Humanitarian Response in a Time of Pandemic

As time moves forward, we can see some countries are on the downside of the pandemic arc. Some restrictions are being loosened and there is a small hint of normality returning. I hope this is an encouragement to countries, including Kenya and Somalia, that are still on the upside of the arc. I think it helps psychologically to actually see that there’s a possible end to the current situation. I mentioned it to my management team yesterday to encourage them to encourage their teams to enhance their respect for the protocols in place to stop the spread. From the sounds of it, people in Somalia aren’t being very diligent generally speaking. As I've mentioned before, there are unfortunately some good reasons for this (practical, economic, etc.). It doesn’t need to be perfect but it needs to be enough to prevent the virus from making its way through the country. Time will tell.

On the work side of things, rarely have I ever been this busy. I hear of people doing creative things with videos, Tik Tok, Twitter, YouTube, etc. I enjoy the creativity but I doubt that I will be able to tap into my own creative juices anytime soon.  It’s all hands on deck. Protecting staff. Pivoting towards response, given that our largest sector in Somalia is healthcare. We’re tapping into a considerable amount of experience from Ebola and our Congo response. Though Covid is not the same thing, the triage, isolation, etc. protocols are similar. Sort of gives us a head start in knowing how to prepare. Somalia’s caseload is still relatively small for now but that could change and we’ll need to be ready. 

A key source of frustration is the lack of protective equipment for staff who work in our clinics (caps, aprons, gowns, etc.). We've seen this in other countries and I think it's weighing heavily on my team. The problem is that with the shortages in such equipment worldwide, countries have instituted bans on exporting it. That means countries like Somalia are unable to import it. But lately I'm seeing that countries like China are starting to make some equipment available. Hopefully we can get a hold of it and it can make it here in time. 

One thing I didn’t anticipate is how much of my day I would spend on calls. It’s probably around 80%, sometimes going well into the evening (often to accommodate those who are in New York). At first I thought it might be part of the adjustment period and now I’m realizing this isn’t going away anytime soon.

As I look at my calendar of meetings over the past couple of weeks, I am noticing a pattern. Though many of these meetings are standard (even useful) meetings that existed pre-Covid, many are new. Online meetings have been the norm for me since I began working in Somalia in 2016, particularly given our structure. So that’s not new. I think what’s new is that some people who are accustomed to working in an office, mixing in travel every now and again, are struggling to feel useful. They may be working as hard, or harder, but they seem to be more concerned about the perception of their efforts. Sending the 11pm or 5am email isn’t enough to show the world how dedicated they are. As such they create meetings to show that they are being active and well and truly in charge of whatever they are supposed to be in charge of.

Admittedly, I’ve grown more and more cynical over the years. I watch the twenty- or thirty-something A-types throw themselves into humanitarian work – a burst of energy and new thinking that they feel is lacking in order to save the poor and the hungry. They spend countless hours on spreadsheets, graphs and tables that are intended to revolutionize how we do what we do. I question how much impact these efforts really have on the ground, though often they do influence leadership and some changes. I’ve lost count how many times we’ve made changes, only to change things back to the way they were to begin with. Sadly, change does not always imply progress.

I suppose that’s the nature of the beast. We go through this iterative process where, of the myriad of changes we make, some things actually stick and make things better. We just needed to weather the storm of a lot of nonsense to get us to that point. Little by little we end up moving in a positive direction. I guess my concern is that we wasted a lot of energy along the way.