Whatever your motive: to provide
assistance to people in need, to do work that you really want to
do, to take action, to put your skills to use where others need
your help urgently, to help save lives and inspire others - joining
MSF is a big step. It can enable you to discover talents you
didn't know you possessed. You will be inspired and learn a lot. In
short, it can change your life.
Living conditions
But before you take the plunge, we would like
to make sure you have an idea of what it is really like to work and
live in the field. Your living conditions might be basic, even
rudimentary. You are expected to follow security guidelines at all
times. For those of you who like to exercise, you might not be able
to do your preferred sports activities. Yet, at the same time, you
might get quite some exercise walking with a donkey carrying
material and supplies to run a mobile clinic. You will be in direct
contact with the people we're assisting, but may find that you need
a translator to talk to them.
The team
You will work together with people from many
countries, including local staff, who usually make up the majority
of a team. So you need to be able and willing to relate to people
from different countries and cultures. In the field, situations,
and hence your job, can change suddenly. So, flexibility and
adaptability are absolutely crucial.
Field stories
To help you get an idea of what work and life
in the MSF field is like, here are some stories written in the
field by our staff.
Read more about safety and security in the
field
"Once you’ve thrown out a placenta in a
dirty bin, assessed kids dying of measles, put in an IV in a hot,
dark, sweaty mud hut crowded with coughing tuberculosis patients
and asked a gunshot victim to wait ‘a few’ more weeks for a plane,
it’s pretty hard to complain about the hot nights, the fly hole
toilet and the lack of fresh food."
Read Trish's story, nurse in southern
Sudan
"On bad days, you can see five casualties
coming in and there have been days after days where you have seen
none at all."
Read Jochen's
story, nurse/logistician in Sri Lanka
"No one would dare steal from you here, but
militias drive around town with rocket launchers hanging off their
shoulders on the back of converted land cruisers."
Read Joe's story, medical doctor in Darfur,
Sudan
"Meanwhile, another nurse tells Carole that
a nine-year-old girl has arrived in coma. The girl has an advanced
stage of malaria. Brought in too late, she dies within 20
minutes."
Read the story "A day in a refugee camp
clinic"
More stories in English:
More stories in Dutch: