Veloma Madagascar

...the last 4 weeks were busy. I visited my good friend Karsten in Ethiopia and time flew by after I came back. I will leave Madagascar tomorrow at 21h to attend the debriefing in WFP HQ Rome...but before that we will have a nice fare-well dinner with friends and colleagues.

I wont make it a big conclusional blog-entry, but just let me say that I had a great time in Madagascar where I met amazing people and learnt a lot.

Thanks to all of you who made that possible.

Veloma Madagascar....Fabi

PS: I will be back in Germany 1st April!

After the Cyclone...

So I am back from my field trip to Tamatave, where Tulika and I were assisting our Emergency Preparedness and Response Officer Solveig Routier.

Before I will tell about my personal experience, I’d like to give you a brief overview about the situation after cyclone Ivan hit Madagascar, which was the reason for our trip:

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The number of "affected" continue to increase. According to the National Bureau of Catastrophe and Risk Management (BNGRC), 83 people have been reported killed by the cyclone Ivan.

Around 320,000 people have so far been affected, including some 187,000 who lost their homes. The number of affected people may still be revised upwards.
The most devastated area is on the north-eastern coast with some 163,000 people affected in four districts.
The main problems, besides the massive infrastructure obstacles, are floods, making in nearly impossible for the people to return to their homes and having lost most of their possessions.

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After we arrived on Wednesday night in Tamatave we met Solveig in our hotel, where we had the first briefing. To our astonishment Solveig and partners from CARE International explained to us, that in Tamatave itself the situation is okay. This was of course great to hear and put our emergency mindset a little bit into perspective. But in the region of Tamatave the situation was obviously way worse.

For the next day we divided work: Solveig met again with CARE and we went to see the NGO’s Catholic Relief Service and the Malagasy Red Cross (CRM). We told them that WFP could provide them with food aid to facilitate the emergency food response.

Our meeting with CRM was at the beginning more successful as they could provide us with figures of people in need in the different areas. According to those figures we calculated the rations needed for a 15 days project with a general food distribution and Food for Work activities.

We put everything in place and arranged another meeting for the following day to prepare the Letter of Understanding, which is the contract between WFP and its partners.
As Solveig returned to Antananarivo to attend the coordination meetings, it was up to Tulika and me to finalize the contract. Even though we negotiated passionately, we unfortunately could not make it happen. The reasons therefore where beyond my understanding but clearly showed me the difficulties and vulnerability of a partnership between WFP and a NGO.

I was very disappointed that we did not mange to work together in that specific case, but I have to say, that it was a very valuable “lesson learnt”.

The rest of our assignment we spent in the office at the biggest warehouse of WFP Madagascar. From there we coordinated the delivery of High Energy Biscuits which had to be sent to Antananarivo and other regions of Madagascar, which were flooded.

So that was it: briefings, meeting partners, assessing needs and capacities, quarrelling, frustration and eye opening lessons in general.

All that belongs now to my first emergency response experience!

Footnote:

The relief operations are still fully ongoing and now we have a lot of new colleagues coming in from the regional bureau in Johannesburg and the headquarter in Rome.

Our office is now even more active and lively and I belief that it is one of WFP’s major strength to react appropriately to emergencies like cyclone Ivan.

Cyclone...now for real!

In late November 2007 I have been in Tamatave and Foulpointe at the East coast of Madagascar to participate in a cyclone crisis simulation. Now, two month later cyclone Ivan hit the Northeastern coast of Madagascar…and this time it is for real.

At the time it hit Madagascar, it was considered a category 3 cyclone (maximum: category 5) with winds measured up to 200km/hour. The passage of the cyclone has severely affected the telecommunication services in the entire North-Eastern region, affecting the flow of information to the capital regarding the damages caused by the cyclone. This is particularly the fact for Isle Sainte Marie, where no communication means exist anymore. However, the little information we have received till now have showed severe damages. The electricity power has also been cut off in most provinces.

Tulika and myself will most probably leave Tana on Wednesday towards the cyclone hit region to assist our Emergency Response Officer. The affected region is without electricity, running water and the roads to Tana are cut off. We are excited and also a bit nervous, as it is the first time that we will be part of such an emergency operation. Let’s see how we will do…keep your fingers crossed!

