The Sphere Effect

Well I didn’t have to wait for too long to get that new job!!

I have just been offered a full-time job with Compassion Australia. Compassion is very similar to World Vision, incorporating one on one child sponsorship between donors and children in developing countries. You can find out about them at http://www.compassion.com.au.

I will be working as the Donor Relations Manager for Western Australia, which will enable me to stay in Australia until I have at least finished my MBA, but also gets me into the area that I want to work in - international aid and development. The job includes a lot of travel, mostly around WA and the NT which is great, and will probably also include a couple of field trips every year into the Compassion projects overseas. So it’s a great job for me - including flexibility, travel, interesting work, and christian ethos.

I’ll be visiting some Compassion Projects near Chiang Rai as part of my holiday in Thailand later this week so that I can get some first hand experience of the work that Compassion do here in Thailand. All in all I think it promises to be an exciting year!!!

I have to admit that nothing very exciting has been happening for me over the latter part of this year. I am very keen to get back overseas, and I’m determined to move back into the Humanitarian Sector, but I’m not 100% sure just what that looks like yet. I will be travelling to the UK and to France over the New Year, and then back to Perth, and then I need to make some firm decisions for the next year. I am going to apply to get into an MBA program in Perth - however I never did finish my bachelor’s degree so there’s a good chance they’ll knock me back without a thought - that being the case I think I’ll choof off with MSF again.

One thing I am very interested in (just had a good convo with dad about it) is microfinance, and I think I might base any studies I do along that line. I’m not sure how many people actually know about microfinance, but the concept is about making small loans to the poverty-stricken in developing nations. The loans are so small that the banks are not interested - but they can mean the difference between life and death to the workers - and give them the opportunity to make a life for themselves and their families.

I often hear that people are not willing to give to some of the big aid organisations as they are not sure where their money is going. Why not consider lending US$25 to a small entrepreneur in a developing country?

So now I’m going to give a plug for an organisation called Kiva.

You can go to Kiva’s website and lend to someone in the developing world who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the business is going. The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva’s loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

It’s finally easy to actually do something about poverty - using Kiva you will know exactly who your money is loaned to and what they’re using it for. And most of all, you know that you’re helping them build a sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after your loan is paid back.

You can help to change the world - one loan at a time.

I wonder if I will rue the day that I gave my family access to my blog? Goodness me, I think everyone in the world knew more about my condition than I ever did until very recently. I guess I am glad as without the prayers of all of my wonderful friends around the world I might not be here right now to write about it!!

Hello everyone! It’s me!! Really me writing this all by myself! I am home from hospital much earlier than any expectations, and I am finally managing to drag myself onto the computer to let everyone know how well I am doing.

I am told that I should still be in South Africa Hospital for the next 3 weeks before I will be stable enough to come home to Perth and then possibly another three months in hospital in Perth before coming home to Mum and Dad’s house so you can imagine my relief to find myself in my parent’s home only 3 and a half weeks after being diagnosed with HUS. Especially after also being told that I nearly died several times except for a series of miraculous interventions on behalf of God! I cannot say that I am feeling well, but much better than I was, and I hope for a full recovery in a very short period of time.

I have to apologise to all of my non-religious friends for the overwhelming amount of religiousness in all of the previous posts (and this one) but you see, I have special insight now and I know that an awful lot of you were shooting of prayers left, right and center when you knew what a terrible situation I was in. I have to say thank you, thank you, thank you, because God listened, and he answered, and I am here today because of it.

I know that many of you will have lots of questions about what happened, and probably about MSF too, but I don’t think I will have the energy for all of that just now. I will briefly explain about the illness and will spend some time on what happened in Itang a little later on. That is all a little painful at the moment as I need to spend some time working on just how I feel about being ripped out of my dream job and country and sent back home where I feel I don’t really belong just now.

I first got ill with diarrhea around the 19th May. I didn’t think anything of it as everyone gets these things when one visits a foreign country like Ethiopia. It didn’t effect my daily work and lasted about five days. After this it turned into bloody diarrhea with abdominal cramping and severe vomiting. I was working in a Health Centre and the doctors were trying very hard to work out what was wrong with me, but any samples showed no parasites or bacteria. I was getting sicker and sicker and they decided that they needed to send me to the capital Addis Ababa to a hospital for further attention. Unfortunately this isn’t so easy as there are only 3 flights a week, and the next flight was full.

Luckily for me, one of my close local friends was good friends with the ticketing officer of Ethiopia Airlines and managed to get me on a flight. If he hadn’t, I’m told I would have died.

