Humbling

It's just after 6:30pm here, the rain is coming down in sheets, I just polished off a Coke, Marie is trying to get the satellite phone to work so we can communicate with the team in the field going from village-to-village assessing the situation with the suspsected plague there, our cat is currently attacking my back, and I am a little "quiet" as I think I just need a little time to mellow out and allow my head to take a break. Marie is being very kind to let me listen to a little Dave Matthews Band, as for some reason, their old stuff seems to cheer me up. It's not that I am down, I just feel a little useless in our situation here.

Today the medical team for MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres) arrived; two doctors and a nurse. They had lunch with us here at the base/office/house and then this afternoon we met up with them for a meeting with the "chef du medicine" (the doctor in charge of the area) and they were brought up to speed on everything going on. There have been two reported cases of the suspected plague here in Isiro--- both being treated. After the meeting we went to see one of the patients.

He was as normal of a guy whom you would typically pass on the street and not think anything. We do not believe we are dealing with bubonic plague here, so of course there are no marks on his skin or anything like that... it's all internal, all airbourne.

Upon entering this completely vacant room, except for this guy sitting in the corner on a bed, we all stood back, no one getting too close. One doctor from MSF stood a good 10-12 ft away, asking him questions, writing everything down. The chef du medicine would interpret when he didn't understand in french and would need to be spoken to in Lingala. A Congolese nurse walked in, she had obviously been caring for him this week. What a scene for this guy; he's been isolated all week, now a bunch of westerner's walk in, asking him questions, while standing a good 10 ft from him with masks.

When the team got ready to evaluate him, they completely geared up; masks, double gloves, gowns, so careful, so clean, so precise, swabbing this, taking blood here, etc. It was a bit surreal to stand there and watch them work, not because of who they were, but to think of what we were standing in the presence of--- the plague.

This "disease" has been around longer than countries have been countries... it's age is biblical. And yet even in our "new age" of a vaccinated and technological world, we were standing in it's presence today. And it's nothing something you can see because it lives and travels by air. And in watching them take blood and saliva from this guy for their own testing, I was completely humbled by the situation; by them for the work they can do (which I so manytimes wish I could as well), for the man carrying it just because he's a normal guy who wants to return to his family, for this disease because it continues to be resilient in its existence.

As we began our drive back to base thru town, I looked out onto the side of the street and watched the numbers of people visit, greet, gather in groups and just exist together. I couldn't help but think of how easily this can spread and how much harder it might be to control. Then again, we've contained it before, so why wouldn't we be able to this time??

This guy came from the south, in a area where the suspected outbreak is large in numbers right now. He traveled by moto, stopping occasionally in this or that village for food or water. This isn't like home where people exist together in buildings, people here gather together outside. They gather in the marché (outdoor markets), they shake hands, they eat, drink and exist together. There is not a lot of "alone" time here because they sit and visit together. I bet just in today, I came in contact with 150 different people and that is just an average day. Granted, in a school it would be 3x's sa many, but when you think of travel, marché's, and just the daily life here, I wonder and worry... will things like the plague ever disappear completely from our earth?

"Humbling" and "surreal" do not even begin to incapuslate today, but that is the best I can do for now.