a Doctors Without Borders assignment and a going away shindig

[Ganesh Muthappan]

Hey Everyone,

Guys! I'm going away! What follows is a bit of a long e-mail. Scroll down to the bottom if you're mainly interested in coming to a going away/birthday party. Sunday! August 16th! 7pm-->whenever.

I've had the chance to tell most of you that I've been planning to spend most of this year working for Medecins sans Frontieres. I've received an assignment! I'm to leave Baltimore on August 18th. I'm going to a town called Abyei, on the border between North and South Sudan.

The town has been in the news recently, as the North and South Sudanese have (mostly) signed on to a piece agreement which defines Abeyi's borders ahead of a referendum in April that's meant to decide whether Abyei stays with North Sudan or joins semi-autonomous South Sudan.

The information I've been sent so far is a bit murky, as it's about a year old and the situation on the ground is changing...much of my briefing will take place at the end of next week in Geneva (since my mission will be run by the Switzerland office of MSF). I'm to be a generalist, in charge of a hospital with some 100 beds. Much of my time will be spent running a pediatric refeeding program. For those of you wondering what an as-yet unboarded internal medicine guy is doing taking care of starving children and doing a bit of minor surgery (setting broken bones/sewing up small wounds), I brought up precisely this point with the MSF folks. Apparently my "willingness to work in remote and uncomfortable environments" and a "stated willingness to learn new skills" overrides my lack of experience. Apparently, it's going to be quite hot...and incredibly wet. And the concrete living quarters were washed out during the rainy season two years ago, and the staff have been living in tents since then. In other words, as a friend put it, "they're desperate. And you were the only guy they could find." 

This piece from the Christian Science Monitor is a nice summary of the fallout of the fighting between North and South in Abyei last year (MSF estimates 70,000 internally displaced):   http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0724/p09s01-coop.html

And this article from the Economist (no need for subscription) summarizes the recent peace agreement: http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14070450

Ok, now for the fun stuff. It's my birthday on the 16th, and I'm leaving on the 18th...both good excuses to party. Come to 1601 Park Avenue,  apt. #4, Baltimore MD 21217 on Sunday, August 16th. The fun starts at 7pm and lasts until the last person leaves. There'll be a dog around, but he's super friendly and hypoallergenic, so you're safe. Bring your significant others, your friends, your roommates, any person that I've accidentally left off, that random guy on the street who looks like he could use a drink before he starts seizing. We'll have a nice amount of booze and some snacks to keep you from being hypoglycemic, but it'd be awesome if you could bring some stuff to share. I'd love to have a rough idea of how many folks are coming, so it'd be great if you could shoot me an e-mail if you're coming (or just to say hi)--but don't worry if you don't have the chance, just show up on Sunday.

--Ganesh

[Bisrat Abraham]

Hey old friend!!!!

So good to hear from you via a group email....shame!!!! I know, I've been bad as well. Seriously, so glad to hear you finally got an assignment...even though it involves you becoming a surgeon and pediatrician. Oh well, such is life and I am sure you will help many many people. Please take care of yourself. How's Emily doing. Please pass my regards to her. By the way, my new cell in case you didn't get my text is 917-562-9455. I hope you we can keep in touch....maybe via email (bis...@yahoo.com in case our hopkins account gets shut off). BTW, work is great on my end. Learning LOTS AND LOTS about TB. Will be traveling to Indiana in September for an outbreak and then to Brazil in October for evaluation of the their surveillance system. Additionally, everyone here is on edge about H1N1 and the potential for a bad fall...we may get deployed for that as well. Unlike you though, I will be TDY acquiring frequent flyer miles and living on plenty of per diem. However,
I can't begin to tell you about the extent of government bureacracy and paperwork (I am literally drowning in it). Oh and my most exciting news...I am pregnant!!! BUT DON'T TELL ANYONE because it is super early...I am only 9 weeks along. Hey, remember when I said my appetite was crazy back in June and you looked at me funny....well, you were right!!!


Biz

> And this article from the Economist (no need for subscription) summarizes
> the recent peace agreement:
>
>

[Bisrat Abraham]

Whoops...I replied to everybody. Don't worry about keeping my secret Ganesh...already told everyone:-)

[Ganesh Muthappan]

Biz,

Fantastic (!!!!!!!!!) news! Are you going to name him Kia as you'd planned?

Ganesh