Nathalie Peraro, methods and performance engineer at Veolia, based in the PACA region, spent two weeks on a mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), assigned by the Foundation to support Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the field. A return to the field for a former soldier accustomed to the international scene.
This summer, you spent two weeks in South Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). What was your mission?
Nathalie Peraro: Our objective was to deploy two Aquaforces 2000 and train NGO staff in their operation. With my partner Jocelyn Fillion-Nicollet (Veolia Eau Ile-de-France), we trained fourteen people, mainly from Médecins Sans Frontières, to operate the water purification stations. As is often the case in training, you have to adapt to different levels of interest and knowledge, with, as far as we're concerned, a single objective: that as many people as possible should be autonomous in producing water after we've left.
You were trained in the deployment of Aquaforces a year ago, and drinking water production is not your core business. Was it easy to deploy the plant?
NP : The manuals make it very easy to get the hang of things. And then we quickly get back into the subject with the learners, right up to the moment when the water is flowing, treated and drinkable. It's a magical, moving moment: we're all very happy to share... a glass of water!
You've already been in the field during your first career in the Air Force. Was it very different?
NP: I took part in a lot of overseas operations (Opex) during my 27 years in the army and, in this particular context of humanitarian intervention, I found a common double requirement of rigor and flexibility. The organization is naturally different with an NGO, but the security instructions are clear and unambiguous: checks, curfews, compliance with travel permits. As for flexibility, we have to adapt to daily contingencies, before the mission to fine-tune the departure date, then in the field when the Aquaforces are stuck in customs or when new candidates for training arrive. On the whole, we're very closely supervised by Médecins Sans Frontières, very much a part of their teams, and in constant contact with the Foundation's permanent staff. Humanitarian aid is a fascinating sector to discover: highly structured, focused on efficiency and quite seductive!
How easy was it to get away from work and family for a fortnight?
NP: The mission is also an effort for our hierarchy in France. Because you have to accept your colleague's absence from work. As the mission fell in August, during a period when I was supposed to be on vacation, I organized myself so as not to have too many absences after the mission. And I had anticipated everything that could be anticipated. At home, my children are grown up, so there's no problem, but they were a little worried when they realized where I was going.
Precisely, in the field, are you aware of this very particular context of displaced populations a few kilometers from a front line?
NP: I was expecting this type of situation, but it's true that when you walk through a camp of displaced people that stretches as far as the eye can see, it's quite dizzying. You look away to avoid being a voyeur, knowing that these hundreds of thousands of people are unlikely to return home and are trying to survive. Our mobilization, which may not seem like much, is all the more necessary. When we return from our mission, we can modestly say that we have made a small contribution.
