Mosquito Net-WORKING!

My neck feels extremely sore today. This isn’t just from my French bed which lacks pillows, but from my surreal encounter with Michael Jackson’s thriller dance last night. 

Roomie "commuting" to work

After work, we met our coworker in the local village to join her dance group’s weekly rehearsal for the annual “Thrill the world” launched in 2007, a simultaneous worldwide outbreak of MJ’s famous zombie thriller dance. Last year 22,923 participants, set a new world record showcasing this epic dance in more than 250 cities worldwide. 

Our new roomie & 3 course meal!

My roommate and I jumped at the opportunity to work off our overdose on delicious baguettes, cheese, chocolate, fantastic cheap local wine we have consumed. Our exercise intake has been restricted to our one MINUTE commute across the lawn to our office. In two weeks we'll be part of this historical synchronized dance moment taking place in our local world heritage site of Carcassone. 

Cité de Carcassonne

This week, we happily toured our new house mate all around our now familiar local spots including the fortified hilltop French walled city of Carcassone. She was delighted to enjoy the amazing sights of the city, not to mention the clean hot running showers and luxuries such as fresh bread and diary after being in the field for 6 months working on malaria prevention in Central African Republic. 





The Cité de Carcassonne is made up of steep narrow cobbled streets inside the breathtaking castle walls. The “Medieval Disneyland” was overflowing with British tourists, bistros and gift shops. I even bumped into some medieval characters to find that they were French locals enjoying a spontaneous day out. Carcassone’s impressive history is well known from the novel Labyrinth by Kate Mosse but was also caught on camera as the set of the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. To my surprise, amongst all the hustle and bustle, the fortress was actually an authentic town with 120 residents currently living their daily life with one school, post office, hotel etc.

Our first dance rehearsal was a bizarre but enjoyable evening. I experienced my first glimpse into a real rural French community, being greeted with two kisses by 10 or so women smoking outside that did not speak English. They later took turns to direct each thriller move to the 15 wild kids running around acting as zombies. I was amazed at  how much I learnt without understanding a word and even found myself bursting into laughter with the women as we caught each others eyes, acknowledging the ridiculousness of mastering a twitch in your neck and unnecessary hip thrusts.

This fascination and rise in popularity of flash-mobs and synchronized movements in public areas are generally pointless ways to have fun and gain attention right? Yes, but there has got to be more to it. Even during the rehearsal among grandmothers, mothers, teenagers and children I felt a sense of connectedness to something bigger than ourselves.

This week I’ve been reaching out to other relief organizations in the hope of expanding support in a practical way to reinforce the capacity of Non-governmental Organizations, the UN and national partners working in emergencies that are dealing with Malaria control. Ultimately this is in the effort to strengthen an effective Malaria control network. 

This got me thinking. What does it look like for a humanitarian organization to have an “effective network?” Surely, by giving our “jack of all trades” competitors free expertise and support in Malaria would be harmful to us? 

Perhaps we do it because of the nature of the humanitarian mission for social value rather than organizational value. Maybe we say “we’re all in the same boat  here and we need this boat to go where we are going, so any one who’s interested grab a paddle.”


According to an old HBS article this would not be effective in furthering our social mission. Research showed it was not the growth or size of a network that produces greater social value. Effective networks are created from strategical alliances that involve deep synchronization and mesh of mission and values and relies heavily on trust to accomplish their work forming an integrative investment.

Therefore, my organization's former competitors for funding, are doing the same malaria relief work that we are doing. So instead in competing with them, we invest in them. Because after all, effective networks are crucial to the issues these organizations are trying to solve are huge and complex problems that cant be addressed by any single entity and the way we approach them need to be unified.

On October 23rd at 11am, I will be connected to hundreds of French locals from all walks of life as we stand together as zombies. Similarly, I’ve learnt there’s something larger humanitarian organizations should stand for and that is an effective network.

Rather than furthering our own organization, we are able to strategically think at a sector level. 

The challenge being for us humans is to take on the goal of starting a relationship thats not about you but instead is focused on connecting a divided world...and of course dancing together in harmony to Michael Jackson!

Un Bon Hôte.

I was prepared to be an outsider to a new culture...
What I didn’t expect, was to be hosting a guest after only two days of settling into my new picturesque home. My Swiss guest was a visiting consultant and an impressively humble humanitarian. He’d spent his life devoted to the “darkest” places on the donor’s map, that had “failed” to recover from emergency phases such as the bush in Congo and deserts in Chad.

Bon appétit: My Roomie & Guest

Through his fascinating stories of unlocked potential and impact that had been made with locals, he quickly tipped the hopeless views of these dark nations on their head. He was not one of those  "development tourists" but one of the few who stayed overnight in the villages he was assisting. Having lived and been in so many conflict and situations he was deeply convicted of the importance of making others around you a priority. In feeling welcomed, appreciated, listened too and “in life your happiness will be rooted from being a good host.” At the time, this wise insight flew right over my head. 

After one week in a French speaking office, with a French keyboard and computer, I have been utterly confused and frustrated to put it lightly. Let alone reading about the challenges in Malaria control which has never been a “sexy” topic. Unlike other diseases in emergency contexts, malaria control has inexpensive straightforward prevention tactics and is 100% preventable and treatable... so just hurry up and give the people nets and sprays right? Sounds simple enough. 

View from town to our house among trees.

But why are there a growing number of organizations devoted to malaria prevention and treatment all duplicating interventions of blanketing Africa with mosquito nets, medicine and sprays? Malaria must be more complex an issue if 50% of the world is STILL at risk of being infected with malaria.

