Phil is working in the logistics department in Medair. For those of you who have done logistics in the commercial sector in the western world, you might have some idea of what it entails. Phil’s portfolio includes fleet management, facilities management of the high rise in which we have offices and rooms, equipment management, IT focal point (imagine!) etc. Let me give you more of an idea of what we do in logistics.

The other day I was in the camps doing physical counts of stocks (stock management is part of our portfolio). And I happened upon guys building "rat cages" to prevent loss from rats eating food intended for refugees. This became a real serious problem for us at our main warehouses, as well as the storerooms connected to the nutrition clinics. So while I was in the US for Nathan’s wedding, the logs team was working diligently to get “rat cages” planned and built to keep the rats out of the supplemental feeding foodstuffs that Medair gets from the World Food Programme (we were getting some flak from WFP for our losses).

This was at one of our largest warehouses that we use for stocking foodstuffs. The contractor was building a frame at the front of the warehouse that will be lined with heavy duty “chicken wire” (and have 2 mesh doors). Then he also lined the ceiling with this same mesh which he tacked to the top of the walls with wood boards. Because this warehouse has concrete walls and floors, we think that sealing off the front with the walls, covering the ceiling and bringing the mesh part way down the walls will be pretty effective in sealing out the rats (but time will tell!).In the second picture you can see the food behind that wall.

But, as I mentioned above, we were experiencing a problem in the storerooms connected to the nutrition clinics. The 3^rd picture is from the Camp 3 storeroom where we essentially lined the storeroom with the same mesh, hoping this will
keep the rats out. One of the challenges is that the entire building is built of bamboo, and the floor is brick, so we are concerned that the rats will burrow up thru the bricks. We shall see.

Rodents aren’t, unfortunately, the only problem we have with food. Sometimes the food we get is infested with insects. Loss from either of these means is a real headache for Christine as she has to report these losses to WFP in her constant reporting.

Thanks for your prayers that the food we offer to refugees would be protected from both rodents and insects so that it can get to the people that we serve, the Rohingya.

Below is a link to a really great exposé on a young girl from one of the camps where Christine works. Continue to pray for the Rohingya. We covet those prayers!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/rohingya_monsoon

We have talked a bit about the population density in the Rohingya camps here in Bangladesh. The best I can figure, the camps here must have a land mass of around 5.5 square miles. Compare this with the city of Minneapolis where we have lived the last 7 years – it has a land mass of 58.4 square miles. The population of Minneapolis is around 444,000. The population of the refugee camp here is around one million people. This gives you some idea of how incredibly crowded the living conditions are here.

That density creates significant problems for the Rohingya, and allows activities to take place in the camps that are very detrimental to the well-being of this suffering people.

The link below gives some insight into the plight of the Rohingya. It is from an Austrailian news outlet. As we watched it as staff, many commented that it seemed to be a bit sensationalist. For instance, malnutrition rates, at least in some categories of people,

are going down. But there is no question that the Rohingya face daunting challenges.

The piece focuses on one of Medair’s nutrition centers that Christine manages and interviews a Dutch colleague, Astrid Klomp. This interview happened while we were back in the US for Nathan and Anna’s wedding so it is very recent. We hope it contributes to your ability to pray for the Rohingya.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/08/malnutrition-reaches-emergency-levels-at-rohingya-refugee-camp.html