When I left Itang, I thought I was leaving for about three days. I barely packed any of my things, and I didn’t really get the opportunity to say goodbye to all of my friends. I have never seen them or spoken to them again, something that is very painful for me to deal with.

I was picked up and taken straight to the best private hospital in Addis where I remained for a week. I didn’t realise that I was getting sicker and sicker but the MSF people in Addis did, and it was the Medical Director who made the call to have me Medi-Vacced to Johannesburg. If he hadn’t made the call when he did, I would have died within a day.

I have very little memory of the events after I arrived in Johannesburg. It is a maze of machines, and tubes, and blood transfusions, and oxygen and no-one told me how sick I was, or that there were several times I was within hours of death. It was also a time of being uplifted and knowing that I was being held in the hands of Christ. Every day emails were pouring in from all of the world telling me that people were praying for me, and that angels surrounded me. People I knew, people I didn’t know, churches I had never heard of. This was the one thing that sustained me through all of the pain and the sickness.

There were several times where I heard the quiet voice of Christ assuring me of healing, and usually it was the next morning when some miraculous breakthrough would have happened over night.

I don’t know why I was ripped out of Itang and sent back home. I don’t understand why God would let this happen to me when all I have ever wanted to do was serve him. But throughout this all, I remain convinced that he is sovereign, and that his plans will be served not mine. I will do my best to follow him no matter what the cost.

I am not yet at a place where I can consider the future, but I think it will come very soon, and I will let you know when I start walking down that road.

Thanks once again for your amazing support without which I wouldn’t be here.

God bless all.

Heidi
xxxxxxxxxx

I started writing a huge long diary like approach to the last week, but realised that it was getting really long, and I don’t like to bore everyone so I will just summarise (which may still be very long unfortunately)!

I was very excited to finally step foot onto African soil for the first time on Friday last week (Good Friday). Although I had a few issues at the Addis Ababa airport, these were all sorted quickly and I spent a couple of days in Addis for a briefing (this was the third briefing I had in a week).

Then it was off to Gambela and then Itang, my new home for the next few months. I will try to explain my living conditions as they are quite interesting….

It is hot! Bloody hot!! Hovering between 35 degrees at night and 43 degrees during the day (apparently the weather has cooled down significantly over the last couple of weeks ???!!??) I find this kind of weather disgusting when I experience it in Perth, but at least that is a dry heat and we have the blessed relief of fans and airconditioners. Here there is no such thing - you just have to sweat it out in the searing heat with a much higher humidity than I am used to.

Itang feels like it is the end of the earth. There are no modern buildings in the area at all. We live in a rather large compound comprising a long dormlike building and several small outside mud huts (tukuls). We also have an eating tukul and a sort of a kitchen.

We share the compound with a cow, 2 goats, lizards, bats, snakes, frogs, flies and various other life forms. In actual fact we no longer have a cow as it was killed two days ago to feed the 60 people who came around for a party. Poor cow, I just couldn’t bring myself to eat a bite! Now you can watch the goats nervously making their way around the compound - I’m sure that they have an inner instinct that they are next!

As far as the food goes I am doing alright! I actually don’t mind the local food at all, and we have a cook who does her best to make food that we are used to as well. There are seven ex-pats sharing the compound with another 8 staff from Ethiopia as well, so it’s a marvellous mix of cultures.

The health centre where I am working is another large compound full of decrepit buildings, roosters, people living there (with all of their rubbish all over the ground), electric generators, water pumps, a TB Village and a cholera camp which is really just a couple of tents with fold out beds with a hole in the bed for the diarrhea to fall through. (el grosso) We expect to have a cholera break out every day as the rains have just started which will wash all of the sewerage from the dry season into the river where it will be used for washing and drinking water.

As far as hygiene is concerned, at our living compound we have 2 pit latrines (squats) which have no roof, and 2 outside showers (cold water only), again with no roof. When you have a shower at night you can gaze at the stars and hope to not have to share with any frogs or lizards.

The flies are pretty bad, but they go to bed at around 7pm and don’t wake up until 7am so we get a good 12 hours worth of fly free. Mosquito season has not yet started, although I am assured that this will be soon. Once the rainy season arrived properly the weather will cool significantly (YAY), but we will be living in a swamp, and the mosquitos will rule supreme! (BOOOOO!!) Nothing good without a price.

On my first night in Gambela, I went to a Catholic Church service, and was asked to read the gospel reading. Nice introduction straight into the congregation…. The church is run by two lovely priests from Columbia and is the only christian (or indeed religious) presence in the town.

