Jamal is the Blue Nile grampa I never had. He is a slight figure, even in his size 42 gumboots. He wears an Islamic cap and always comes early to work, perching on a chair to my right. While there are many younger men on my team, none compete with Jamal’s vigilance. Most mornings at […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on refugee camp outbreak: a father, his sick daughter and the tiniest babyEasy enough for me to tell my latrine sob story, but let me give an even stronger piece of advice: really, really try to avoid being a refugee in a newly created camp that only has trench latrines. As an aid worker I’m supposed to encourage all refugees to use only the designated camp latrines. […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on shitty in pink, part two: lots of refugee ladies, no ladies’ roomsI have one key piece of advice for female aid workers on their way to Africa: once you get there, get a potty. This might even be more important than my earlier advice about underwear. Displaying your undies in full view of your boss only happens once a week – the potty issue comes up […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on shitty in pink: lady aid worker conquers night time latrine visitsIn my first semester of public health school I took a course on refugee health. One of the nutritional programs my instructor talked about was “blanket feeding.” Every time she said the word “blanket” I imagined a huge Iowa-sized quilt descending on a refugee camp in the night, stretching to cover each tent. This week, […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on four days of mamas and babies: photos of blanket feeding distribution in south sudanBoth of my translators were an hour late for my morning meeting with the 40 outreach workers. When Timoty and Anur arrived – after I’d been desperately (and unsuccessfully) pantomiming a short message about which teams needed to fill out new HR forms for the past 45 minutes – I asked them where they had […]
Continue Reading... Comments Off on love triangle in south sudan