Last week was an interesting one to observe. Being my first stint with an NGO, it was intriguing for me to see how the organization responded to an anticipated political crisis. Two years ago, on September 28th, there were protests in response to the non-democratic arrival of a new president. The army responded by raping, mutilating and murdering thousands of protesters, torturing and raping first, followed by open fire afterwards. [Insert deep inhalation and deep exhalation].
In anticipation of this anniversary, and an upcoming election due for December, there were increasing concerns in Conakry about anticipated protests and potential violence, all with some pretty serious ethnic tensions weaved into the mix. The opposition was certainly provoking protest, while the government was prohibiting it. The national MSF staff members were informing us ex-pats about their perceptions, and we were anticipating the worst while hoping for the best. In the worst case scenario, my role was to respond to victims of sexual violence, performing genital repairs, gynecological screening tests and counselling (because my understanding of the local language is so advanced!) In the best case scenario, I was under house arrest for 2 days, not permitted to be out and about in the city.
In the end, we experienced a near best case scenario. 80 people were wounded in the protests and 3 were killed; unfortunate of course, but an improvement in stats compared to years past! It felt like we were so over-prepared, with tonnes of medical supplies, a huge plan of action in place, and extreme security measures. But how does one anticipate a situation like that? Things can stay relatively calm, or things can explode into a nightmare. Obviously the folks leading our project know to prepare for the worst, but I really appreciate now how hard it can be to anticipate "mass medical need" in places with such political instability. On top of having to organize supplies and staff and procedures within our NGO, much coordination has to happen between all the NGOs working here (other MSF projects, Red Cross, Save the Children, etc...) It ain't no easy feat.
It was really fascinating for me because I felt really safe and had no worries at all about my well-being, but was able to see the inner-workings of how NGOs anticipate response to emergency political situations. The children of MSF ex-pat staff members were evacuated to Europe, because it is too traumatic and challenging to do it as an emergency is underway. And the rest of us were all given the choice to stay or leave. I think we all felt really safe and mostly everyone chose to stay, but it was nice that everyone was given much autonomy and space to work within personal comfort zones.
This week, work carries on as usual...I will share a few photos to show that world!