MGG Fabian

Out in the Field: Tuberculosis , Leprosy and Food for Work

We are back in Tana, just one day before Christmas after beating almost 2300km of Malagasy road in less than 5 days.

Where have we been?

It is the 19^th of December, a Wednesday morning, 5 a.m. We hop into the rented jeep including driver to head southwards with the goal to reach a little town at the South-East coast of Madagascar. About 900 km of road are lying before us and it is a long ride. Nevertheless I enjoy it the most to travel by car, which gives me the best chance to get more impressions of this fascinating country. The scenery changes in an almost staged rhythm of 2 hours which makes me feel like travelling through many different countries instead of just one.

After 15 hours on the road we finally reach our destination, where our Eleonore and David from our partner NGO booked a hotel room for us. Before falling onto our beds we have a brief meeting discussing our agenda for tomorrow.

The next day…6 a.m. We leave Farafangana in two jeeps towards Tangainony where the first of two tuberculosis centre is located.

Even though the centre is merely 60km away, it takes us over 4 hours to get there which is mainly due to the river which we had to cross. The car ferry at the river is capable of transporting 2 cars and some more passengers at on time. When the ferry arrives at the other side it waits until is has enough customers…which can take quit some time.

But we used the time explore the little village near-by where the Vazahs (white foreigners) are still a guarantee for an attraction.

Later on we arrive in the village where we are warmly welcomed by the Sisters, who to our astonishment were not aware our visit. As it turned out they just did not receive the message because there is hardly any mobile network.

This fact makes it even more impressive when we start our monitoring and evaluation work, because the centre has done a formidable job. The Sisters are fairly new to the cooperation with the World Food Programme, but nonetheless there is hardly anything to complain about the new partnership.

The centre treats mainly tuberculosis patients which additionally to their free medicine receive food aid. The food aid works an incentive for the patients to adhere their treatment and in general improves their health status.

During our conversation with the Sister in charge, she reveals a shocking fact: the existence of leprosy in this district!

Leprosy…that is something I just know from history books and politically incorrect jokes when I was little…but here it becomes suddenly very real.

Even though the illness is nowadays easy to cure many infected are just too afraid to seek for help, they become socially isolated and cannot work. So it is even more important that those suffering from the possible deadly illness get treated in the centre as well.

Our check-up on the distributed rations, the condition of the warehouse and handling of the food rations, etc. everything is by the book and I am amazed by the work the Sisters have done here in such a remote area with an infrastructure leaving you almost cut off from the outside world.

After lunch with the Sister we return to Farafangana where we spent the second night.

The next day we check on the next centre in Vangaindrano. The centre is also run by Sisters and they have also done a good job, but it was hard to be more impressed after having seen the centre the day before. We do not stay there as long as in Tangainony as we have to make some kilometres on the road to reach Manakara before nightfall.

Here in Manakara we meet Victor who is working as a food aid monitor for WFP. The following Saturday we visit “Food for Work” activities with him and the NGO “Semi-Mad”.

It is the fist time that I see those kinds of projects personally, after having read and written so much about it. Now I am standing one foot deep in the mud of a newly created drainage channel which ensures that the local farmers can use new land and have sufficient resources to cultivate it. The beneficiaries have done an impressive job and the responsible agricultural technician – a woman – shows us proudly how they improved the land and introduced new seeds, diversifying the harvest.

We head on to the food distribution site where we interview beneficiaries and we listen to their stories, hopes, wishes, concerns and questions.

Asking for their biggest problem, they tell me that not everybody receives the same amount of food, which is a clear violation of WFP rules. But solving this problem seems easier than it is, because some beneficiaries get socially pressured and bullied to “voluntarily” to give a certain food share to people positioned higher in the local village hierarchy.

Changing forms, templates and techniques is one thing but changing human behaviour is and remains a long term challenge.

We leave Manakara and are on the way back to Tana. We cannot make in one day so we have to stay overnight in Ranomafana, which means hot water in Malagasy. In this little town we can take a bath in the natural hot springs and make a quick visit to the national park before we continue our return towards the capital.

We are back in Tana, just one day before Christmas after beating almost 2300km of Malagasy road in less than 5 days and I have made further unique experiences, learning more about tuberculosis, leprosy, food for work and the worries of beneficiaries.

