MAR-A-9
PREPPPING THE NEXT
GENERATION OF SOMALILAND HEALTH CARE VOLUNTEERS FROM GWUMC
From: Glenn Geelhoed
To: Adam Goldstein
Date: 3/12/04 6:59AM
Subject: Re: hello,
Good to hear!
Berbera is an interesting place, and I just completed its description as you can see in the attachments.
I will list the email addresses that I have and you might try any number of them, as well as the Regional Health Board (see the rhb03 address above.)
The other contacts which you had distilled from my Somaliland "book" are listed in the emails above which I have copied to send a "heads up" about your intent to visit. I have included a number that can make your stay much easier and most enjoyable, and hope that you would relay my greetings to them.
You might also contact Kevin Bergman, Jay Maguire, and Juan Reyes to see if they have additional comments to make or suggestions for people to contact when there. This introduction could hold you in good stead, and Saad Noor on the Somaliland would‑be embassy on this side (only two blocks from where you are right now) will be a helpful ally as well.
I have two full photo albums, two videos and four CD's as well as the text you have seen of my Somaliland "book" to orient you to the places and people, so that this might be your "second visit!"
Good luck!
GWG
>>> Adam Goldstein <adamg00@gwu.edu> 03/11/04 03:49PM >>>
Dr. Geelhoed,
How are you? I have finished reading your chapters from Somaliland and found them quite amazing and educational. If it is okay with you, I would very much like use your contacts and pursue the opportunity to go to Somaliland this summer.
I think that I would like to spend most of my time (hopefully between 4‑6 weeks) in Berbera instead of Hargeisa. But I would like your opinion on which place would be the best option for me.
Ideally I would like to be in an environment where they would need a volunteer to help with wound care, IV's, ex... (Like at the missions of charity in Addis) but also where there is a doctor who would not mind having me around, and would be willing to teaching me as he/she works. Never the less, any medical facility that I am at I will be enthusiastic and willing to help in any way within my physical and mental capacity, (may it be feeding the camels to doing peritoneal hydrations). All I need is a modest place to sleep and the knowledge of where I can buy food and water.
The best contacts from Berbera seem to be:
‑Dr. Mahmoud
‑Suleiman Abdi Ismail
in Hargeisa:
‑Dr. Asea Osmania of WHO
‑Edna Adan
‑Dr. Yassin
At your convenience, please let me know the e‑mails, or the best way to contact one of these new friends of yours.
And I promise, "to walk only where camels have trod earlier"
Talk to you soon,
take care,
Adam Goldstein
‑‑‑‑‑ Original Message ‑‑‑‑‑
From: Glenn Geelhoed <msdgwg@gwumc.edu>
Date: Thursday, March 4, 2004 3:08 pm
Subject: Re: hello,
> Yes, I have read the Farmer book, and you know that I work closely
> with him. In fact I would be there right now if the civil war had
> not interrupted us.
>
> If you can go through my extensive notes about Somaliland, I would
> encourage you to hook into the contacts I have there and take them
> up on their generous offer of hosting any student of mine from
> here on out, now that we have the ground work laid for future
> collaboration.
> You already have a contact in the Sudan with Dr. Jill Seaman. I
> would recommend Drs. Yasine and Suleiman in Hargeisa, and also the
> group in Berbera as an ideal situation for you.
>
> I have worked often in Kenya and Tanzania, but my estimate of your
> experience is that yo are beyond these facilities, only a short
> step up from tourist drop‑ins of the safari‑trekkers.
>
> If you want the real rock face, I have good friends in Mozambique,
> Malawi, Zimbabwe (which I would not recommend just now) and
> Swaziland for yo to pursue such opportunities there.
>
> Also, I am going to Norfolk to work out the. details of a return
> trip to the Horn of Africa to go with an Op Smile team, and it
> will only be a matter of scheduling it when Anthony Coppolino can
> get the three of us together in Norfolk, Geelhoed/Vandenberg/Magen.
>
> I will attach the stores of Somaliland to get you to glean from
> them the names and contacts of the people you might work with there.
>
> Cheers!
>
> GWG
>