People Story
Who would have thought that a routine antenna maintenance in the Colombian desert would turn into a matter of life and death?
In September of 2018, two of our employees from Rohde & Schwarz Colombia left for a business trip to perform the last maintenance to a recently implemented antenna system located in the Colombian desert. What the application engineer and the technician didn’t know at that time: It was a trip they won’t soon forget.
Desert under water! When two of our employees left for a business trip to perform maintenance to an antenna system located in the Colombian desert, they were suddenly caught in heavy rains.
After several days of working in the desert, the weather had still not improved and supplies were running out. One thing was clear now: They needed help immediately!
Fortunately, our colleagues knew of an indigenous village nearby. So they deviated from the Rohde & Schwarz process guidelines and headed toward a ranchería.
The people there saw that they were desperately in need of help and offered them a goat. And as they had almost nothing else left, they ate goat every day. For eight days straight.
In the end, our employees arrived home safe and sound. But one thing is certain: It was a trip they won’t soon forget.
Off to a rough start
The problems started right at the beginning. What should have initially been a 10-hour drive to the antenna system ended up taking twice as long. The reason: heavy rainfalls. After five days of working in the desert, the weather had still not improved and one thing was clear – it was now a matter of survival!
The heavy rains combined with poor road conditions meant our two employees were cut off from the outside world. And now their carefully calculated supplies were running out; they would only last three more days at most.
While it continued to rain heavily, they checked in with the subsidiary every few hours by phone, as instructed in their process guidelines. Eventually their shrinking supplies left them no other option and they made a decision. They deviated from the Rohde & Schwarz process guidelines and headed toward a ranchería – one of the indigenous villages that they already knew about.
The people there saw that they were desperately in need of help and offered them a goat. A live goat. And not for free either. So they cobbled together all the pesos they had to buy it. And as they had almost nothing else left, they ate goat for eight days straight. For breakfast. For lunch. For dinner. They even collected rainwater to drink, cook and wash themselves with.
Once the matter of their survival had been dealt with, they began to ponder: “How were we to claim expenses for the purchase of this goat here in the desert?” Their unusual situation called for a little bit of creativity on their part and flexibility from their colleagues in the travel expenses department: They accepted a before-and-after photo as documentation from their adventurous colleagues – the first showing the goat still alive and the second showing the goat ready to eat.
The newly implemented transmission antenna proved reliable. And also our employees, who mastered this extraordinary situation with bravura. One thing is certain: Rohde & Schwarz engineers rarely have to prove their survival skills in everyday working life.
