Calm Under Fire: Joseph Gore Modi
I was filling in as head of the CRS office in El Geneina, capital of West Darfur, when a voice came over the radio, telling me he had bad news. My heart sank. I listened carefully as radio operator Joseph Gore Modi relayed one of the worst attacks CRS staff had faced in the field in Darfur: a convoy of four vehicles carrying 11 staff members had been ambushed by about seven armed men in broad daylight, just five miles north of our location, the base of operations for CRS' emergency response in Darfur. The bandits had commandeered the lead vehicle, ordering two CRS staff members to get out, at gunpoint. Seeing trouble, the other three vehicles had turned around, Joseph told me, and escaped under heavy gunfire. The spray of bullets had blown out a front tire and shot through a front door panel of one vehicle.
CRS Senior Radio Operator Joseph Gore Modi conducts regular checks with teams in the field and other CRS workers from base camp in El Geneina. Photo by CRS Staff
Joseph knew nothing else — nothing on whether the staff was safe, and nothing on their location. To make matters worse, three hours of daylight remained to find the staff and bring them safely back to the base. At times like these, the agency turns to its valuable team members — security officers, radio operators, and others whose job it is to both steer our outreach to people suffering in Darfur and protect our teams trying to reach them.
Joseph is one of those people. In just his eighth month on the job as senior radio operator in El Geneina, he is already a vital member of CRS' operations. Joseph was an early employee when CRS' northern Sudan program started in 2004. Hearing that members of CRS' staff were staying at the Acropole Hotel in downtown Khartoum, Sudan's northern capital, he found them there and secured a part-time job as a handyman in the new office.
Fluent in English and Arabic, trained in journalism, and eager about both a full-time position with CRS and the opportunity to support his mother, sister and younger brother in Khartoum, Joseph was an ideal fit when a radio position opened in the field. About a year after starting with CRS, he had a one-way ticket to El Geneina.
In West Darfur, CRS operates along a roughly 85-mile stretch, called the Northern Corridor, which stretches from El Geneina to Kulbus. At any given time, the agency may have two or three teams working in the field, each with a two-vehicle convoy to help manage ongoing security threats. As part of his job, Joseph coordinates all CRS radio traffic and all movements of CRS vehicles through this area, carrying out radio checks with team leaders every half-hour until they return to base and maintaining regular contact with operators at CRS base camps in Sirba and Kulbus.
A CRS team visits a site in El Geneina. Photo by CRS Staff
"Being attached with staff throughout the day through communications… we become like a family," Joseph said about his job.
On the day of the ambush on the CRS convoy, Joseph protected that family, handling a flurry of communications in Arabic and English to find the 11 staff members stranded at two separate locations in the field. He calmly relayed CRS' efforts to coordinate a rescue team to pick up the staff, keeping me and other employees informed, and working through the anxiety all of us felt about the safety of our colleagues.
Four hours after the ambush, all 11 arrived safely back in El Geneina, visibly relieved. They smiled, embraced each other and stood in line to thank Joseph for his timely updates and his coordination of their safe return. After a well-deserved break to visit his family in Khartoum, Joseph returned to El Geneina in May for another three-month stint manning the radios.
