September 2008 Archives

Below are the final excerpts from Justus Rinnert's expedition to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Justus Rinnert

Pilot, Aviation Without Borders

First Contact with the Outside Dr. Nono and his staff arrive and with their little motorcycles whisk us out of this male misery of green rags and sun-baked armory. We have brought some supplies along with us. During a healthy meal of fufu, cassava leaves and grilled river fish we listen to them in awe. About the looting ram-page that went on. The fear ingrained in the local population. About the soldiers requisitioning everything, from foodstuff and equipment to women who are forced to follow their masters everywhere. Or about the major who got sick, who had ordered the MSF doctors to come and look after him, and then got so upset about them showing up late, that he threatened never to let the Cessna land again - there by cutting himself off from much needed healing. After the meal, Jacques and I insist that we must depart. We leave for the airstrip to prepare the plane for take-off.

***

His Face Trembles
The midday sun is beating down on the airfield. A stone's throw away on the veranda of the decrepit colonial terminal building, the soldiers are hiding from the heat. Their eyes are fixed on us. I make out the outline of a young soldier who has got up and is now walking slowly towards us. He has bare feet, is wearing a green T-shirt with army fatigue pants. As he starts to speak I notice some marks on his cheeks and forehead, his face trembles. He is about to cry. He is sick. What does he want? Clearly, he can't be asking for money or a lift out of here in front of everybody. He is putting words together one by one. His French is simple but becomes increasingly more fluent. Ready to mock him in the routine distrust I have of any military person, fortunately I check myself. He begs us to listen to what he has to say. He wants to talk. These are his words:

From war torn communities to water shortages to lack of food resources, many African countries today are in trouble. One of those countries is the Democratic Republic of Congo. DRC has seen conflict for decades and, while the UN has a presence there, its civilian population is still suffering. Below are ten facts about the country to help separate myth from reality.

• The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the deadliest conflict since World War II . More people have died there than in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Darfur combined . An average of 1200 people die every day in the Congo as a direct result of the conflict of conflict-related issues. Based on these figures, a Tsunami occurs every six months in the DRC.

• The United Nations (UN) has based around 17,000 troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo, making it the largest United Nation mission in the world.

• The DRC contains some of the largest deposits of copper, cobalt, diamonds and gold. 22% of the world's industrial diamonds come from the DRC, which makes DRC the largest share of the world's. Despite its wealth, almost a third of the population only eats once a day.

• Corruption is one of the biggest killers in this country. A World Bank survey carried out in 2006 revealed that when asked how they would treat the state if it was a person, many Congolese replied" "Kill him.

• The official monthly salary of a soldier is $22 a month (or less than one dollar US a day), forcing them to look for other ways to make money.

Justus Rinnert, an experienced pilot, left the private sector and decided to join Aviation Without Borders (Aviation Sans Frontières) in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo. He is now flying for ECHO Flight, an humanitarian organization funded by European Commission to transport aid and humanitarian workers in the DRC. Here, he describes to us the suffering of a young Congolese soldier whom he met by chance on the tarmac.

Destination - Basankusu! Jacques and I are flying, Dr. Maxime sitting behind us. With wide open skies and a nice tailwind for the 207. The never-ending broccoli below us, smooth as a green ocean. Once in a while the winding pattern of small pristine rivers, meandering black water, half hidden beneath the massive trees.

Then, from a distance, Basankusu on a lovely quiet river, surrounded by the forest, a lonely church in red brick, a few huts and houses, a gravel airstrip. The last time we landed, the ground-to-air machine gun was pointed at us; this time they seem to trust us more.

After shutting off the engine, friendly greetings and welcomes from the heavily¬ armed Ugandan soldiers. Then, Bemba's, the rebel leader's, Antonov lands and taxies in. The Russian pilot jumps out and lights a cigarette. Out of nowhere a straight line of two dozen boy soldiers appears, in ragged shorts, running in military formation towards the rear exit. They immediately start unloading hundred-pound bags of rice and peas. Ugandans and a few Congolese soldiers with their submachine guns are looking on. Everybody around seems wrapped in heavy sheets of humid heat.

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Kendra Gahagan

Coordinating Producer

When we first met George Justice, we knew that in a few hours, we’d be peering into his gaping chest and staring at his beating heart. We were so grateful that George had graciously agreed to let us film his open-heart surgery. This man wasn’t only gracious – he was accommodating, having moved his surgery up several days so that it worked with our filming schedule. Only in Los Angeles, we thought.

It’s all in a day’s work, apparently, when your job is saving lives and repairing broken hearts.

As we donned our scrubs and surgical masks at Saint John’s Health Center well before sunrise, our whole team knew that we were about to experience something few people ever get to see without years of medical school. We would be filming -- not through glass, but hovering right beside the patient’s chest -- a coronary artery bypass operation. The hospital was not only allowing us incredible access in the operating room to film this surgery, but we would be doing so at the invitation of one of only a handful of female cardiothoracic surgeons in the world, Dr. Kathy Magliato. We would watch Dr. Magliato and her partner, Dr. John Robertson, do something routine for them but extraordinary to us: stop and re-start a patient’s heart to repair his many blocked arteries and save him from what they said was an almost certain premature death.

Once George was wheeled into the OR, he was anaesthetized quickly -- but by the time he was on the operating table and prepped for surgery, it was hard to remember there was a person under there. Sterile towels covered his face and entire torso except for a large rectangle perfectly framing the incision area. Next, the doctors effortlessly cut the incision down the middle of George’s chest. The sound of the sternal saw cutting through the breastbone lasted only a few seconds but would make a great addition to any horror movie soundtrack. Once the chest was opened, the doctors inserted a heavy, metal device to keep the rib cage spread apart enough for them to do their delicate work.