...on Safari

I am home now!

2006-05-04T21:16:00.000+03:00

Cultural Comparisons

2006-03-25T11:04:00.000+03:00

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New New New

2006-02-24T18:15:00.000+03:00

When I review what is written in this blog, I realize it is mostly crap. I still haven't really described what an average UNMO does in the average day. Maybe, if I meet an average UNMO, and he is having an average day, I can ask him. Until then, I will continue to post comments on the highs and lows.

So, I can understand the questions and comments about what do you do, what are you doing, are you busy, are you in danger, are you bored, what do you eat? I am not going to answer any of those...just yet. Instead, I will pad this blog with a few photos, and think about the average day, with the intention of writing something about it real real soon.

You may notice a gap from Christmas - through till now. So did I. I took leave in Kenya for a couple of weeks in January, got stuck in Khartoum for an extra few days, and have been back at work since the fourth week in January...so it is time to take leave again next week. I have saved much of my UN leave for the end times, and as my former boss Kirby kindly noted for me yesterday, I am 2/3 done here! Kinda reallly hard to believe.

I just deleted a rather philosophical section on the overall UN mission....It was good, I think, but needs some work. So I will think on that and post it tomorrow. In the interim, please direct you attention to my new office - we moved into the Egyptian tented camp two weeks ago. Our office is now a tent, lovingly erected just so.....just so the North West winds in the evening and morning whip right through it, and the dust covers everything. Yet again, I am thankful for leaving my personal G4 laptop at home, and really feel sorry for the chap who gets my DND issued ToughBook laptop after I am done with it.

We now work out of the tented camp, but live in the same place we have been for the past four months.

Dear Chief of Defence Staff...

2006-02-06T13:09:00.000+03:00

Click on this picture for my latest briefing to our senior Canadian military officer, General Hillier:

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-25T19:46:00.000+03:00

Merry Christmas! Today was supposed to be a right-off, but somehow the sights and sounds of over 300 Sudanese people singing, dancing and celebrating Christmas at a local church has pulled me out of the my depths.

The Military Observer team was invited to attend the Sudanese Church of Christ's Chirstmas service at 1000, and the festivites later in the day at 1500. No surprise, but no one else from the team wanted to go, so I showed up alone at 1000. This being Africa, I quickly determined that things were probably going to start-up until at least 1130, or so- so I took a few pictures - the ones of the sunday school kids and ladies preparing the food, and went back to work in my compound.

I returned at 1700, figuring I would be right on time for the festivities, but sure enough...I was late. Oh well, the food was great, everyone happy and friendly, and I was probably the only 'kawaja' (white dude) for miles around.

Just a few Christmas sentiments: thanks for all the thoughts and prayers from back home. Mom, thanks for the meditational verse and well wishes from home. Robyn and Jim, thanks for the Christmas greetings...please, my best to me long lost Prince George family.

Anyone who has read more than an entry or two in this blog will certainly get my cynical side, but really, I very happy to be here. The UN is screwed up, and this mission is really 'unique,' but I think deep down, someone, somewhere in this mission means well. Sometimes I think we are wasting our time here, and then a local person will mention how we are helping - just by being here. This seems a little naive, but maybe, just some outside observers peeking into what is happening...maybe that will be enough to encourage people to put the last 20 years of war behind them.

Long Range Patrol

2005-12-25T13:51:00.000+03:00

I sit here in Kauda on Christmas day writing a report on the Long Range Patrol we just finished yesterday. So, while I write the offical UN report, I am figured I would throw some stuff at the blog too.

For a Long Range Patrol (LRP), it was actually rather short in duration, and quite frankly, the range was pretty short too..but when you average less than 25km/h, have at least one blown out tire per day, and look tanned because of the amount of fine red sand on your skin...it is a Long Range Patrol. Our teamsite in Kauda is in the South Western corner of our Area of Responsibility (AOR). We routinely visit about 10% of this AOR..roughly within 30 or 40km or so...leaving a vast area that we have responsibility for, but are unable to visit in the course of our daily patrols. Enter the concept of taking a multi-day road trip to investigate complaints, show the flag (of which we have none by the way - the senior UN military officers seem to have appropriated them all for their own use - screw safety of the UNMOs!!), and generally get some Situational Awareness(SA) for the area.

