DoctorWithoutBorders

My life is normal, MSF is mainstreamed into my who life. I cannot imagine leaving MSF, frankly.

With MSF, teams live, work and sometimes fight or make-out together. That is part of the MSF experience. Some love it, some cannot cope. It makes for very strong bonds!

To make yourself available you need to finish, get experience, have great motivation and then apply and go out!

Arjan

I recently was in Central African republic and saw 30,000 people cramped onto a small space on the church compound. not daring to return to their houses even if a few hundred meters away. They were THAT scared by the violence. That was impressive!

In the Philippines, it is in fact a 'normal' disaster. It hits hard, causes massive destruction. We mobilise immediately, mount a major and a quick response, and then it we will prbably be able to leave relatively quickly as other organisations step in and the government takes responsibility.

My best impact was in South Sudan, where I was Head of Mission for four years. i have lost my heart to Sudan, some missions do that to you. I cried when we were thrown out of North Sudan (I should not say this on the internet, but it is true)

There is always a dominant narrative which fits our own perceptions and realities. It is quite interesting, if you sit down with some of the radical groups in today's conflicts, that they have a very logic narrative of the world too -- which is persuasive but is completely contradictory to your own understanding. So the need is for dialogue, everywhere!

MSF has left Somalia recently. I was one of my hardest decisions ever, the same for many of my colleagues who have worked there. It is still a major crisis but we experienced so many major security incidents, and the authorities were either unable or unwilling to prevent or address these incidents, that we felt forced to depart. BIG BIG impact for the population, major heartache for me and many others in MSF still. Two countries I want to return to still as MSF General Director: North Sudan and Somalia.

Biggest challenge is to ensure we can remain present and effective in some of these very dangerous and complex countries, like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and so on