I'm in Kapanga, which is a zone in the Democratic Republic of Congo's southern Katanga region. It's my first time in Congo, and it's living up to the stories. I've heard it is beautiful with friendly, proud people. I'm not in the deep jungle, but it is hillier and greener than anywhere else I've been in Africa.
We are closing our project after investigating the epidemic status of the measles outbreak. We opened here in early November, with the intention of closing on December 31st. With a few weeks to go, we will meet this goal. These last few weeks are filled with meetings, finalizing plannings and schedules, back-and-forth emails with the coordination team, and lots of questioning why we are leaving.
It feels bad to be closing our doors on a pediatric unit that is just starting to become flooded with patients, but it is the end of our mission, the measles epidemic is over, and our long-foreseen depart is almost upon us. That doesn't make us feel much better as we brief the teams and prepare the final trainings for a handover with the Ministry of Health.
I'm making up the packing list of unused materials that we will start to send back on the plane next week, to start the 3-week long closing process. Staff will start leaving on Monday, first in a trickle, then in a flood. There are many things to do, logistically. But there is still time to enjoy the scenery.
No comments:
Post a Comment