Annual Report 2005 - Doctors Without Borders

48Doctors Without borders/MÉdecins sans frontiÈres (MSF)Executive DirectorNicolas de Torrenté, PhDBoard of Directors & OfficersDarin Portnoy, MD, MPHPresidentChristine Nadori, RNVice PresidentJohn E. PlumTreasurerDavid A. Shevlin, Esq.SecretaryJean-Herve Bradol, MDWilliam ConkRoshan KumarasamyBruce MahinVirginie RaissonMyles Spar, MD, MPHBoard of AdvisorsRichard Rockefeller, MDChairman of the BoardRobert BookmanChairman, West Coast CouncilCreative Artists AgencyMeena AhamedDonald Mark Berwick, MD, MPPInstitute for Healthcare ImprovementVictoria B. Bjorklund, Esq., PhDSimpson Thacher & BartlettA. Bruce BrackenridgeJ.P. Morgan & Co., Inc. (Ret.)Marek T. Fludzinski, PhDThales Fund Management, LLCPeter GroseKennedy School of Government, HarvardJean KaroubiThe LongChamp GroupSusan LiautaudJames Ottaway Jr.Dow Jones & Co. (Ret.)Ottaway Newspapers, Inc.Kevin Patrick RyanProvence CapitalGarrick UtleyNeil D. Levin Graduate School, SUNYRobert W. van ZwietenMarsha WilliamsBlue Wolf ProductionsNiger © Michael KamberIn MemoriamDuring 2005, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) lost fourvalued colleagues—three who died whilecarrying out their duties in the field andone who worked in Canada. This report isdedicated to their memory.Dr. Aurora Teixeira, MSF’s head of missionin Angola, died from a sudden stroke onApril 10, 2005. She was 66 years old. Shehad completed eight field assignmentswith MSF between 1987 and 2005. Aurorafirst started working with MSF as ananesthesiologist and later became arespected medical coordinator and head ofmission. In addition to Angola, she workedin China, Georgia, the Palestinian Territories,Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Aurora was atremendous presence in the field, universallyrespected, and loved by her colleagues.On December 10, 2005, two of our colleagues,Hawah Kamara, 49, and ThomasLamy, 30, were among the passengers killedin a plane crash in Nigeria. They were enroute to Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria,where MSF runs a surgical trauma center.A native of Liberia, Hawah dedicated herlife to humanitarian work. After spendingmore than three months living as a refugeein Sierra Leone with her then five-year-olddaughter, Hawah returned to Liberia’s wartorncapital, Monrovia, in 1990 and joinedMSF as an administrator there. Hawah laterimmigrated to the US and began workingfor MSF-USA in 1999 as a recruiter ofUS-based aid workers for MSF programsaround the world. She was chosen torepresent MSF-USA in Oslo, Norway, whenthe organization received the 1999 NobelPeace Prize. With her boundless wit, warmth,and wisdom, Hawah contributed enormouslyto MSF and will be greatly missed.Thomas was born and lived in France. Hejoined MSF three years ago as a logisticianand had worked in Liberia, Ivory Coast, andSudan. In August 2005, Thomas went toNigeria to assist in MSF’s response to anutritional emergency in the northern stateof Katsina. Later, he moved to the capital,Abuja, to be the logistical coordinator forMSF’s projects throughout Nigeria. Hiscommitment and determination to assistpopulations in danger embodied the spiritof MSF in its purest sense.Two days after the death of Hawah andThomas, MSF-USA was forced to confrontanother devastating loss. Patrice Pagé, aformer program officer with MSF-USA, diedin Toronto on December 12, 2005, threemonths after his appointment as generaldirector of MSF-Canada. Patrice first joinedMSF in 1999 as a field coordinator insouthern Sudan. He would later work forMSF in Sierra Leone, Kosovo, Eritrea, theDemocratic Republic of Congo, Guinea,and Liberia. He joined the programdepartment of MSF-USA in 2001. In 2004,he left MSF to head up UNICEF’s emergencyoperations on the Chad/Sudan border.Dynamic and tireless, Patrice fiercelyadvocated on behalf of people caught incrisis at the highest levels of the USgovernment and the United Nations.The loss of Aurora, Hawah, Thomas, andPatrice has left all of MSF deeply saddened.