‘But the Afghan/Pakistan border is a huge area; the logistical problems must be tremendous,’ said Steven.
‘Exactly,’ Aline agreed. ‘I kept telling her that. We’re also talking about the FATA.’ She answered Steven’s questioning glance with, ‘The federally administered tribal areas. It’s a wild, lawless region, a bit like the old wild west.’
‘Only east,’ said Steven with a smile. ‘But surely you can’t be the only aid agency working in the area?’
‘No, of course not; several other agencies are represented there… That’s sometimes the root of the problem.’
‘Really?’ Steven probed.
Aline looked as if she had no real wish to continue but Steven’s unflinching gaze persuaded her to continue. ‘People like to imagine that aid agencies work together in perfect harmony, but people are people. Apart from the inevitable petty arguments and jealousies which always crop up in every walk of life, government approval and cooperation tends to vary with the country of origin of the team involved. Let’s say, some agencies are more welcome than others in Pakistan and Afghanistan.’
‘I hadn’t considered that angle.’
‘Simone always tried to rise above such difficulties. "Forget the politics and think of the children" was her mantra. She did her best to build bridges between us and the other agencies where possible and hated the very idea of having to observe strict geographical boundaries when it came to helping children.’
‘Who sets the boundaries?’
‘It’s agreed at government level. Aid agencies have assigned territories to work in. I suppose the idea is to stretch the aid as far as it’ll go and avoid overlap.’
‘Makes sense, I suppose.’
‘It would if we were all working on a flat plain with everything marked out in grid squares,’ agreed Aline, showing a feistiness that had previously been kept under wraps. ‘But the border country between Pakistan and Afghanistan is not like that. We are talking mountain passes and deep valleys and lots of uncharted areas where, if you come across a village, your instinct is to help, not wonder if it’s in your allotted territory or not.’
‘But surely everyone understands that?’ said Steven.
‘You’d be surprised. We came across a village recently where many people were ill, including children. According to the elders, an aid team had been to the village once to vaccinate the children and give out medicine but hadn’t come back. Simone got in touch with the relevant agency to ask about vaccine scheduling and was told to “butt out”. They said it was none of her business and she should stick to her own region.’
‘Crazy,’ said Steven. ‘And did you?’
‘No, Simone was furious. We collected blood samples from the sick for lab analysis and gave the children their second dose of vaccine. It was her intention that we should return to that village after she got back from London.’
‘Was that the sort of thing that Simone wanted to bring up at the Prague meeting?’
‘I think it may have been,’ replied Aline uncertainly.
Steven thought it strange that Aline didn’t know what her colleague and had intended to talk about. ‘What made Simone decide to attend the meeting?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know. She didn’t tell me she was going,’ said Aline with more than a hint of embarrassment. ‘I think it must have been a last-minute decision. As far as I knew she was actually on her way to London to seek more funding from big business. I suppose she must have thought it was a good opportunity to get a look at the bigger picture surrounding polio eradication.’
‘And maybe vent her frustrations to some of the head honchos about the bureaucratic problems you were having?’
Aline smiled. ‘That too. Simone said you were a clever, resourceful man. She said you’d been a tremendous help in giving advice about treating people under difficult field conditions. She passed the expertise on to the rest of us but always gave you credit.’
‘That sounds like Simone,’ said Steven. ‘She always did the right thing.’
Aline laughed. ‘That’s exactly what she said about you.’
Steven and Aline exchanged contact details and agreed to keep in touch before Steven went off in search of the organiser of the Prague meeting, who he had learned earlier was Dr Thomas Schultz of the World Health Organisation. Schultz, a small, gnome-like man with grizzled features wearing a rough tweed suit was standing, head bowed, staring at the floor as another, taller man spoke insistently into his left ear while waving his arms around to accentuate whatever point he was making. Although Schultz appeared to be listening intently, Steven noticed his eyes dart to the side from time to time as if searching for an escape route.
He was wondering how to interrupt proceedings when he sensed someone at his shoulder and turned to find Aline there. ‘You’d like to speak to Schultz?’ she asked. Steven agreed that he would. ‘That’s Edelman monopolising him, Charles Edelman, an American who oversees the spending of US government money in their international aid programme. I’ll try to give you a window…’
Steven watched as Aline approached Schultz and Edelman and heard her exclaim, ‘Dr Edelman! I haven’t seen you for ages, not since the meeting in… where was it? Berlin, two years ago?’
As Edelman turned towards Aline, she expertly took his elbow and edged him away, offering smiling excuses to Schultz. Steven took his cue and moved in to introduce himself to Schultz, saying that he’d been a friend of Simone’s. They exchanged a few words about the sadness of her death before Steven said, ‘I understand Simone wanted to speak at the Prague meeting, doctor?’
Schultz nodded but seemed uncomfortable with the question. He cleared his throat unnecessarily and said, ‘She made a late request but we have a very tight schedule to stick to at these meetings. It was difficult to fit her in. These things have to be decided months in advance.’
‘I take it you know what she wanted to speak about?’
‘She had something to say about territorial problems between the various aid organisations in the region she was working in.’
‘But you weren’t keen on letting her do that?’ Steven ventured. It was a gamble, based on what Tom North had said about Simone thinking the meeting organisers were trying to avoid her.
Schultz sighed. ‘I have a difficult job, Dr Dunbar,’ he said. ‘What I strive to do is maintain harmony between the various volunteer groups. Having someone from one group stand up and criticise another at an international meeting was not going to help matters so you could say I wasn’t too keen, yes.’
Steven nodded. ‘It can’t be easy… but I understand that Simone’s complaint wasn’t just about territorial concerns. She believed that another agency wasn’t doing its job properly…’
‘I really couldn’t comment. I have no knowledge of that and rumours along those lines could be most damaging to our common cause.’
Steven thanked Schultz politely for his time, and the WHO man was about to move away when Steven added, ‘Do you think I could have a list of the people who attended the meeting, and their affiliations?’
Schultz’s demeanour changed. He turned with an angry look on his face. ‘May I ask why?’
‘I might want to talk to some of them.’
‘May I ask exactly who you are?’ asked Schultz coldly.
Steven told him and gave him his card.
‘And what jurisdiction do you imagine you have here?’
‘None at all,’ replied Steven. ‘Do I need it? Surely a list of people attending a scientific meeting can hardly be confidential?’