Christmas Eve...of a sort.

2005-12-25T11:44:00.000+03:00

My past family Christmas' have been a mix of European and Canadian heritage, with a very heavy emphasis on the Christian traditions. One of our own little traditions though,..Christmas eve, my father and I usually shared a tot of something after we return from the later church service. At first, usually his Grand Marnier or sherry, and in more recent years, my naval tradition: Port. Tonight, Christmas Eve here, some extra strength Tylenol washed down with a Tusker – Kenyan beer will have to do. We returned today from a Long Range Patrol in the areas north of Kauda. Over seven hours of driving today on what can best be described as dusty, rocky, cart paths where 25km/h is above average. Anyway, beautiful areas, but hard on the vehicles and persons bouncing around inside...hence the tylenol. Nothing tastes quite like the DND issued cheap no-name brand pain killers chased down with warm beer. Ha ha.

Our new Russian team leader has cancelled Christmas tomorrow, and we will be 'turning to' at 0900 for a briefing on Casualty Evacuation procedures (CASEVAC). Can’t think of anything I would rather be doing.......a few choice words about his ideological background come to mind, but nothing I should write in this forum. Anyway, the pic above is the inside of my stone and mortar room...complete with issued mosquito net, and more importantly, a Christmas stocking courtesy of Dan & Jacqueline...thanks very much for your Christmas package! For that matter, thanks very much to all who have sent packages over the past few months.

I had a rather last-minute opportunity to get back to Khartoum last week to take care of some UN and UNMO house admin. After over a month here in Kauda and Kadulgi, I pretty much jumped at the chance. My visit coincided with a small Christmas gatheing hosted by our military contingent commander at the Canadian consulate. Christmas, K-town style! What the photos don't show is that the building is gutted - under renovation, and the three big tents that occupy the tennis court in the interim. Brekke, as you can see, your package was shared and put to good use....Thanks babe!

The local Starbucks

2005-12-23T21:45:00.000+03:00

Jet A-1 Fuel, and clearing the grass.

2005-12-21T15:14:00.000+03:00

Normally, at least where I come from, they cut the grass. Here, the locals burn it! But they are not so good at controlling the burn. I was in Kadulgi, at the Sector HQ base called TILLO last week, and we had a small incident. The local cleaning ladies decided to clean the fields within the secured compound..using fire. It kinda got out of hand and the UN Egyptian troops had to bring in the water truck...but the pump had been broken for a month or so, so the pressure was gravity feed only..as seen on the right. But, never fear, the big boss for our Sector, a UN civilian who shall remain nameless, came out to supervise..french cuffs and all. God bless him. Afterwards, we measured off the distance between the fire charred area and the brown jet A-1 fuel ballder under the awning (picture below)...approx 10m. Last reports were that the water truck still did not have a working pump.

Whirling Dervishes

2005-12-18T22:51:00.000+03:00

While in Khartoum this past week, I went to hang out in a cemetery on a Friday night. I was told it was the cool thing to do, the funky thing to do on a Friday night in this city. The Whirling Dervishes are a Sufi Muslim sect, and they do some pretty cool dancing and jigging around as part of a rather elaborate dusk ceremony. While the Dervishes themselves were cool, it was equally, if not more fun watching all the people who were watching them.

Monkeys & Mines

2005-12-10T23:13:00.000+03:00

Actually, I think it is a baboon, not a monkey.

Google Search

2005-12-01T18:36:00.000+03:00

So this is where Kauda is. I tried a Google search for Kauda earlier today and got some results for USAID and some sketchy details about bombing out of Antonov transport planes...but if that is all the Google knows, I imagine it is hard to find on the old family Atlas. So here it is on the grand scale....more detailed coordinates to follow later.

Updates

2005-11-28T19:56:00.000+03:00

Hope the late November days find everyone back home in good health and enjoying the fall and onset of winter. I have updated and revised the entire blog, and am in the process of trying to upload some pictures. Much of the narrative has also been added too..all the way back to my arrival in Sudan. Shipping address is now the Beleville one only...listed in the first (bottom) blog entry. Stuff has made it to Sudan, but shipping time appear to be about 20 days to get to me.

