Group’s Life-Saving Efforts Honored

After seven months in the mountains of Uganda battling a cholera outbreak that struck about 35,000 people, Peter Lorber has earned his rest.

“The disease has a fatality rate of 40% to 50% if untreated and we got it down to 2%,” Lorber said proudly. “Many would come to us looking like a raisin with their eyes rolled back in their heads. It’s like a conveyor belt of life-saving.”

Now the Tarzana resident--really a misnomer since Lorber is only in the state about two months each year--is “decompressing and de-stressing,” as he puts it.

“It gets pretty intense in an ocean of people who are dying fast,” the logistics coordinator said. “We needed a huge amount of medical supplies and I had to make sure we didn’t run out. If we run out, people die--it’s a simple equation.”

Like the other 2,000 volunteers, representing 45 nationalities, who go to more than 85 countries every year as part of Doctors Without Borders, Lorber, 39, will soon depart for another life-saving mission.

The dedication of Lorber, and the many like him, helped the nonprofit organization receive the world’s largest humanitarian award earlier this week.

The organization, known internationally as Medecins Sans Frontieres, received the $1-million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize at a conference in New York on Tuesday. Officials at the organization said the bulk of the money will go to fight famine in southern Sudan, where hundreds of thousands are at immediate risk of death from starvation.

Lorber said there is a good possibility he could be among the next wave of volunteers to head to Sudan in early November. Or he could go to Eastern Europe to aid thousands of Kosovo refugees fleeing from warfare, or the Caribbean to help those left homeless by Hurricane Georges--or Somalia, or Liberia.

Although the scenery may change, the basic parameters of the job remain relatively constant.

“We give him an order like I need 10,000 medical kits and he fills it,” said JoAnne Liu, a Montreal-based physician who served with Lorber in Uganda. “Peter will make sure we get what we need, where we need it, when we need it.”

Those interested in learning about volunteer opportunities or donations to Doctors Without Borders can call (888) 392-0392.