Adverse Weather & Geographical Obstacles
Adverse Weather
Sudden natural disasters have an obvious impact on Medair’s ability to reach beneficiaries, but even annual weather conditions like snowfall and rainy seasons can cause real problems.
Madagascar is often affected by adverse weather, and 2007 was no exception. A series of cyclones struck the island, displacing thousands of people and creating disastrous water and sanitation conditions. Our team used small boats called pirogues to deliver relief items to flooded beneficiaries. In the past, our teams have lashed together make-shift rafts so that supply cars can cross rivers. Throughout the year, accessibility is a constant problem. There are many small villages, and poor road infrastructure is only made worse by the recurring floods.
In Southern Sudan, when the rainy season hits from April to October, it becomes virtually impossible to transport supplies by car. The black cotton soil of the Upper Nile turns into a sea of mud. Medair has started using boats during this season, because even planes have trouble landing on the wet airstrips.
In 2006, the Christian Blind Mission (CBM) paid a visit to a Medair TB clinic. Although its plane safely landed on the slick runway, the CBM team and Medair staff had to wade through knee-high water to reach the clinic. The flooding kept some people from attending the clinic, but many blind patients braved the high waters, holding onto a stick and being led by their caretakers for up to six days to receive sight-giving surgery from CBM. One beneficiary named Nyakwai expressed her amazement as her bandages were removed, for she suddenly saw the trees made green by the rain, and the beauty of creation all around her.
When a massive earthquake struck Pakistan in the fall of 2005, the survivors found themselves without any shelter, and with winter looming just around the corner. Our team raced to provide shelter for them, overcoming extraordinary access problems in the remote mountainous terrain of Poonch District. In many cases, there were no proper roads, and there were many landslides. The team used tractors to transport supplies, and often staff needed to trek on-foot to villages to reach beneficiaries. “They were exceptionally welcoming,” said Project Manager John Primrose. “I think we were one of the first groups of foreigners to ever come into that area.”
One of the beneficiaries was Jamman, whose family was tragically impacted by the earthquake. “The house collapsed on top of our two cows, and over the next few days we buried my brother’s wife and daughter,” said Jamman. “We cried all the time, we felt completely lost, and we even forgot to eat. We slept outside under the stars for a month. Then Medair gave us shelters, blankets, soap, and a new cow. Medair saved our lives, they are the only ones to come right out here.”
Geographical Obstacles
A country’s geography often presents tremendous challenges. For instance, Pakistan’s mountainous terrain makes access very difficult, but sometimes it is also the vastness of a country that contributes to its inaccessibility.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a massive country, the third-largest in Africa. Jan Egeland, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said, "Congo's huge size is exceeded only by the enormity of human suffering contained within its borders. Indeed, there are few places on earth where the gap between humanitarian needs and available resources is as large - or as lethal - as in Congo."
Medair’s area of operations in DRC is beset by conflict and inadequate roads, with the Bunia region only accessible by air. Despite this, Medair provides primary health care access to over a million people in the remote northeast corner of the country.
The problem of vastness also impacts Indonesia’s 17,000 islands, an area that is particularly prone to natural disasters, including the 2004 tsunami. A devastating earthquake struck Nias Island in 2005, and two years later there are still isolated villages that have not received any help. Medair is working to access these remote villages and provide safe water and sanitation.
Afghanistan is perhaps Medair’s most inaccessible country of operations, with Badakhshan province being one of the most underdeveloped and remote areas in Central Asia. Its rugged geography and restricted access have prevented the area from progressing much in the past hundred years. It has the highest level of incidence of natural disasters, with frequent occurrences of flooding, landslides, and earthquakes.
Medair teams must travel up to five days by horseback just to reach some of their project areas, and many sites are completely snowbound for six months. "This area has the highest maternal mortality rate in the whole world,” said Hilje Zandberg, a Medair doctor. “At the moment, only the hospital in the provincial capital can perform caesarian sections. But that’s about to change. In the near future, as soon our training is completed, two of our Medair clinics will be able to do these operations. It is a huge step forward. You can tear down a clinic, you can destroy a hospital, but you can never take away knowledge.”
As you can see, Medair’s teams face and overcome significant obstacles every day in their mission to reach the world’s most vulnerable. Our staff are driven by a passion to help suffering people make the journey from survival to life. In the hidden corners of the world, we are shining a light where darkness once prevailed.