Merlin in Haiti: Like a Scene out of M*A*S*H

Some of the following photos may seem like they come from a modern remake of the classic TV series M*A*S*H, but they're actually photos taken by Jeroen Oerlemans. The medics you see are not American army medics in Korea in the 1950s, but doctors and nurses from the UK working with Merlin (Medical Emergency Relief International) in Haïti in 2010. They're currently working out of tents set up on a tennis court, which has earned the makeshift surgical centre the appropriately prestigious nickname Wimbledon.

These guys and gals are really amazing people. I've been lucky enough to meet several of them on two occasions now - the first was in October when we sent a surgical team to Padang, Indonesia following an earthquake that killed 784 people in that area. Just 8 days ago, they bought me a beer as we discussed their departure from London and I took notes on more items they needed us to procure for them. It's been really great being part of a team assisting these trained professionals from afar; almost all the gear you see in these photos - including the headlamps, the tents they're working in, the generators outside the tents providing power, and the scrubs they're wearing - were procured and sent to Haïti by a small team of friendly logistics experts at Merlin head office in London, working their butts off to make sure these doctors and nurses have what they need to operate.

All the photos below were taken by Jeroen Oerlemans. Please see http://www.Merlin.org.uk/ for more information about our response to the Haiti earthquake and other crises around the world.

My First TV Appearance + The Merlin Response to the Haiti Earthquake

Yesterday I had my first TV appearance, on CNN. The footage was shot on Thursday, January 14th at Merlin (Medical Emergency Relief International) head office here in London. Richard Villar, the orthopaedic surgeon featured in the short video, is a very well-respected surgeon based in London who was also part of a Merlin team responding to the Pakistan earthquake of 2005.




He is already performing surgical operations in Haiti after helping determine needs for our medical response in the area. The larger medical team, which includes experienced surgeons, A&E (aka ER) specialists, an anaesthetist, and nurses, arrived today in Haiti. 4800kg of cargo should arrive tomorrow for them to set up an operations theatre in a set of large tents. Getting all that stuff loaded onto the plane kept four of us in a cargo warehouse at Gatwick Airport until 4am yesterday! Then two of us were awake again at 630am to get the team to the airport for check-in, along with 31 bags to check in, filled with survival gear (tents, sleeping bags, ready meals, water filters, etc) and medical equipment.

The check-in process was surprisingly easy for 11 people with 31 bags to check in. The airline (a Thomas Cook charter flight, with ground operations contracted to Servisair) assigned a check-in staff member just for us, named Eric. Eric was friendly and efficient, so it took us only about 10 minutes to get all the passports processed, and another 10 to get the bags all tagged and down the conveyor belt. Not only that, but they sent a suited representative down to make sure everything was running smoothly for us, and he gave the team access to the Servisair lounge to relax before their long flight to the Dominican Republic and subsequent drive across the border to Haiti.

It's amazing how generous some people, and some companies, can be when there is a need. Thomas Cook Airlines has been terrifically generous and helpful in coordinating staff travel and cargo transport for us down to the Dominican Republic, and multiple hospitals and medical equipment suppliers have donated or given us big discounts on much-needed medical supplies when we asked.

It's certainly a very interesting, and extremely educational, experience to be involved in an emergency response like this one. When we start getting some stories back from our team in the field, I'll probably post one or two of them up here. If you want to read about the team's daily activities, including a bridge collapsing directly in front of them right before they crossed, click here.

Merlin's Response to the Earthquake in Haiti

For the past 3.5 months I've been an intern (and for a month, a paid employee) of a UK medical charity called Merlin (Medical Emergency Relief International). In October we sent an orthopaedic and reconstructive surgery team to Indonesia following the earthquake there, and saved both lives and limbs that other surgeons and doctors could not save.

This time we're sending out a team to Haiti, which will be a bigger project but will also include an orthopaedic surgeon and reconstructive surgeon. While there were numerous orthopaedic surgeons operating in Indonesia after that country's October earthquake, we were the only organisation carrying out reconstructive soft tissue surgery. It appears we will be the only, or one of a very limited number of organisations with such expertise this time in Haiti.

If you'd like to read more about the work in Indonesia of our surgeon, Dr Waseem Saeed, check out http://www.merlin.org.uk/Lists/News-Detail.aspx?id=831

If you'd like to donate to help support our current mission in Haiti, please click here

Annual update from Chris

This is an email I just sent out to a bunch of people:

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Dear friends and family,

This is my yearly update for 2009, to let you know a little about my adventures and hopefully get a reply from some of you to tell me what you've been up to over the past 12 months. As usual, it's not the shortest email in the pile, but first I'll give a quick summary of 2009 for the impatient among you:

Canada, Thailand, Burma, Sweden, Canada, China, Burma, China, Canada, England, Sweden, England, Canada. 24 flights. 365 days. Good times, bad times, a few ugly times. Met people, did stuff, saw stuff, took photos of stuff.


