A Bali Expat Aid Worker on Syria’s Frontline

John Bunnell, a resident of Bali for nine years, went to war-ravaged Syria as a logistician For 2 along that has a half months, working in an undercover field hospital of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Border). Here he shares his experiences via the frontline.

Our field hospitals in Syria were ‘undercover’. Initially, we were running a hospital inside a cave, then the item was moved into a non-functioning farm—a better location along with we could adapt the item to reduce the risk of shrapnel or mortar fire. When I got there, the field hospital was already operational, although in a rough way. There were always things which needed improvement along that has a constant threat which the entire hospital could be moved to another location on short notice. The look of the hospital inside will be quite normal, although the item was obvious the item had to be made operational quickly. The same, old, inflatable operating theatre via the cave was used for sanitary along with privacy issues. the item also has emergency rooms, inpatient along with outpatient departments, a very busy maternity ward, which we expanded, along with even a mental health component.

Helicopter drumming along with shelling were fairly continuous inside “free” area in which we were working. which being said, the hospital was never targeted, yet you could hear the explosions at any time of the day or night; some being far worse than others. MSF was very adamant which every field worker coming to the project completely understood the situation they were getting into. the item was an assignment in a war context in its purest form. We had war-wounded coming in fairly regularly, along with some big mass casualties just before I arrived. which was our main focus to be prepared for.

I went in as a LAF (Log/Admin/Fin). I found the administrative part of the job to be cumbersome to the rest of my job. There were major improvements in human resources (HR) which needed to be done which required a lot of attention. The decision was made to bring in an HR expert to give me some relief; doing the item possible for me to concentrate on pure logistics. Before the war, Syria was a developed nation, along that has a lot of our national staff were educated to a fair degree. I was fortunate enough to contain the help of some excellent national staff in my department towards the end of my mission.

The actual compound of the hospital will be not very big, so the item was easy to get around. We also had two rental houses inside valley below, an outpatient department, three mobile clinics along that has a first-aid post which all needed attention. My duties entailed all aspects of regular MSF logistics, yet I was told to focus on communication as a priority when I arrived. Communication was very tricky along with too much time was spent inside pursuit of the item. I believe This kind of was well-addressed while I was there.

Supply, surprisingly enough, worked out pretty well, relatively speaking. We could get some very simple things via the community—nails, cement, gravel, drums, along with basic food items. The majority of medicines along with some other medical supplies were brought in legitimately through legal border crossings; some other more normal items were regularly moved across the border at a variety of crossings using a variety of means. All these required lots of not bad contacts along with networks to ensure which we received the medicines along with supplies quickly for the medical team to do their jobs. All of these movements, including the crossing of staff, were some of the most amazing I have seen in my life. Movements along with crossings changed by the day along with sometimes by the minute. I was amazed at how our staff pulled off these situations on a regular basis!

John Bunnel

In Syria, security was also on the top of the list of priorities. We had some unfortunate incidents where people came in with weapons. No one was harmed, yet the item was disturbing to say the least. This kind of made us quickly look at how This kind of needed to be corrected immediately. the item will be a basic ground rule of MSF projects worldwide which we will treat anyone who needs medical assistance, including soldiers or rebels, yet all weapons must be left outside the MSF facility.

In a war context, there were unavoidable incidents which could jeopardize the security of our staff along with patients. Physical improvements were made to the hospital at the end of my mission to help solve these important problems. I was mostly involved inside practical aspect of security —training the watchmen, doing physical installations of the entrance to screen the people coming into the hospital along with make the item a gun-free zone. We set up an entrance where the staff along with patients alike are screened before they entered the vicinity of the hospital. There are ‘layers of barriers’ or different stops before you could get inside—there’s one for mass casualty, for patient registration, along with for the staff.

Daily security meetings were a key part of our days. The field coordinator along with I, together with the medical focal point along with security advisor, held daily meetings inside morning followed by another one which involved the whole team. On regular days, we met twice a day. On bad days we had many more! I have never experienced such comprehensive security meetings in any some other mission.

The security meetings are not only for staff safety, yet also to prepare for what’s going to happen next—when are we expecting an influx of patients, what type of injuries we are expecting, who could work along with handle patients’ cases, what’s needed, do we have enough supplies, are there going to be mass casualties or just a handful of wounded people.

the item was a very tough assignment because we were in a war. Even though the item was one of my best missions ever, the item was a very sad along with horrible situation for Syria. I would likely go back if they asked me to, though.