Doctors Without Borders

“When we arrive, our truck carrying about a tonne of precious medications is lurched over at a 45-degree angle, stuck in the mud on the main street. There is no electricity for the squat homes made of mud brick and reed thatch. When the MSF team arrive at the town’s hospital – two single-storey buildings of mud brick roofed with iron – we tell the staff about our plans for free healthcare. That evening, the staff enthusiastically remove the handwritten posters listing the prices for treatment.

Overnight, word gets around. The next day a large crowd of women wearing brightly printed cotton wraps clutching coughing, feverish children, assemble outside the dilapidated outpatient building for a free consultation. Georges, one of the hospital nursing staff, looked a little forlorn in his white coat. “Treatment is free, so now everyone will come!” he says.

Before MSF’s arrival, the hospital saw 231 patients in the month of September. We’ve seen more than 300 in our first week.”

- Chris Bird, blog post in The Guardian about the beginning of his stay in the Democratic Republic of Congo as an MSF doctor.

Photo: Ben Milpas/MSF