SPLA !

2005-11-27T20:27:00.000+03:00

We spent a few hours with 1,300 Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) troops. They were mustering into two battalions for a 100km jaunt to their new garrison - where they would be comibined with government troops into a Joint Intergrated Unit (JIU). Walking as a group of four unarmed Military Observers into such a group was......interesting. However, the mood throughout the ranks was almost joyful, and their 'cadence' marching songs kick ass over ours!

The Nuba Mountains

2005-11-20T14:03:00.000+03:00

Kauda !

2005-11-17T17:26:00.000+03:00

Kauda looks like...a village!
We are housed in a school compound (top right area in the picture on the left), very similar to the set-up in Kadugli, but smaller. There are 8 UNMOs here, and a few Sri Lankan UN CivPol - they work here, but live elsewhere. We live in the compound, food provided by a national contractor....AMZAR...it leaves something to be desired. Went on patrol the today...drove 2 hrs out, 30min meeting with a skeleton SPLA Brigade HQ, 1 hr back, then a detour to pull a WFP truck out of the muck, lunch stop, and then back here. That seems to have tired everyone here out..so I think they have all gone to nap. The pace around here is very very relaxed...I might have trouble with this. Four of the current UNMOS will rotate out of here this weekend, including the Team Leader...we will have to see how things shake down after that.

Later, the next day...
This is my room, bathroom visible as a white shack in the back, on the right. Oh my, the pace here is slow, and getting information about the program is like wringing water from a rock! Ha, ha ha...today is not an official day off, 'cause UNMOs work seven days a week....so they call it admin/maintenance day! No patrols today, a special flight patrol tomorrow to check up on a 'detaining' issue in the Eastern end of the sector, then the new senior UNMO for my sector pays us a visit on Sunday. Apparently, we also do lots of Long Range Patrols (LRPs) from this team site...to access all the communities and military camps in the outlying areas of the sector...one leaves on Monday, gone through Saturday, but guess what.....it was already sched'd before I got here, so I get to stay back and mind the camp! We only have three working vehicles..two out on the LRP, and the interpreter and SAF, SPLA reps go on the LRP too..so it will be a very dull week for me here. 'My friend,' (try and imagine that in a drawling south american accent) Maj Franco from Paraguay and I will hang out here! Ha.

Movin' South

2005-11-16T21:35:00.000+03:00

and this is how things work in a 'typical' UN mission...

We finished our Military Observer training this past Sunday...I think. The entire two weeks was a mish mash of two separate training regimes...one general one for all new 'employees' of UNMIS; another specifically for the UNMOs. It sorta ended with a few catch-all sessions and exercises...stuff that had been squeezed out of the previous weeks by the shortened Ramadan working hours, or the Eid holiday celebrating the end of the Ramadan fast. I don't feel particularly prepared to go out to my sector and do the job...there are some rather serious shortcomings in the training. The rational offered is that the infrastructure and scenarios vary widely within the six Sectors that make up the UNMIS mission, but I really have little idea about comms infrastructure, paperwork reports and returns, etc etc etc. Many of the briefs and lectures talked about the 'typical' UN command structure, admin process, or whatever...all used in the 'typical' UN mission. Oh ya, but we were also told many times that this is anything BUT the 'typical' UN mission! I guess I/we will figure it out when we get to where we are going.

I borrowed Jake T's hair trimmer, just before I left Khartoum, and cut my own hair. A first, although Jake did help with the back..anyway, all to save 800dinars about 3 bucks! Results visible below!

Transit to Kadulgi

Speaking of which, I was supposed to get a flight out to my assigned patrol Sector..Sector IV: Kadulgli on Thursday, but that didn't happen. Instead, I finally made it out of Khartoum this past Sunday...a week after training offically ended. I spent the spare days in Khartoum finishing off the move to the new Canadian UNMO house...which I have dubbed 'Sector Seven' (six UNMIS patrol sectors in Sudan...our house is the seventh?); walking around the forms required to get myself and my baggage on the flight to Kadugli (much more taxing, time consuming and frustrating that one would think), convalescing with what the doctor called bronchitis....I was doubtful, but it has been a nuisance nonetheless, and attending a rather surreal party with a friend of mine...Arpan.