MGG Fabi

7 Days and 7 Facts

Monday…the first day of the week equals for me coming to the office around 08.00h, checking my emails, eating the breakfast I got from my landlord, drinking my coffee and going through the weekly outlook for my Public Information work.
I am leaving the office about 17.30h. I hop into the taxi-be (mini-van), get out at my favourite sandwich place to grab something to eat.
At 20.00h Thomas picks me up with his new jeep and we go to the play football for 2 hours, which costs me 5000Ariary (2 Euros).
Back home, I read a little bit in my Economist before falling asleep.

More than 70 percent of the population in Madagascar live below the poverty line, having 1 US $ or less per day.

Tuesday…at least once per week we go for having a nice lunch break at a restaurant up the hill. The menu leaves you with many choices….salad, fish, pasta, fresh juice, sandwiches…I am going for my usual “mango juice + omelette + steak with fries + yoghurt” package, which does not make the afternoon work shift easier….but well. After work I go out to meet some friends to have a drink together downtown or I just chill in our living room watching a movie.

Some 50 percent of children under three years of age in Madagascar suffer retarded growth due to a chronically inadequate diet.

Wednesday…we are on the way to the Galaxy compound to have our monthly meeting with all communicators from the different UN agencies. We discuss the agenda for 2008, deciding which topics we will mainly focus on, while we have snacks and drinks.
In the afternoon I am heading to a printing company where we ordered 300 brochures, explaining and promoting the work of WFP.
After finishing work I am at ACSA, a private sports club for the rich and posh, playing squash in the only court in the whole country of Madagascar.

Over the past 35 years, at least 46 natural disasters, including cyclones, drought, epidemics, floods, famines and locust infestations, have been reported, affecting more than 11 million people altogether in Madgascar.

Thursday…it is getting close to the weekend. Today we are attending a press conference from UNICEF in the noble Hotel Colbert, where the colleagues from the Found for Children explain their strategy to improve the lives of the children in Madagascar. In the afternoon I keep on working on the remaining brochures as well as on a little press release which tells about how much money the European Community Humanitarian Office donated to WFP to support its work in the North-West. Around 21.00h I go the “Le Bus” where you can listen to live music made in Madagascar. I like the artist, Tarika-Be, so I buy the CD.

Chronic food insecurity affects 65 percent of the Malagasy population, with an eight percent increase during the lean season.

Friday…the last working day of the week goes by quickly, because we just have to work until 14.00h. So in the afternoon I visit my favourite chicken-BBQ place, trying not to eat too much, because at 17.00h I grapple with my buddies from Jiu-Jitsu. After the intense workout I am resting at home, before going out to have dinner with friends in one of the many good restaurants in the neighbourhood of Isoraka. Finishing with the mandatory Mousse au Chocolat we leave the restaurant and we head to Mojo Bar, where you will meet 95% of the expatriate community of Tana.

Madagascar is classified as a least developed country as well as a low-income, food-deficit country.

Saturday…sore from the Jiu-Jitsu workout, I decide to have a massage at Homeopharma (1 hour for 2 Euros) and a milkshake and cookies in “The Cookie Shop”. In the late afternoon I meet Stephanie in the Hilton Hotel where we play tennis and take a dive into the swimming pool. We have dinner at home, cooking some pasta and relaxing in the living room before we go out again to “Le Bus” to spend the night in the best club of Tana.

Madagascar is a low human development country, ranked 143 out of 177 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index from 2007/08.

Sunday…I sleep until the kids from our landlord start playing around with their toys in front of my room. I spend lazy quality time in my apartment before going to either the Hash or playing Frisbee. In the late afternoon we meet up at “Sakamanga”, the only place in Tana with a cinema-like atmosphere, showing its Sunday movie. We might stay on to have dinner afterwards, before we head home to get ready for another week in Madagascar.

Life expectancy at birth in Madagascar is an average of 58 years and every second person does not have access to an improved water source.

Note:

Even though this week never really happened like this, it is very much possible. Life in Madagascar and in especially in Tana can differ to such an unbelievable extent, that it is sometimes difficult to believe that it is the same country.

The opportunities and means I have to my disposal could easily make me forget where I am…so it is good that I keep on reminding myself where I am and why I am here.

It is very interesting for me to figure out how I deal with those harsh contrasts and I am grateful for being here, making this very real experience.

