What is Taj going to do?

Right. A bit of background on the why and when having been established, I'd love to discuss a bit the 'what'.

I'm going to Liberia, Nimba County, for 9 months.
I'll be a logistician attached to a project, based out of Sanniquellie. I have some details, which I'll share, but I am still waiting for more information from my field HRM (human resources manager...MSF LOVES the acronyms!).

So...first up, "Logistician". What does that mean?
Fortunately, it's nicely encapsulated in the following statement pulled from the job description I received when deciding to take this posting:

"To provide technical and logistic support to all MSFH activities in the project through day-to-day execution of tasks, supervision and training as well as bearing witness to the fate of people facing humanitarian crisis. Main objectives are to maintain an office, expat housing, a warehouse and to provide logistic support to a hospital and four clinics, with explo’s in the Nimba district."

That does it nicely, eh? A nice abstract, I think.

When you get right down to it, as far as MSF is concerned, an 'all-around logisitician' does the following: everything. Everything, that is, except the medical work in the field.
"Logs" are responsible for supplies. Security. Transport. Permits. Water systems. Waste management. Housing. Construction. Communication. IT. Bookkeeping. Etc.

Essentially, everything that the "Meds" need to do the work they do, the logistician is responsible for. Now, it's crucial to understand that I'm not so much to be _personally_ doing all those things, as making sure they get done the best way. Often, my job will be (...we'll see how this goes in the field) to find the best _local_ hire to get the job done and supervise their work. Certainly, I'll be doing a lot of things myself as well. But, by and large, I'm never going to be as good at all of the above items as someone else.

(I understand, after my training course in Holland, that the biggest mistake first-time Logs make in the field is to try to do everything onesself. Thinking about the context, and the circumstance, I can certainly understand how that might happen.)

I suppose, without going into to much further detail, that the description above will suffice, especially given that I've not yet been into the field. Once I've been there for, oh, a month, check in with me again. Hopefully, I'll have an even better idea then.

With that out of the way, on to the next part. As the abstract summarized, I'll be responsible for a warehouse, our housing compound, four clinics, and a hospital. The job description I was sent had a nice summary of information on what/where/why:

"The project currently consists of support to G.W. Harley hospital, in Sanniquellie as well as static support to four clinics in northern Nimba. The hospital has become very busy with the introduction of emergency surgery in late January 2004. G.W. Harley has become the main referral facility for all of Nimba County. In addition, in 2005, HIV/AIDS interventions will be designed and implemented to further enhance quality of services to our catchment populations and beneficiaries.

Only 2 of the original 4 hospitals in the County were functioning in a very limited way and there is still only one Liberian doctor who is a surgeon working at Yekepa hospital, north of Sanniquellie. MSFH is supporting the 31-bed G. W. Harley Hospital in Sanniquellie. The hospital is generally in good condition with new beds and mattresses and functional operating theatre. There is a small maternity area with two delivery beds and 3 pre/post delivery beds. The outpatient building is in good condition but currently rather small for the 100 + consultations we are seeing per day.

There is a small lab that is capable of providing essential tests including the necessary screening for blood transfusion. An expat lab technician is undertaking further training and support to the local lab staff. A waste management system is being implemented in the hospital and the necessary disposal facilities have been constructed. Minor repairs and provision of extra furniture, etc is ongoing.

MSFH supplie medicines and medical materials needed to support the hospital and outpatient department. In addition we are providing essential basic equipment to supplement what they have in the hospital to meet the ever-increasing demands for care. There are currently about 60 people working in the hospital/OPD of which very small percentages are qualified nurses, physicians’ assistants or midwives. Liberia in general suffers from a chronic shortage of qualified medical people that has been exacerbated by the long civil war.

As might be expected there is no formal functional referral system. Long distances, poor roads, lack of public transport and therefore no sure way for the patient to reach the hospital hamper the link between primary and secondary level health facilities. MSF is supporting 4 clinics in Northern Nimba County. The support has/will include some minor rehabilitation, provision of appropriate water and sanitation and waste management facilities, medicines and medical supplies."

I don't think I could summarize it better than that. In fact, I won't even try.

that's all for now. More, I'm sure, later.
taj