We flew out of Khartoum in a Dash-8 aircraft - with a Canadian crew! Security in the UN airport terminal (two ATCO style trailers joined together) consisted of walking through a normal metal detector, shrugging as it goes off due to the 5 inch knife and leatherman I am wearing, and trying to avoid letting my camelback waterpouch in the packsack leak on the x-ray machine as it goes through. No in-flight beverages or snacks once we are airborne, but we were covertly offered to purchase selections from the 'duty-free' locker. Aleem (the other Canadian UNMO deployed from Khartoum at the same time) and I picked up a few bottles of 'cheer,' and happily clinked across the tarmac to our connecting flight. The Dash 8 had taken us to El Obeid, a town with a fairly large airport about 100km south of Khartoum that functions as the UN logistics base of most Sudan destined flights.

Our flight to Kadugli from El Obeid was in a L-410, flown by a Romanian crew....they were rather short on chatter, and if I missed the safety brief describing the exits, etc, it wasn't due to a lack of interest on my part. Two nights in the UN Sector HQ - Kadulgi, at the main UN base near the town...town called Kadugli, base called Tillo. The base sorta looks like the town square in a old Western movie..complete with covered sidewalks in front of the buildings. Apparently this is a school yard that was taken over by the civilian peace 'broker' and monitor predecessor to the UN in this area....called the JMC.

Remembrance Day

2005-11-12T21:11:00.000+03:00

The grass is green, but a little dry. The air - warm and dusty, but with a breeze that stiffens the only flag visible from the cemetery: the Canadian flag over the embassy nearly one block away. Our red poppies stand in contrast against the light tan uniforms worn by the 17 Australian and Canadian servicemen and women on parade in East Africa this 11th of November as we gather to honour the war dead of our Commonwealth nations.

The Khartoum War Cemetery here in Khartoum, Sudan is home to just over a thousand Commonwealth graves, brought here in 1960 from service gravesites all over East Africa. Eight Canadian airmen and one Canadian signaler rest here amongst their brothers-in-arms from the Second World War and earlier African campaigns. Despite being Canadians, the men who are buried here wouldn’t recognize the flag in the distance…they fought and died in Sudan long before the Maple Leaf was enshrined as our national flag. Much as it must have been when our countrymen were originally interred under austere wartime conditions, the ceremony is simple and somber. The strains of the traditional national anthems, the Last Post and Reveille are barely audible over the warm breeze when played on an iPod and battery powered speakers. The Canadian contingent commander for Op SAFARI, Commander Guy Desjardins stands in front of the Canadians and Australians on parade and welcomes two special guests on hand for the occasion: The Honourable Mobina Jaffer, Senator and Mr. Alan Bones, Canadian Charge d’Affairs in Sudan. The ceremony concludes with the reading of the honour roll – both Canadian and Australian, and after the parade disbands, many of us move quietly to one of the small Canadian flags marking the headstones, salute, and remove our poppies - to be placed alongside the flags. One can’t help but wonder when the last time was that these gravesites were acknowledged in this manner.

As members of Canada’s military serving abroad, it is seems important that we carry with us our traditions and customs of remembrance – they serve to remind us of the reasons we serve in the first place. Currently, Canada is supporting two separate missions in Sudan: the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), and the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). Canada’s military contribution to these missions are named Op SAFARI and Op AUGURAL respectively, and will eventually number approximately 40 personnel from all the Army, Navy and Air Force – performing staff, training and Military Observer duties in support of a peaceful resolution to Africa’s longest running civil war.

A six month lease?

2005-11-12T20:19:00.000+03:00

I own a house in Halifax, or I guess the bank does...but anyway, I also now have a lease on a house in Khartoum...for six months. As I left for Sudan, I was looking forward to leaving behind the day-to-day admin and logistics of being a home owner for a little while. Instead, I became embroiled in a plot to rent a house as a transient 'crash-pad' for the 25 Canadian UNMOs who will be passing through Khartoum on training, leave, etc. To cut a long story short, we contacted an apartment 'finder' through the UN housing office, got hooked up with a wheeler/dealer named Adil, and waited for something to fall in our lap! Didn't happen. Adil has many business concerns, of which out business comprised a very very small portion..so, lets just say he required some prodding to get on with the job.

