Interview with MSF Written by Anna Cairns Since her first MSF mission in 1998, Mary Houldsworth, who goes by the name of Flowa, has worked as a Nurse/Midwife and Health Promoter in many of the world’s conflict zones and crisis areas. From treating displaced peoples during the famine in Ethiopia, to being on the frontline of the Ebola virus pandemic in Liberia, she has experienced the many complexities of delivering healthcare to those caught in the crossfire of conflict or in the epicentre of humanitarian catastrophe. I spoke to Flowa about her experiences working for MSF and the lessons that can be learnt from the Ebola outbreak in light of the current Coronavirus pandemic. AC: What were your initial motivations for working for MSF? MF: When my two sons were teenagers, I really wanted them to have gap years, but they refused, so I had one instead! I travelled to Calcutta, in India, where I discovered that an English doctor, Jack Preger, ran a street clinic. He had six hundred patients a day. We set up a mother-and-child unit and, and treated patients living in the slums. Our clinic was the only place that offered free treatment to the extremely poor. I saw, first-hand, the difference that accurate diagnosis, medication, and prescribing made to people’s lives, which eventually led me to MSF. AC: Do you have any stories which you feel encapsulates your experiences working for MSF? F: During my last mission in Ethiopia, we were deployed to care for five thousand internally displaced persons (IDPs). Houses had been torched and plantations taken over. Families were forced to grab their children and flee at short notice. They were housed in five, large concrete coffee warehouses, where the babies were delivered on the concrete floor. As well as antenatal care, I taught infectious disease recognition to a respected woman in each warehouse. Patients suffering from TB and tropical disease were referred to the local hospital. As you can imagine, the tension in the camp led to outbreaks of violence. The mental health team treated women, set up a football team for the men, and set up play sessions for the children. We set up a vaccination programme in the local clinic and organised contraception - which was in high demand. All this was achieved in the context of a difficult political situation, and all within two months. AC: Did you notice that there were different challenges from mission to mission or did you notice a common theme throughout? F: Security is always one of our main concerns. In South Sudan, on Christmas Eve, there was firing over the compound and we slept fully clothed with our emergency bags packed, ready to run. I always want to know about the political situation and I always ask about the weather. In South Sudan, I was living in a tent in 44 degrees and the clinic was under a tree. Whereas in Afghanistan, it was -20 degrees at night, so I went to bed with more clothes on than when I went to work. I also found that local hospital treatments could be a challenge. We often solved these issues by sharing our knowledge and our skills. AC: How do you deal with the psychological aspects of Aid work? F: The psychological effects of Ebola affected the whole team when I was in Liberia at the height of the outbreak. It was the first time that Ebola had reached a city and it was the largest team that MSF had ever had on a project. I kept saying to my staff, “Come on team, we’re making history”. They ended up winning the TIME magazine’s award for workers of the year. We had 110 deaths a day and you have to suppress that grief, which is horrendous. We needed to build trust with the community, who had difficulty accepting that their intricate burial rites spread the disease rapidly amongst the family members. We were working very long days and I had three days off in five weeks. It was
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