A couple of nights in, we killed the fatted calf, and I was introduced to the African Party Scene where I danced all night with my new Ethiopian friends. Most of the people here speak some semblance of English and I am loving getting to know them all. Everyone has been so kind and lots of fun!

I have been told many time that this is one of the most stable MSF projects in the world. Unfortunately this was put to the test a couple of days ago, on my second day of working by myself. There was a nasty clash between the military/militia and a raiding party from South Sudan (about 200km away so don’t get worry about it mum). Many people were killed and many others wounded. I went with a doctor and a nurse to the local hospital to see if we could assist. This was the first time I have ever seen gunshot wounds or any of the other nasty wounds that can be taken in such situations. I was very good and didn’t flinch at all, except for at one moment when one of the shot women was screaming out in pain.

So I have managed to metamorphasize a little bit. I am going to bed every night at around 9pm or so, and getting up at around 5.30am, ready to start work at 7am so that bit’s working well. Food is good. I am happy with my surrounding and people.

The only bad things are:
1. Heat and humidity
2. Stolen items so far: 1 new camera, head torch, pouch for hard drive and pouch for travel speakers
3. Major blister from new sandals has turned into weepy, pussy abcess that won’t heal
4. The only thing there is to drink is water, coke and beer. Take one guess at my choice

Since that’s all I have to complain about, I am therefore a very happy chappee!

As another short note about this blog over the next few months. I am unlikely to have much internet access. It’s my understanding that there is internet in the capital but not where I will be living. I will not have my own email address but I may be able to send a couple of emails a week. I will therefore email a friend to have him assist me with posting to this blog, however I am going to have password protect my blogs which have direct reference to what happens in MSF - this should not be public information for all and sundry.

I will send all of my subscribers the password - however if you do not have the password - please contact me and when I get a chance, I will send it to you.

The excitement has finally kicked in. I haven’t written anything over the last few weeks leading up to this point, because I have been feeling very numb and detached! It is very odd, as I would have thought I would go through varying degrees of excitement and anxiousness etc, etc, but nope, absolutely NOTHING (except for a few butterflies)! Well until now!

I am currently in Geneva doing my final briefing with MSF Switzerland, before I take off tomorrow for Addis Ababa - the capital of Ethiopia. It was only yesterday that I started to get a full feeling for the context into which I am going, and it was only yesterday that I actually started to feel the excitment welling up inside. Oh and also the fear…

It’s been a bit weird the last few weeks. I was told that I was going to Ethiopia for a six month contract, but two days before I left Perth I was advised that my contract has been changed from six months to three months. I must admit that this has thrown me a little. I had this idea that I’d be gone for most of the year and to realise that I will be finished (on this project at least) by June, is a little unsettling. Apparently the Logistics Assistant who works on the National staff in Gambella is very, very competent. They would like to move him into the Logistician position which is traditionally an ex-pat position, and it will be my job to help transition him over. I have been told to use the time to get as much training and experience from him as I can, but it is still a little unsettling.

At any rate, I think I am ready to go now. At the end of the three months, hopefully they will have another project for me, or I will see if I can get some contract work in the UK for a little while, but I’m sure that something will work out for me. That part I leave in God’s hands anyway.

I have been reflecting over the last few weeks how completely different I am to what I think an aid worker should be like! I am an unfit, scared, weak girl, who doesn’t like strange food (like mushrooms and vegetables). I am completely averse to violence, can’t stand to see blood or vomit, and find it difficult to be alone in foreign countries where I can’t speak the language. I feel sleepy and unenergetic, and I hate to get up early in the mornings. I am not a very handy or technical person, and I know nothing about electricity or mechanics, which are two of the main things I will be responsible for.

An aid worker should be strong, fit and courageous. Confident to eat anything and everything (and actually like it). Able to dive in to difficult situations in foreign countries and assist with medical operations. Should love to try and converse with the local people by hand actions if necessary and be very handy with tools and knowledgeable about survival skills. An aid worker should be energetic and loving to wake up early in the morning, bouncing out of bed and ready to see what the day holds for them. (okay this person is starting to make me feel a little ill)

I am hoping that there will be some miraculous, cocoon like transformation between the time I lift off from Amsterdam airport, until the time I touch down in Addis Ababa, but I am having some serious doubts! I’m thinking that they’ll just have to put up with me as who I am, and the things that need to change will hopefully change quickly over a short period of time.

We shall see……..

Well it’s confirmed. I will commence a new six month contract with MSF in Gambela, Ethiopia, at the start of April 2007. Excitement plus eh?

