vagabond

I am in the early stages of working with Dr. Alan Kelley of Medical Teams Worldwide in getting ready for another trip to Africa, the Sudan in particular. If I am accepted as a volunteer, I intend to go with them this year. If I am not, however, I intend to help out as much as I can anyway.

One of the things needed is a way to get the medical supplies (vaccinations, syringes, gloves, bandages, vitamins etc) and other things like mosquito nettings to the staging area that Dr. Kelley is building.

I am a very organized person, but I've never done any logistics of this type before. So for once in my life, I feel a bit inadequate, which is an alien feeling to me. And it doesn't help that my husband is shaking his head so hard it's about to fall off. Well, I'm just trying to go to Africa for a couple weeks, for crying out loud.

Does anybody have any first hand or even second hand information about this? Has anyone actually done this sort of thing? [Much like Philip Caputo's "Acts of Faith"]. I would appreciate any insight. Thanks!

FlyJSH

I flew a doctor into Mexico a few times. There were two things I saw:

- disposable medical equipment often has a "use by" date for the US. The day after, it is still clean, but it can't be used in the US. The folks down south were happy to have neatly packaged, sterile equipment.

- for the community (specifically the kids), we would take a box of toys, durable stuff that ever kid everywhere plays with (once it was a box of handballs). Frisbees (think the cheap give aways at a convention), jacks, kick balls, anything that the kids could play with.

Oh, and one thing I didn't know about at the time... some of the big box "club" stores have really cheap reading glasses... like ten pairs for 20 bucks. You might consider buying a bunch of those if there is a need.

Also depending on the need, go raid the local Salvation Army for T-shirts, shorts, pants, good pots and pans, and the like.

What I found is simple stuff we take for granted is better than gold to other folks. Fifty bucks spent here can be a Godsend to some folks.

Good luck and be safe,
j

Twin Wasp

Are you trying to move stuff from the US to Sudan or just from Port Sudan or Khartoum out into the bush?

HercDriver130

You might contact Samaritans Purse, I know they have an air cargo logistics operation throughout the Sudan. At one point I know they had a full time logistics coordinator based there.

Gundam

I don't know if this is what you are looking for but you may want to talk to the original poster of this thread

WalkOfShame

Vagabond,

Look into AirServ Intl. (AirServ.org). They are based out of Entebbe, Uganda and fly to many places in Uganda, Demacratic Republic of Congo, S. Sudan, and Central African Republic. I'm pretty sure they fly in to North Sudan as well, but with the growing tensions between the north and south, that might end soon. They are a not-for-profit organization and have excellent, experienced pilots that have been flying in Africa for many years. Do you know where you wil be going exactly?

-Walk

vagabond

I am in the middle of filling out the application that Dr. Kelley requires of all volunteers. This is tougher than taking the Bar Exam! Worse, it asks all kinds of questions about my health, my ability to finish a 12 mile hike with a 30 lb load, my swimming ability, my motivation for volunteering, my experiences traveling in a foreign country, my potential contributions to the team and group effort, my expectations and fears, and how I would respond to working or sleeping in an environment that is crowded, infested with fleas/rats, very hot or very cold and with poor sanitation?

I don't think I'm going to make the cut.

I've traveled all over the world, but never to a place where 99% of the people are starving, horribly injured, dying or dead. The only dead bodies I've seen were those of relatives in a funeral home. The newsletter Dr. Kelley included in the application packet showed pictures of adults and children with infected shrapnel wounds as a result of an aerial bombing 12 days walk away in a market. It is not pleasant.

So I need to think about this long and hard. Certainly don't want to get there and be a liability to the team.

Herb Flemmming

That is not Africa, you will most likely spend every night in a "Africa 4 star" hotel drinking the local beer talking about "Africa's" issues with other expats