Will we stay or will we go?

Some of you have already seen the news.  My organization has suffered a heavy blow that is threatening its operations all around the globe.  Every morning I wake up praying that some resolution has been found so that this sword of Damoclees does not hang perpetually over our heads.

I have been here before.  In 2004, I had made significant in-roads with one rebel leader (currently awaiting trial as a war criminal in The Hague) in a remote village in the district of Ituri.  It was my third visit to his hideaway and he had allowed us to develop plans that opened paths for the sick and wounded to seek assistance in a hospital located across enemy lines and return.  Before that decision, most had not been allowed to go at all or if they had been able to get to the hospital they would not be allowed to return because they may be spies for the enemy.  I remember distinctly the early morning call that came over the satellite phone.  "The funding has been withdrawn.  Return to base.  Cancel all commitments."  Easier said than done.  People had put their lives and reputations on the line to get us as close as they did.  Now, I had to turn my back on them and wish them luck.  Fortunately the little guy (as I used to refer to him) did not take revenge on our intermediaries.  But I will never know what kinds of tribute they had to pay to buy back his trust.

When we received notice yesterday that our organization had been accused of massive fraud and was under investigation.  Immediately thereafter, the rumors began flying.  Reports of hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.  That the organization will go bankrupt.  That all its offices will close.  It is a lot to absorb and process, especially when I am still developing the contents of our strategy here.  The fact that this incident is being covered by the U.S. press tells me that it is far more serious than we are being led to believe.

We have also received assurances that the project is on solid footing and to continue working as if nothing has changed.  So, we do as we are told.  I have too many dishes spinning on too many poles to stop and wait for an answer.  Our donor meets with the senior staff later this morning and will have a final answer for us then.  We are a fairly new project, so it is also understandable that we may be first on the chopping block if anyone is going to be asked to stop activities.  We have spent the least and have invested the least.  The donor could recover with a new organization that has an unblemished - or at least a less blemished - record. 

But Focusing on the "what ifs" just saps my energy, so I will not update this blog on that front until I hear something concrete one way or another.


Thanks to all for your prayers and encouragement.