Well, I feel I should be excited anyway, but the excitement doesn’t seem to have kicked in yet. I am returning to Perth on Tuesday next week to spend a couple more weeks with my beloved family and friends before leaving for Sydney, then Geneva, then Ethiopia.

I’ve had an interesting last couple of weeks here in London, working on a project that I thought I had finished with six months ago. No rest for the weary, or the wicked! I am starting to think that the AHRS project will hang over my head for the rest of my life!

I was sent a list of all of the vaccinations I have to have over the next three weeks, and I have a feeling I will spend the remainder of my time in Australia feeling like a pincushion! Not an exciting prospect for the future. As I said before, the excitement hasn’t kicked in yet, but guaranteed I’ll be writing another blog in a couple of weeks time, detailing the various stages of terror I go through before I leave. We shall seeee……

Flocculation! What an awesome word… it just sort of rolls off your tongue and drips with suggestion. Unfortunately, what it means is nothing like what it sounds. This is one of the many things I learned in the last couple of weeks in Switzerland. The art of flocculation is how you turn filthy contaminated water into clear water with no bits in it, ready to be chlorinated and purified for drinking. There is a feeling of rightness when you now know what the steps are to provide water for a Refugee camp of 75,000 people although I know that the actual process of doing this in 5 litres of water, is probably a little different to doing it to 5,000 litres of water. But still… I’m learning!

I have now finished my MSF training in Switzerland, and I’m in London! WOO HOO!! I met some awesome people from all sorts of different places. We had people from France, Switzerland, Norway, Brazil, Germany, French Canada and only one small aussie. In fact, I was the only person there who spoke english as a first language, and it was only in the last few days that I actually got up the courage to speak the few french words I know.

There are a few of us who have been given actual missions. My room mate Aurelie is off to Chad today for six months as an Administrator. Kristian from Norway is off to Somalia in about 3 weeks for six months - that’s a bit of a scary one but he seems to be taking it in his stride. Cecile from France is shortly off to Niger, and Bente from Norway is off to Kyrgistan within the next couple of weeks. Sylvia from Brazil is a Psychiatrist who looks like she will be going to Darfur which is the scariest of them all. My possible posting to Ethiopia looks like it will be a breeze in comparison.

I am still waiting for final confirmation about the Gambella, Ethiopia posting, but if I go it appears that the contract starts in Mid-April. So I’ve still got a while to wait.

I spent some time in my old Accenture office in London on Thursday, and they have offered me some contract work for a couple of weeks, which I am seriously considering. I have been on holiday now for six months which is a very long time - and I haven’t earned any money in that time either. I think I will probably put my plane ticket back at least a week and get a solid couple of weeks work in, in London.

It’s funny, I never really felt the energy of London when I was living here before, but now I feel it as I walk through the streets. It sounds a bit poetic, but I can actually feel the pulse of the city, now that I have been away and in quiet Perth for a while. I wouldn’t want it for a long time, but it’s quite energising at the moment.

I am staying with my friend Sarah, who lived with me when I first moved to Sydney in 2001. She is such a darling, and is letting me stay in her spare room. Unfortunately she is now going away for the next couple of weeks, and I will be all alone in her house - but it should be ok - I have so many people I want to catch up with that I’m sure I won’t be at home on my own too much.

So for all of you in London, expect to hear from me shortly.

Big kisses!!

It is around 5.30 in the morning and I have snuck downstairs so that I won’t wake up my room-mate at such an ungodly time of the morning. I am SO awake right now, which is very unfair as everyone who knows me, knows that I am not a morning person and that I would do anything to just be able to sleep in another five minutes, and then another five after that.

Jet lag is horrible. I find that I am very awake in the morning and at around 2 in the afternoon I start getting sleepy. Last night at about 6.30pm I thought I would have a half hour power nap before dinner. Well the last I knew of that was at 3am this mornng when I woke up bright as a button. Sigh….

Switzerland is very cold compared to Perth (which I believe is sweltering in yet another heat wave at the moment), but it’s not as cold as I thought it would be. Yesterday I was able to go outside in just a tee-shirt and a fleece, and I am very disappointed to find that there isn’t any snow except for a couple of dirty unmelted patches in a couple of places on the grass.

Dauntless, I dutifully gathered up a few piece of muddy, snowy ice yesterday to make a couple of snowballs to throw at my unsuspecting fellow MSF colleagues. The looks of shock and the subsequent snow fight was very gratifying to a snow deprived aussie. Europeans do NOT expect to have dirty snow thrown in their face or dumped down their backs. hehe

I am the only person here who speaks English as a first language. There are 13 students and various teachers, and most people speak french as a first language. Fortunately there are at least four of us who don’t really speak french, so we do get to have some good conversations.

