Review of Six Months in Sudan by James Maskalyk

Volunteering for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in a War-Torn Village

Aug 17, 2009

When James Maskalyk, a young Canadian doctor, worked as an emergency physician in Sudan, he wrote a blog to communicate with the world. The blog then became a book.

The remote town Abyei sits in an oil-rich region right at the contested border between north and south Sudan. 32-year-old Dr. James Maskalyk left an emergency-room post in one of Toronto's finest hospitals to volunteer for the international aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Abyei. His painfully honest blog and memoir bring readers right into a makeshift clinic in a neglected war zone. Poverty and disease run rampant, the fighting has gone on for decades.

Medical Relief Work in War-Torn Sudan

The patients seen by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) volunteers in Abyei are young malnourished children, women giving birth to breech babies, soldiers and civilians injured by guns and grenades. Many simply die because they reach the hospital too late. When asked where they are from, patients answer in days. "Three days away", some say. During Dr. Masalyk's six months mission he and his team battle a measle epidemic and provide basic care for TB and HIV/AIDS patients.

The Original Blog and the Story Enrich Each Other

Interspersed with the chronological story of the author's time in Sudan are his original blog entries from the field. He blogged in the relentless heat right from his hut in the dust. Readers share the doctor's immediate intimate experience facing death, tragedy and limited resources in often chaotic circumstances. Blogs allow to share intimate thoughts formerly entrusted to close friends or private journals. If the blog is good, it will assume a life of its own, inviting comments and questions, turning into a conversation.

Stories From the Field Bring People Closer to the World

Six Months in Sudan is written with humanity, conviction, and piercing insight, recalling Greg Mortenson's dedicated volunteer work recounted in Three Cups of Tea. Maskalyk chronicles the cost of war for a community, the toll of never-ending work hours, the heat, and the discomfort. His only way of getting away for a short time are early morning runs into the dusty desert. Writing the blog was another form of relief.

Abyei Was Completely Destroyed in May 2008

Not too long after the end of Maskalyk's tour competing factions renewed their fighting and Abyei is completely destroyed. MSF clinic staff is evacuated by the UN. Ashraf Qazi, head of the UN mission, was clearly shocked by what he saw: "We have been to the centre of Abyei and it doesn't exist any more," he told journalists. James Maskalyk will give some of his proceeds from Six Months in Sudan towards a fund for students from Abyei, if the schools are rebuilt there.

The copyright of the article Review of Six Months in Sudan by James Maskalyk in War & Poverty is owned by Christine Welter. Permission to republish Review of Six Months in Sudan by James Maskalyk in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.