I had forgotten a crucial spanner in the works, relief organizations working in refugee camps, communities in emergences are dealing with people! These challenges are not scientific. Attempting to change people’s behavior is difficult, especially in humanitarian crises having to work with different cultural habits, priorities, values behind choices and lifestyles. 

It is easy to jump in as an outsider and proclaim other cultures as weird and strange when they do not fit our “norms.” For instance this week I’ve noticed a few things about the French culture...When you go grocery shopping in France, unless you bring bags with you, you’d better find some strong help to carry out all your shopping in their hands- as they don’t provide bags. The French plumbing system disturbs me. I ran the tap for the first time and dirty water vomited out in powerful bursts of the bathtub, apparently this is perfectly normal. The French have snail pizza! If you are wondering, snails taste like squashy rubbery mushrooms. 

La ville de Villasavary

Gypsies are a local fear here, and like a naive child unless I had been told this, I was blissfully unaware of their vicious criminal reputation when the circus is in town. On sunday, I was completely clueless as to when to move or speak at the local french catholic church. It is fair to say I understood about 3% of the service. However, I was quick to catch onto the fantastic wine and champagne selection offered with olives and nuts at the end of every service. (French catholics got something right there!) As an outsider I’ve been utterly lost... quite literally, even riding a bike into town we took the wrong path into the endless fields.


My lovely roommate Harriet (a brit) and I, spent quality time with our guest sharing meals, washing up and walking to our beautiful authentic French village Villasavary, situated on top of the nearest hill 30 minutes away. 

The top of Villasavary!

After making it to the top, he kindly introduced us to each local shopkeeper telling them to look after us. Every French stereotype made us chuckle from the bikes with baguettes, the many burreys, the open colored shutters, narrow cobbled roads, gushing pastry and fresh bread scents, to the benches of old chattering ladies and relaxed pipe smoking old men all leisurely enjoying time pass with one another. 

Unexpectedly, whilst we were trying to accommodate and make a stranger feel comfortable in an unfamiliar place, I had pushed myself to into feeling less like an outside myself. This even included bold episodes of driving “Noddy” our absent coworker’s obnoxious yellow two seater manual car, through the beautiful windy country roads. (Interrupted by roundabouts every 15ft!) 

Noddy's Voiture!

The timely and risky business of integrating yourself into a new culture, are the same challenges faced by Malaria control organizations trying to work alongside local communities. Even in emergency situations, the only way of making sustainable impact is to take the time to understand and listen to the cultural misconceptions and difficulties. Such as their dislikes of sleeping with nets and using sprays that are disrupting their lives, their fears of malaria drugs not being real, their conflicting notions that expose them to malaria as well as it being seen as a "normal" sickness and low priority. 

Organizations that disregard the people side of things by simplifying the malaria control to just net and spray distribution, often result in tragic cases of life saving resources being left unopened in its packaging in local homes. I've learnt that deciding to be a "good host" even if you are a stranger to the culture can save lives on the field. 

Here, at the GÎte the door is never closed, with an London accountant staying with us now and hosting a canadian at the weekend. I wonder what stories will be shared...

FACT: Annual economic loss in Africa due to malaria is estimated to be $12 billion, representing a crippling 1.3 percent annual loss in GDP growth in endemic countries.

Heading into a hole in the wall...

Just as my father at 21 risked all he knew to pursue his dream job in an African country he was so foreign to that he had to check it existed on a map, I too can relate to how he must have felt that day. I can picture him waving his tearful mother goodbye with a one way ticket in hand.

Although my adventure is not quite as dramatic, I can still identify with a poem he wrote called “Headed into a hole in the wall.” It describes how he would know no one and no one would no him, disappearing from his family and friends sight. This felt significant to me last night as I walked away from my smiling loving parents as they began to appear smaller and smaller. In turn, with each step I was drawn closer to my independent uncertainty and nervous excitement overwhelmed me.

13 hours later... I've finally arrived in Villesavary France! I’m off to a good start having mastered 3 modes of public transport throughout my tiresome journey.  Recap: Firstly my 6 hr flight of no sleeping, terrible choice of a sappy stupid movie “Letters to Juliet” and a large Nigerian man sitting next to me, whose excitement for peering right over me every 5 minutes to look out my window seat resembled a 3 year old. I arrived in Heathrow airport in England for a taste of brief nostalgia of WHSmith chocolate and a snoop around Harrods.

 My connecting flight to Toulouse consisted of herds of cockney british males in uniform black suits and matching brief cases. Yes mum- I changed out of my sloppy American student sweat pant attire! 
Next, I began my french adventure navigating my way two hours south to the countryside, what I can only describe as "I'm an idiot, why don’t I know French!” My bus ride out of the city was successful as I avoided all good looking French men who seemed overly helpful in the hope of luring me into a global human trafficking ring... any one see the movie "Taken".. ?!?

I then jumped onto a very flash fast train that impressively ran through the endless green and brown fields and beautiful hills with shiny white villas that appeared as distant boxes in the countryside. 

With a cell phone that had no service, I was left to figure out how to get a hold of a coworker to pick me up from the middle of nowhere, surrounded by only sunflowers and pumpkins!

 Luckily, after shouting the words "téléphone?" and lots of hand motions (I was always good at charades!) a man thankfully let me use his phone and I was successfully picked up. 

Chez moi La maision! Took this pic yesterday.. this is the Gîte I'm living in.
"The office" is the building to the right of the tree.

There is so much beauty here, I cannot wait to explore, meet coworkers and start learning all I can, soaking it all in like a spongebob.  For now, while I'm still jet lagged I will be settling into my hole in a wall...

View from my backyard!

FACT: Malaria was eradicated from the United States over 50 years ago, yet more than 40% of the world’s population today is at risk.