After viewing several places over the Eid long weekend (more about that later) we ended up settling on the first place we had seen. Our landlady is a wonderful Muslim named Muniera..she has children living in the US and is well aquainted with Western lifestyles and social habits....so we sholdn't be too much of shock for her

Khartoum, then Kadugli

2005-11-10T23:48:00.000+03:00

Been a pretty interesting couple of weeks here in Khartoum...it has almost become comfortable here. I know a bunch of good (sorta) resturants...want Asian, go to "Little India... want Indian, go to "Little China." Want a beer, go to Mr Wangs! I can drive myself around with getting lost...and that is saying something...few street signs, and some pretty crazy traffic rules/suggestions. But, I can never seem to wring a vehicle out of the dispatch motor pool... maybe I should get one of these:

I have seen the confluence of the White and Blue Niles, rented myself, and 25 other transients Canadian officers a 4 bedroom house/villa here in Khartoum to crash in. I have stumbled home from an absolutely crazy party at 3:00 am through countless dusty, black city blocks...trying to find a cab - cabs come in several flavours - see pics below:

I now know that babaganouch is supposed to be brown and chunky, not pasty white and puree. I have been encouraged to eat with my hands, well, right hand only, and gotten tips on said hand eating etiquette. I haven't seen a McDonalds since I have been here, but Coke and all sodas can be purchased in glass bottles...Cool!

I went over to a Arpan (the UN photographer) and her Dad's place last night for a late dinner. He is a senior administrator with OCHA. Took a tuk-tuk - one of the little two stroke tricycle cabs driven by suicidal teenagers. 10 minutes of sucking fumes, some rather close calls with potholes that eat cars and transport trucks and we're there. I can only take so much of the military chatter before I have to escape. Maybe that is why I have been seeking out the civies this past week. Life in my sector is probably going to challenge my patience and civility. More and more I am finding that I need to have civilian friends and influences. Just complaining about the military, or UN, or whatever makes me bitter. Better to talk about something else.

The UN mandated training is almost complete, and the UN has seen fit to assign myself and two other Canadians to Kadugli for duties as Military Observers. Capt Aleem, and Major Mike and I will head down to UNMIS Sector IV - Kadugli next week, and hopefully, will get right to work. I have very little specific info on the Kadugli area, but I did find this: http://www.nubasurvival.com/Nuba%20Vision/Vol%202%20Issue%202/10%20Return%20to%20Kadugli.htm.

So when is the weekend...Really? When is it?

2005-11-02T17:16:00.000+03:00

Ramadan is in full effect here in Sudan. The ruling class, such as it is - is Muslim, and as a result common law is based around Sharia law or fundamental Muslim teachings. So, we are on the Muslim calender - work week is Sunday through Thurday, Holy day on Friday, and Saturday is a pseudo working day - sort of like a North American Saturday. That being said - during the month of Ramadan, the working day is shorter - Muslims fast all day, and have less energy, then they break fast just after dusk, then the partying starts! But, partying in a 'dry' manner. So anyway, it can be pretty hard to figure out when things are open. The Islamic holiday of Eid, or Eid ul-Fur marks the end of Ramadan. On the day of the celebration, a typical Muslim family gets up very early and attends special prayers held only for the occasion in big mosques.

But, we can't really tell you when Eid is...it starts when the new moon shows itself. This year that could be the 2nd, or the 3rd...but I think that it will conviently be on the 3rd...Thursday...that way we get a long weekend. Every culture likes a long weekend...

Long weekends are a good time to see movies, like this one...showing at the local theater!

Indoctrination Training

2005-11-01T14:56:00.000+03:00

Do you have the ___ form?

Supposedly it is call induction training, but I think inculcation or indoctrination is a more suitable word. If nothing else, one learns to adapt to the UN system....forms, forms forms. Seems like you are not allowed to do anything without getting a form signed by three different people...all in different buildings, and all speak a different first language....welcome to the UN.