And now for the detailed version:

2009 was an interesting one, as every year seems to be. It's one I won't easily forget, because I actually recorded every single place I went using a wristwatch GPS device, and overlaid the tracks onto Google Earth maps, as a nerdy little project just for fun. If you want to see the maps showing every single place I went in 2009, including flight paths, check out http://GPS.Li.feProject.com/

I also forced myself to take a photo every day, though I twice forgot to take a photo. Some are good, some are bad. They're posted at http://Photo.Li.feProject.com/ if you're bored and want to take a look.




I spent the first 3 days of 2009 in Vancouver, finishing up a 2.5 week surprise Christmas visit, then on Jan 4 I flew back to Thailand. I had spent nearly 2 months in Thailand before Christmas, and spent the rest of January there. I was based in Mae Sot, a small city at the Thailand-Burma border, to carry out interviews for my Masters thesis in Mae La refugee camp among Karen refugees from eastern Burma. On Jan 31 I flew to Yangon, Myanmar (aka Rangoon, Burma), for a 4 week backpacking trip. It was an amazing 4 weeks, particularly given that I had heard so much about Burma from my interview respondents and friends involved in various Burma-related NGOs/charities/groups. Photos are up on this blog (check out the archives from April and June).

After my 4 week tourist visa for Burma ran out, I had to return to Thailand. I wish there were longer visas, but 4 weeks is sadly all they give for tourists. I'd love to go back if I ever get a chance. Burma is by far my favourite country in Southeast Asia, out of the ones I've visited so far. So at the end of February I flew back to Thailand, picked up my backpack and laptop that I had left with a hostel owner, and flew to London via Kuwait. My night spent in London at my friend Aidan's place involved helping his flatmates fill his room with crumpled up newspaper balls to surprise him when he returned from a rugby match victory that night.

I spent all of March in Uppsala, Sweden, at my old flat there. I tried to write my thesis, and got some work done but it was really tough going. Toward the end of March I got an email from the boss of a guy I met on a train in Burma in February, offering me an internship with a UK-based NGO (non-governmental organisation) in a different area of the country. I spent 2 months there, then off to Canada.

I spent 2 weeks in Vancouver, during which I built a bicycle from parts, saw many friends, went camping, spent time with my maternal grandmother just before she died, was a pall-bearer for the funeral, and then on June 29 I caught my scheduled flight to Fredericton, New Brunswick, along with my bike. I loaded it up and proceeded to cycle 440km in 4 days of cycling spread over 5 days, from Fredericton, NB to East Ship Harbour, Nova Scotia to visit my dad's family. 2 weeks there, then it was time for a road trip with my sister and her boyfriend in his car, all the way to Gatineau, Québec. After a couple nights at his brother's place there, I got dropped off with my bike in Prescott, Ontario, loaded it up again and off I rode 378km over 4 days to Toronto. I used CouchSurfing.com throughout my trip and had amazing experiences with the wonderful people who hosted me in each place. I spent a week in Canada's biggest city at my friend Jackie's place, saw lots of old friends there, then on Aug 1 flew back to Vancouver for 4 weeks.

On Aug 29 I flew out of Vancouver, this time en route to London, England. On Sept 1 I began a 6 month internship in humanitarian logistics at the London head office of Medical Emergency Relief International (http://merlin.org.uk/). So far, it's been an amazing experience involving a tonne of learning and some really cool people and situations. September and October were really tough, as I had to finish my Masters thesis at the same time. With a lot of editing and proofreading help from my parents, I managed to hand in a final draft on time, and flew to Uppsala, Sweden on Nov 4 to defend it. I succeeded, and flew back to London on Nov 8 (http://ChristopherAnderson.ca/thesis.php in case you're interested to see the nice cover photo).

On Dec 22 I flew to Vancouver for a 9.5 day visit to see family and friends. I had a nice Christmas with family, and an interesting New Year's Eve with friends. On Jan 1, 2010, shortly after noon, I flew out of Vancouver, stopped over in Edmonton, and landed the next morning in London.

I'd really like to hear back from anyone who has time to write a line or ten - tell me what you've been up to, where you're at, whether you'll be in London while I'm still here (until the end of February), etc. If you want strange postcards and haven't been getting any, send me a mailing address. If you're bored and like pictures of random stuff, this blog has photos of almost all the adventures in this email and I update it on occasion.

All the best to all of you for a successful 2010,
Chris

Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas!