Emergency Response in South Sudan

For Easter, a few of the team had the idea that we should buy a goat to celebrate. But of course if we are roasting a goat, we have to invite people to share it with us. So the idea spiraled and soon we had a plan to have an Easter celebration with all of our neighbors at the world vision compound, and all of the drivers that have helped us with the vaccination campaign. After receiving approval for the purchase of two goats (a purchase this extravagant has to be approved in Juba), a couple people set out to the auction to buy two goats. I had wanted to go with, but I was quickly reminded that if the seller saw a foreigner, the price would be double. So I had to stay back. But soon the team returned after trying a few auctions and finally finding two goats for a reasonable price. The ladies were tasked with preparing side dishes (ugali, cooked greens, etc). Since I'm not proficient in cooking local foods, I simply made popcorn to snack on while everyone was waiting and assisted ...

For me, the last few months have been all about measles. As our team wrapped up the campaign in Gogrial West County for 6-59 month old children, we were given the green light to expand our vaccination to cover some remote missed villages, and children up to 15 years old. This meant starting again from the beginning and trying to reach far more people. We were excited though, because more vaccinated people means a better chance to control the outbreak. So we got the vaccines, did some refresher training with the vaccination teams, and set to work. I've gotten a few questions about how a measles campaign works, so I'll lay it out. As Medair, our job is planning, support, training, and supervision. Usually, we aren't the people actually giving the vaccine. But together with the State Ministry of Health, we had to recruit and train 99 teams people who would be vaccinating. However, the vaccinators are only one person on the team. Each team has 8 people, one person to ...

After a series of progressively shrinking airports and UN planes, I landed on the dirt runway in Kuajok. Waiting at the airport-- if you can call four sticks with a tin roof an airport, were Wori and Simon from my team. I was joining a team of 9 people that had already been in the field for about a week, 7 from the ERT health team, and 2 from the ERT nutrition team, to respond to a measles outbreak in the area. Already there had been over 100 suspected cases of measles and one death in Gogrial West County. We were setting out to vaccinate over 75,000 kids for measles, and at the same time screen them for malnutrition. Even by ERT standards, this is a big project.  The whole effort would take 99 teams of 8 people, 6 days of vaccination. Medair took responsibility for implementing vaccination, with support from the Ministry of Health, World Vision, and UNICEF.  Coldbox for vaccine and icepacks being stored in a Tukul. Measles vaccine is very particular; it has to be ...

After a week of training in at the Medair Global Support Office (GSO) in Switzerland, and a day at the team house in Nairobi, I finally arrived in Juba, South Sudan. Stepping onto the tarmac at Juba airport is the near equivalent of stepping into an oven set to broil. Juba is large by South Sudanese standards, but small by comparison to other capital cities around the globe. In the southwest, a lone mountain, Djebel, is the only disruption to the otherwise flat landscape. Juba has the feeling of people hurrying. It could be due to the relentless heat, or the memory of recent war, but people generally don’t slow down until they are safely behind the walls separating most buildings and houses. Our compound contains our team house, our office, and our warehouse. So the majority of living and working is done from within our walls. About 30 people are staying in the house, and many Medair staff members stopover there on their way to-and-from the field. It’s an incredibly int...