Our UN mandated training started on Monday, 24 October. I think I filled out over 15 forms the first day,...punctuated with repeated trips to and from about six offices scattered around the compound. Oh yes, the compound...is basically a group of villias, and maybe an old hotel, all sort of joined inside a somewhat secure perimeter of concertine wire. Holes have been knocked in the old masonry and plaster garden walls to adjoin all into what has become a rabbit warren of offices, meeting rooms, radio and supply rooms, and a garden/cafeteria.

In the photo below, you can see Canada House - where we are staying for our time in Khartoum: just left-of-center (no politcal comments please!)

DDR & whiskey punch

Anyway, it is kind of hard to stay focused in a class where the lecturer is spouting UN rhetoric and policy. Nearly 1300 now, and I am on the roof of Canada House, catching a few rays and contemplating this morning's activities. A session on DDR...Disarmament, Demoblization, and Re-intigration. In most UN missions the DDR process is administered by the UN, but the Comprehensive Pease Agreement (CPA) in Sudan allows for the gov't to administer it, and the UN to 'assist.' What I don't understand is how the gov't - one of the signatories to the CPA - can have any authority in this task when relating with the rebel groups against whom it was fighting. The lecturer said the CPA allowed for three armies..one South Sudan (former rebel - Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) ), one North Sudan (current gov't SAF), and then a combined Army of Sudan. I guess I need to re-read the CPA....I missed that part. But, I still think the DDR process, which, by the way won't really get started until 2006, is hopelessly optimisitc about the rebel cooperation with the gov't.

So far, the biggest asset I have seen at play here in the UN is the people...so please ignore my comment earlier about the DDR lecturer. There are some incredible individuals here in Sudan working as part of UNMIS and NGOs, and many of them are Canadians. One such person is Sarah....Sarah works in the Gender Unit of UNMIS. I get a kick out of this title, and have suggested maybe re-assigning the Gender Unit a new name that sounds a little less, um, suggestive. Anyway, maybe Gender Affairs....all though, that could be kind of lewd too.

Also have Emily - she is sorta from Halifax - parents live two block from me!... and works with....dare I say...it DDR. But, it wasn't her that gave the lecture. I met many of these folks at a party a few days ago..the 27th. Didn't think I would be going to parties in Sudan! It was rather surreal standing on the top floor of one of the tallest buildings in Khartoum, out on the patio looking out at the haze and lights of the city, sipping whiskey 'punch' and meeting people like Chris...loadmaster on a UN contracted Dash-8, Arpen...UN photographer from Bangladesh/New York, Damien...Air Force officer from Australia, a local Sudanses tour guide whose name I have forgotten, etc, etc, etc.

Pyramids

2005-10-31T15:28:00.000+03:00

The welfare office of UNMIS puts on excursions of all types...3-4 days trips to Mombassa in Kenya, day trip to the pyramids near Shendi, river druise on the Nile in Khartoum. Our first weekend we took the trip North of Khartoum about 250km to visit the pyramids. Lesser known than their Egyptian couterparts, these pyramids will nontheless spectacular...more all the more so by the rather weak and disappointing sights that filled the bulk of the day.

Two rather austere UN buses took us on the three hours one-way trip. Picture transit-bus style seats (uncomfortable), and very large Romanian soldiers, and you have some idea of the uncomfortable and bumpy trip. Sudan apparently has in the neighbourhood of 5000km of paved roads, but I think that is growing quite quickyl judging by the growth of Khartoum itself, and the road-making equipment sitting around. The road to Shendi is newly and well paved. The part they need to work on in the transiton to the bridges or culverts...expansion joints are unheard of, and a bus doing 90km/h down a well paved and marked road does not deal well with a 6inch or so abrupt change in road height.

So, the day consited of the trip North bound, lunch at a 3 star(self-awarded) hotel on the Nile (Nile viewable through babred-wire fence only), more driving to get to the Royal City (disappointing ruins that are really really ruined), a drive by of two pyramids in the middle of the desert (not a positive harbringer of what we had travelled all this way for), one UN bus stuck in a sand pile, and some more driving....we arrived at the real pyramids at about 1600. Then, a 3hr trip home... I can't say it was worth the entire day, but the pyramids were quite spectacular.

