta. Since all papers are now in order, we swapped projects after a hand-over of 1 week in Chaman.
Chaman is a nice project and it’s nice to be more directly involved in the hospital and medical activities (the Quetta office and hospital are separated by a 1 hour drive). MSF runs it’s program within a compound that belongs to the Ministry of Health (MoH), so we are working side by side each covering different departments. We run mostly mother and child care: pre- and post-natal care, gynae surgery, a small in-patient ward with 12 beds. Soon we will start a nutritional program for malnourished children.
We have around 50 Pakistani staff members including 3 doctors. The logistic team sizes 25 (supply, store keepers, cleaners, drivers guards) which are under my supervision. It’s a great team although the HRM part of things can be quite challenging at times.
During daytime, from 8.00 to 15.00 I am basically not allowed in the hospital and will be mostly in the office. It’s culturally in appropriate to be in the hospital since only women are present. Sometimes it’s a bit frustrating since it’s nice to having a feeling for what’s going on medically but I’m always being well informed by the female expats at lunch and dinner time. The expat team consist of 1 female doctor, 1 midwife and me. A small team and currently we are awaiting the arrival of the new doctor so it’s currently just the two of us.
Although it’s much hotter here in Chaman (45C) than in Quetta, living is good. We have a nice guesthouse with a garden, nice bathroom (flushtoilets!), shower and the food is good. Since Chaman is quite big, we can find almost everything we need (European bread, cereal, cola, feta-cheese, Pringles and tons of different fruits). Since we are not allowed outside the compound, we send our cleaner to go shopping and it’s always a big surprise to see what he returns with and what’s available. Coffee is bought for us in Islamabad and arrives always in time before running out of stock. We watch sat-television and watch the Eurocup through German channels, which is probably why they are going to win tonight. Physical exercise options are very limited since our cyclo-trainer should fit a toddler so I am restricted to keeping a soccer ball in the air for hours.
We are not allowed to leave the compound for security reasons so getting a glimpse of Chaman town is limited to the car-trips to Quetta.
I have started Urdu lessons. Each morning from 7 to 8 learning to write, read and speak the language 60% of all Pakistanis speak and is one of the main languages in India. It's quite tricky but will prove itself useful hopefully.
In 2 weeks I will go back home for a 2 weeks holiday full of sailing and meeting up with friends and family.
Hope you all enjoy the pictures!!
Cheers,
Anton
-
29 Juni 2008 - 07:36
Jan-Dirk:
Hee Anton,
Best heftig allemaal lijkt me maar wel een super ervaring. Met je baartje probeer je zeker een beetje op de locals te lijken. Misschien staat z'on trappel zak je ook wel, niet meer wassen en je kan er zo blijven :-) Cheers, JD -
29 Juni 2008 - 07:43
Jeroen:
Eindelijk eens een omgeving waar de vrouwen in de meerderheid zijn;-) -
29 Juni 2008 - 17:59
Drop:
Mooi dat je nu echt begonnen bent! Veel succes,
Drop -
30 Juni 2008 - 06:21
Sjak:
Goed om weer van je te horen!!
Tot over 2 weken, liefs!! -
01 Juli 2008 - 09:04
Olivier:
He toni,
ziet er nog pretty luxe uit vergeleken met Somalie!
Succes wederom de komende tijd en pas goed op jezelf ouwe!
ltrs
Olivier -
02 Juli 2008 - 15:43
Thijs:
Leuk om te horen dat je het weer naar je zin hebt en dat je aan de slag kan. Hoeveel uur tijdsverschil heb je en ben je skype-baar? Veel plezier!
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