Nutrition Village Set up

We are back in Maban county, and I have the challenge of starting a programme to treat severely malnourished children from scratch. The results from our earlier survey showed there was a real need for this and so we are working with SIM to set up an inpatient ward and out patient clinic to treat children with severe malnutrition.
As usual with Medair the set up happens fast, we got the tents up on the day they arrived in the plane and admitted the first patients 2 days later. The centre is called Ban Keeyan, Village of Hope in the Maban language. The vision is that by caring for these children we can bring hope to the families that they can have a healthy future






.

Jubatastic

I've had a few weeks to get to know Juba. Being stuck in the office preparing for our nutrition intervention is not my idea of great fun but I did get to be there for moving in to our new house and putting together the furniture with Rebecca, Sophia and Tal.

We had a great Sunday morning walk up the nearby mountain followed by a great breakfast of pancakes (with bananas and nutella of course.

Work in Melut

I have had a few weeks in Melut to catch up with work at the clinic and to do some training for the community health workers. Fortunately the rain had not started in a big way yet – just enough to give me an excuse to wear my new stripy wellies to do my teaching session! However as I left there on Wednesday the heavens opened and I spent a very wet and very cold four hours on the boat to Malakal – I think the rainy season has started.

Survey in Maban

In May I was able to have a great new experience working with the emergency response team. We completed a nutrition survey in this area which is close to the Ethiopian border. Rain, mud and transport were big problems but we got the data we needed and valid survey results. I will hopefully be back in Maban soon with the team to help support the set up of a nutrition programme and respond to what we found in the Survey. The landscape was very different from what I am used to in Melut – lots of trees and very green and mountains in the distance and lots of pigs running around.

Contract Break

In April I had a month off from Sudan and a busy time catching up with everyone at home. Highlights were the snow on the first weekend I was home, a great trip to Wales with my family and a week in France with Nico visiting Zac and Sarah. I’m looking forward to coming home and a trip to Italy in August.

On my way

Today I have completed the first leg of my journey home.... 3 and a half hours on the Nile from Melut to Malakal.

I'm starting to allow myself to get excited now, coming home after a year is a big deal and I can't wait to see people.

So I'm ready for my last unbearably hot night for a while ... I fly to Nairobi tomorrow and then on to the UK on Friday night.

Happy Easter

We've been trying to make it a bit like Easter here in Melut. We painted some eggs and went out for lunch (a new place in town that does real chips ... very exciting!).

The clinic has been closed and we have been relaxing a bit for the bank holidays but its been really hot .. (up to 47 yesterday) so I have been melting a bit.

The countdown to home is definitely on ... less than 2 weeks now!