Since February 2003 the Darfur region of Sudan has been in a state of conflict, with the Sudanese government and Janjaweed militias seeking to drive black Africans out of the area. Various aid agencies have responded to the urgent needs for humanitarian assistance, and Lisa French Blaker’s book Heart of Darfur tells the story of nine months that she spent in Darfur as a nurse working for Médecins Sans Frontières.
Lisa’s first assignment was in the town of Saleem, where she treated a steady stream of patients suffering from malaria, flesh wounds, dehydration and a range of other ailments. Visits to nearby towns to provide mobile medical care were frequently interrupted by soldiers with guns. Her second assignment was in the town of Muhajariya, which was controlled by the rebel army. Although she did not witness the fighting first-hand, she saw plenty of the victims and heard their stories of suffering and injustice.
Aid work in troubled locations attracts a strange assortment of aid workers, and the constant stress of living with insecurity and without the benefit of western amenities often brings out undesirable personal characteristics and irrational behaviour. In my opinion the book dwells a bit too much on the inter-personal conflicts between members of the MSF team. Nevertheless, any prospective aid worker would benefit from reading the book to get an unfiltered view of what aid work is often like.