One aspect of a mission like this is with the variety of people working in different areas, you often are never able to get acquainted everyone during the 12 days of the mission. Mostly, you get to know well your immediate colleagues with whom you spend the most time (in my case in the OR or ward personnel).

Otherwise, you only have the opportunity to share ideas with others during the short time you may see them during the day, because by the time we finish and get back to the hotel and eat dinner, it’s time to sleep and prepare for the next day. This is then repeated over and over until the mission’s end. In past missions we had one day off mid-week that allowed for more social interaction but on this short mission, we didn’t have the time

to do so. I hope that this lack of a break won’t deter some of the first-time team members from future involvement. Hopefully, on the next mission we’ll plan for a one-day break of R&R.