Chapter 177: The Somalia of Fate

The UNICEF visitation activities finally resumed. Under the leadership of Goodwill Ambassador Audrey Hepburn, they visited countries in Central and South America. Then, in September, they returned to the Somalia of Fate.

This East African country no longer resembled the scenery from over a year ago when they fled. Back then, Somalia, though appearing poor, was merely poor. There were not so many armed men on the streets.

But now, even in the capital, one would encounter a squad of sentries every few intersections. Sometimes, even across a single wide street, the sentries on both sides belonged to different armed factions.

On the previous visit, a single squad of UN peacekeepers was enough to charge through recklessly.

However, this time, the UNICEF team, accompanied by a platoon of peacekeepers, still had to move with extreme caution.

Lady He Ben still wished to visit the child protection agency in the south they had gone to last time—the very one where they had encountered kidnappers and fled in panic.

But according to local officials, that agency had already been abandoned. No one knew when it happened. Anyway, local armed groups had caused trouble for a while, and the peacekeepers had come to conduct maneuvers, joining the fray.

And then, there was no "and then"...

Although the Lady felt regret, she did not grieve for long. Her life had seen and experienced too many similar things; though every time she felt reluctant and sad, she had to admit that she was gradually adapting to such feelings.

To avoid becoming numb, the Lady chose one's own method to give care and support, as if burning her own life to the last ember.

This was an unprovoked feeling from Henry, standing from the perspective of an onlooker.

Especially how such a small body could squeeze out such immense energy was particularly hard to believe. Even the men accompanying the team complained bitterly about the intensity of the schedule, yet Audrey Hepburn never complained once.

Whenever he stood before the children, he could always interact intimately with these immature and malnourished kids. Sometimes he would hold them and softly hum some nursery rhymes.

Perhaps no one could understand the lyrics, but music knows no borders. Even those ignorant children would feel calm because of the beautiful melody.

He could always reveal a benevolent smile, bringing courage to those who saw it. Just like Audrey Hepburn's performance on the big screen, even a mere frown or smile seemed capable of healing the wounds in others' souls.

But when he bid farewell to the children and returned to the car to leave, everything happened so suddenly. Audrey Hepburn collapsed.

Henry was the first to notice something was wrong because the Lady showed obvious abnormalities in her heartbeat and other vital signs, even though to others she merely appeared to be sitting normally in the back seat, resting with her eyes closed.

"Doctor, doctor!" Henry shouted.

The doctor accompanying the team immediately ran over. Henry, seeing the Lady's troubled expression and cold sweat, said, "The Boss's condition seems not quite right."

The doctor hastily performed an examination, then had Lady He Ben lie down on the back seat. He took a blanket, rolled it up, and placed it under her knees to keep them bent.

"Did you notice any vomiting?"

"No."

"Cancel the rest of the schedule and return to the hotel as soon as possible. We will conduct a more detailed examination." The doctor instructed.

As the most important member of the team, with Lady He Ben down, there was no need to continue the subsequent schedule. So, after informing the UNICEF personnel, everyone rushed to the hotel scheduled for today's stay, trying to get the Lady checked in early.

Just as Henry was holding the Lady, preparing to return to the room, the temporarily awakened Audrey Hepburn said weakly, "Child, just give me a painkiller. It's fine."

Henry forced a grim smile and said, "Boss, one pill isn't enough. I'll bring out a whole jar in a moment; just take them all at once. Your face is so pale from the pain."

"Silly child, can medicine be taken like that?"

"That's great; this proves at least you are still conscious and your reason is normal. So let's have the doctor take a look; don't diagnose yourself."

After placing the person on a clean bed, Henry was just about to let the doctor take over, but unexpectedly, Lady He Ben held him back. He struggled to say, "The children in Africa... the visitation schedule..."

Henry understood immediately and said, "I will discuss with UNICEF what to do next and draft a few plans. Boss, you rest first and let the doctor examine you. After you feel better, I will come to report."

Lady He Ben nodded and let the person go. Immediately, the team's doctor and the accompanying nurse took over, closed the door, and began to question the Lady, who had already regained consciousness.

At this moment, a UN accompanying staff member stepped forward and asked, "Henry, how is Lady He Ben's condition?"

"The doctor is diagnosing inside; I shouldn't say anything randomly before the doctor does." Henry said, forcing a smile.

"Then what should be done about the rest of the schedule?" someone asked worriedly.

Clapping his hands, Henry grabbed everyone's attention and said, "Everyone, please listen to me. The schedule for tomorrow and beyond will be considered for arrangement only after the doctor's judgment is out. But the rest of today's schedule cannot be continued or postponed.

"Because today's destinations are all nearby, we will divide into several teams to directly deliver the scheduled aid supplies to them and collect the signed receipts at the same time.

"Remember to tell them that due to the Lady's illness, the on-site visitation activities are cancelled. But the items that should be given must still be delivered. Doing this is actually executing Plan C of the contingency plan. Does everyone have any problems?"

Since this was within the established plan and the situation indeed met the execution conditions, not the result of anyone acting on their own authority, everyone naturally had no problems.

Everyone then followed the task groups in the contingency plan, divided into several teams, and escorted the supplies to the destinations that were supposed to be visited today.

At the same time, someone made a phone call to the UN headquarters in New York to report the situation that had occurred with the visitation team. Others contacted the movements regarding the subsequent distribution of supplies.

After all, the quantity of supplies was huge, and every visitation activity did not just go to one or two places, so it was impossible for all items to move with the team and be distributed like a generous child along the way.

Instead, according to the scheduled visitation locations, several similar consolidation stations would be set up. When the visitation schedule reached a certain stage, they would go to a certain consolidation station to receive all supplies and then distribute them along the way.

Doing this could greatly reduce the transport burden on the team and make the allocation of supplies much more flexible.

However, since the protagonist had collapsed, how to arrange the follow-up depended on the condition of that Goodwill Ambassador. Before that, everyone in the team had to keep all factors under control to make any ad-hoc dispositions.

(End of this chapter)