Christmas in Madagascar

I got back yesterday evening from a 5 day trip to the south-east of Madagascar...we drove almost 2000km in 4x4 jeep...it was humid, hot, rainy, exciting, interesting, informative...so those are some of the reasons why no real Christmas feeling is coming up, because 30 degrees C and the lychee season just do not go along with my idea of Christmas...but still:

I would like to wish you all merry Christmas!

We are going to have a big Christmas dinner tonight and I think I have never celebrated the Holy Night it such an international circle of people...Cameroon, Brazil, Canada, Poland, the Netherlands, Russia, Mauritius and Germany...definitely something different from back home and for sure very interesting!

MGG Fabi

A Simulated Crisis and a Real Accident

Two weeks ago I returned from a crisis simulation which took place in Foulpointe, at the East coast of Madagascar.

The simulation was a long planned project, mainly organized and lead by the Bureau National de Gestion des Risques et des Catastrophes (BNGRC).

BNGRC which belongs to the Malagasy military operated with several civil partners such as the Red Cross, Meteo-Station, UNICEF, OCHA and WFP. The exercise had 2 different parts whereby we have been more concerned about the strike of a fake cyclone with all its consequences, because a damaged oil tanker is not much of a business for WFP.

After being briefed about the rough outlook of the things to expect, the exercise really got started in Foulpointe where all participating actors have been informed about the damage the cyclone had left. We got to know that there were about 50 people who lost their homes, 12 missing and a couple of fatal victims.

Our part of the game was to ensure that our cooperating partner, the Red Cross, has been provided with sufficient food to distribute to the 50 cyclone victims.

The group of people, volunteers from the local village, were expected to arrive at the Red Cross camp on Monday afternoon. On the camp site they all have been registered and taken care of in the provisional tents.

With the arrival of the “victims” the problems began…because up to that time there was neither running water nor electricity.

No water meant no usable latrines, no showers and no possibility to cook the rice…and the worst: there was not even drinking water available.

The group of people consisted of men, women (some pregnant) and little children…after waiting almost 4 hours in the hot tents, burnt by the sun and still with no running water available, the Red Cross was one inch away from calling off the simulation because the simulated crisis got a little bit to real for the villagers….at least OCHA organized enough bottles of water from shops downtown (which I think was against the rules of the game) to relax the situation a little bit.

To keep the Red Cross from leaving the exercise, BNGRC decided to continue the simulation but without the 50 people…at least they could keep the provided items such as blankets and buckets for themselves and received a sincere excuse from the officials.

Even though the simulation went on, enough confusion was created between the different actors blaming each other for various faults tensioning the atmosphere.

As a conclusion I have to admit that once again I was quite surprised what kinds of problems occur even at such high level of professionalism. Knowing that this was a well in advanced planned exercise and still having fundamental problems such as delivering water is stunning a experience.

But that is why we practice such important exercise, to see where we can improve to ensure that in real life situation things will run better and people will be helped immediately and effectively.

Lesson learned: strong communication and clear organization is mainly the key to success in most of the cases…even though it might be just a simulated one…and with the recent beginning of the cyclone season we better learn quickly.

MGG Fabi

Footnote:

Last Saturday night, after leaving a Cameroon party with Tulika and two colleagues we have been waiting for a taxi. Suddenly we saw a speeding car heading towards our direction when the driver lost control and turned 180 degrees, flipped a couple of times before landing in the ditch.

We have been the only ones in the lonely area who saw the accident taking place so we ran immediately to the car which luckily landed on its wheels. At first I checked for the woman on the passenger seat. She was conscious and not badly injured so I looked for the driver. He was clearly in a worse condition than her girlfriend, having a bleeding wound on his head and being semi-conscious.

I was trying to keep him in the car to avoid unnecessary movement but he slid out of the car so I laid him on the ground checking his respiration. By that time I was glad that more people came to help…when finally somebody said that there is no ambulance coming we put the driver in a car and he has been taken to the hospital.

Afterwards we have been asked to take care of the car so that nobody will steal anything from this already totally wrecked vehicle…unbelievable!

Lesson learnt:

Number 1 – calling for an ambulance in Madagascar might be a lost cause

Number 2 – I need definitely another course in first aid

Number 3 – please always wear the seat belt

Number 4 - Cameroon parties are nevertheless fun ;-)