I am very envious of people who seem to be able to flick between three and four languages without even thinking about it. My french is so basic that I can only understand one word in about five, and that only if the person is speaking slowly. On the first night I was sitting at the dinner table with three french girls who were talking around me, and one of them finally looked at me in concern and asked if they were speaking too quickly for me. I had to laugh and say ‘honey, I have no idea what any of you are saying at all’, at which point they flicked back to english, fortunately for me.

I think I am probably the hardest person for everyone to understand, although I have tempered my Aussie accent (I think) and I am trying to speak veeerrry sllooowlly. Apparently zey understand me best if I try to speak with a freench acczent. (which I don’t do very well at all).

I think you have to be a certain kind of a person to do this sort of work, and I find (as I have found before) that I really, really like every single person I have met who works for MSF. People are very friendly, very interested in you, and very concerned about humanitarian issues - which fits in well with me as it is what I want to talk about.

This will be the beginning of the second full day of the course, which is really a duplication of the welcome days that I have already done in Sydney, with an extra section which concentrates on Logistics. Therefore a lot of what we are being told, I already know, although it is told from the MSF-Switzerland perspective. It’s still very interesting to me though, and yesterday we watched a three hour video on the birth of Humanitarianism and how it has evolved over the last 100 years or so. I found it very, very interesting, and I really do feel that I am finally about to start in the career sector I should be in.

We also watched a movie/documentary on Rwanda on Sunday night, called ‘Sometimes in April’. I have never before had such a clear picture of what happened in Rwanda in 1994, and at the end of the movie no-one could even speak to each other but just quietly got up and went to bed without even saying goodnight to each other.

Anyway sorry for waffling on so much, but there is no-one else to talk to at this time of the morning, and I just thought I would write. Much more came out than I expected, oopss….. .

I know it’s been a long while since I last blogged, but there hasn’t been an awful lot to write about. Probably the most significant event includes the birth of baby Charlotte - the daughter of my two wonderful friends Craig and Marianne! She is beautiful.

I had a lovely Christmas with my family and my cousins from the UK although New Year’s Eve was a little bit average. We definately picked the wrong place to celebrate bringing in the New Year, but found a better place at around 11pm where we could boogey on down to some 70s and 80s music. So not a total wash out!

I also spent a week at a Christian Conference in Adelaide with Kath. It was an interesting experience, and I came out of it with varying emotions - but overall with a sense of peace, purpose and contentment (happiness?). I believe I am moving in the right direction now and that God is all over it!

It’s been a little frustrating to be sitting around in Perth. I have loved, loved, loved spending time with my family and my friends. It’s such a blessing to be able to watch the children around me growing up and learning new things. However for me it’s been a waiting game and I’m getting so tired of waiting so patiently and angelically .

However, it would appear that some of the waiting is now over - WOO HOO!!!!!!!

I will be working with MSF-Switzerland (there are five different operations centres of MSF - but I will be working with the Swiss one). I am leaving Perth on Friday, 2nd February to go to Geneva in Switzerland to do more training, specifically in Logistics with MSF, for a couple of weeks.

I do not yet have an overseas posting, although I have been told that they are investigating the possibility of a posting in Gambella in Ethiopia, starting in April 2007. This is on the Sudanese border with Ethiopia in the Refugee camps. I don’t know very much about it yet - although I did find this link if you’re interested in reading further. http://www.msf.org.au/e-news/jul06/story-1.html

As I don’t have an official confirmed posting - I am supposed to return to Australia after my training in Geneva - however, I can’t come all the way over to the other side of the world without at least doing a quick check in with some friends HEHE! So, after my training I am going to pop over to London for a week and a half. So anyone in London who wants to see me, put up your hand! I’ll probably be there from the 15th to the 26th of February.

Unfortunately, I have been told that if I get a confirmed posting while I’m over in Europe, they won’t fly me back to Australia, and I will leave directly from Europe. This is a slightly scarier prospect, and means that when I leave Australia I have to consider that I may not be coming back and pack for that eventuality. So I will say my goodbyes as if I could be gone for closer to a year.

I am very excited at the moment, and can’t wait to get moving on this. I look forward to seeing my friends in Europe, and I’ll be shattered to say goodbye to my friends and family in Australia.

I’ll let you know once I have more information.

God bless!