First walk-a-bout: 25 Oct 05

2005-10-27T23:21:00.000+03:00

Major Mike, another Canadian UNMO and I went for a walk-a-bout today. The other Canadian UNMOs in my group arrived the day before I did at 0100, and spent the early morning in a hotel downtown. Once shown Canada House, and offered two to a room for $20 USD each, they quickly re-settled in Canada House. The rent has since gone up considerably, and we (the UNMOs) as a group are considering our options. Anyway, we had to go back to the hotel in downtown Khartoum to return keys, get reciepts, and I had to check out, even though I had never actually checked in...don't ask...a UN thing...I was just glad it didn't involve a UN form.

So, we got a UN dispatch mini-bus to take us down to the hotel. It dropped us off, and made a round trip up to Obdurman (across the Nile) to drop a UN 'national' employee, before returning to pick us up. Mike and I went for 40 min walk after conducting our business. I am not yet sure if there is a nice part of town here..but this was definetly not it! I have yet to see any tarmac/pavement, except for the airport runway, so every street is dusty, dirty with sewers along the side...a concrete trench, somewhat covered by concrete access blocks...similar to the steam lines in our naval dockyards...except these are full of garbage and many of the covering blocks are missing. Mike and I tried to do a loop around 3-4 blocks, but ended up losing sight of the minaret that was our landwmark. 45 min became 1h 15m, and we were late, but fortunately, not as late as the mini-bus.

Anyway, it is hard to describe how it felt...two white guys in desert fatigues, wearing UN berets, walking down the dusty street. Somewhat the center of attention. We say hi to pretty much anyone that looks at us, while avoiding the rather haphazard traffic, rubish piles, changing sidewalk heights of anywhere from 1-3 feet height. Then, walk into a few shops to ask where the 'Ali something-or-other' hotel is, and no one knows, so we wander about. Not exactly a precision military manouever. Anyway, very unnerving to be the center of attention, out of your normal enviornement...climate, heat, culture, road rules, time zones etc.

Captain Jim came up from Abeyei on a UN flight. He was in the first group on Canadain UNMOS that arrived earlier in Sept. We were supposed to follow them two weeks later, but ended up almost a month adrift due to the previously mentioned visa issues. Anyway, he came armed with many pictures from his nearly three weeks in the camp there. Things looked much more like the Africa I expected...mud huts, grass roofs, barely dressed locals carrying their load on their heads. Jim seemes to have had quite the time down there.

First Impressions of Khartoum

2005-10-24T22:19:00.000+03:00

The tarmac at Khartoum International Airport is lined with planes, mostly white ones. My KLM flight from Amsterdam touches down a little past 1745 on Saturday night, and taxis past over 30 planes..some marked UN, others with Non-Governmental Organizations' (NGOs) insignia, but mostly, they are just white. Deplanning takes over half an hour; a quick trip in a shuttle bus, and arrival at a nearly open-air, dusty and mid-80s vintage terminal. We are the only arrival this hour, and assume that we will move quickly through customs and baggage. I am so wrong.

My first morning in Africa started at about 0200...the succesive time zone changes, a nap on the airplane, and the anticiaption of getting started woke me early. I lay on the bunk, and contenplate the off-balance ceiling fan and a/c noise...still, probably the lap of luxury compared to the tent I imagine will be my due once I head south. Around 0530, I dragged my camera gear up to the roof. Figured if I was going to be up, I might as well see my first African sunrise on my first morning in africa. The city skyline stops at about 3 stories around here, so the sunrise was really just a gradual transition to daylight. The mosque right next to us provided some wake-up music, and a few photo ops in the growing dusk as the UN compound bagan to stir.

Canada House

Arrival at what seems to be known as the 'Canada House' apartment looked like a back door entrance...turns out, the apartment is actually one of several on the top two floors of a doctor's house. My room mates - including the two senior Canadians in the mission hosted me with beer-can chicken from the charcol grill and the last three beers in the house to wash it all down. I have my own room...for now. Hotels in town are charging $35-65 a night, so the $40 nightl here seemed like a good deal...that and it was right next to the UN compound, so no need to deal with the hassle of UN vehicle dispatch to get a ride to and from a hotel. The bed was comfortable enough, and I repacked much of my stuff into logical piles of like subjects, instead of the 'combat' loading I did for the trip over to ensure that if I lost baggage, I would still have clean 'gitch.'