Happy Happy Holidays!

It's CrazyEndOfGrant period here, so I have not had time to eat vegetables let alone write for fun!

Christmas this year coincided with the Shia’ festival of Ashura. It is the commemoration of the death of the Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims make their way to the holy city of Karbala to pay homage to the Imam. Some even practice “bloodletting” which can include whipping oneself. But while the rest of the country was on high alert with the clash of religious festivals, up north in Sunni Kurdistan (did you catch that play on words) Christmas was in full swing. For a predominantly Muslim region, the love of Santa Clause or “Baba Noel” (commonly pictured with a saxophone?) is unparallel. If coke was to launch its santa clause ad campaign in July it would be a hit.

In downtown Erbil the Citadel was lit up in lights and the street were lined with Baba Noel. This was times 10 in Ainkawa, the Christian suburb where I work. The village has lights strung up every square inch, and each church (there’s about one every two blocks – complete with services in Aramaic!) was transformed into what resembled Pagodas. I wish I could say that it was all very tasteful, but they only sell lights strings here that have two settings – blinking and seizure inducing. The default is seizure inducing.

As for activities a bit closer to home, there is actually a lot of “us” aidworkers sticking around for the holiday season. Most people are on a rotation, and only so many people are allowed to be out of the country at one time. The predominant force behind our Christmas celebrations was the International Committee of the Red Cross who mandated themselves to be the party organizers – with the bulk of the activity occurring on Christmas eve. Members of my household had to negotiate a Christmas day lunch into the agenda before the Swiss ran away with the fun.

Despite it being over 15C outside, we had a fantastically normal Christmas Eve cocktail party with presents and a proper, albeit late, Christmas lunch the following day. I even made mince pies and pfeffernuessen. Boxing day involved obligatory leftovers and a day full of James Bond. So it wasn’t too far off a regular Christmas in southern Ontario. Although it would still have been much better if I were at home.

Now to continue celebrations this week, I will be heading to Beirut and Damascus (finally!) for the New Year. And I will be “home” (o.k. Vancouver… but same country) in February.

I hope that everyone had a lovely holiday. They slept a lot and ate more. I also wish you all the best for 2010.

March 6th!!!

We have a date. Elections were originally for the end of January. To coincide with what's stated in the.... I don't know... constitution. After much back and forth, sqwabbling, vetoing, concessions and compromises the new election law was passed in the wee hours of the morning yesterday.

The election is now set for March 6th 2010, 49 days past its last proposed date. It gives ample time for campaigning, but also for the security surrounding the elections to deteriorate. Much like today, when a series of coordinated bombings targeting government buildings, public areas, Al Mustensari University and the Institute of Fine Arts. It is believed that over 120 people were killed and 450 injured. Those numbers are likely to rise - sadly following November - the month with the least amount of violence related deaths since the start of the 2003 war.

Here's hoping that everything calms itself down!

Photo Credit: Dennis Hollingsworth

From people who write better than I do

- Interesting article about Iraq's black population in the NYTs
- This is old, and I meant to put it up, but Iraq is having difficulty with the upkeep of rehabilitated buildings. There are whole hospitals with state-of-the-art equipment going without use. Including the former CASH in the IZ.
- Syria bomb blast. This does not bode well for multi-ethnicity in Syria. Some reckon if the Syrian regime falls, the country will be looking at sectarian violence like Baghdad 2006.
- More people are losing their Jerusalem IDs - highest number since Israel took over the place.
- Ending on a good note - Civilian death toll numbers are at the lowest level since the start of the conflict in 2003. That's below 100 people killed by conflict related violence. Let's hope this keeps up.

Inukshuks in Northern Iraq

There are a lot of rocks up here. As well as building materials. Erbil itself is essentially one giant consrtuction site. It may be considered the perfect place to bring in a great Canadian tradition of Inukshuk markings?

Although the rocks aren't ideal - smaller and rounder rather than the bigger, flatter shield cast offs - it is still a great way to pass time in villages.




Not sure what the locals will think of this.

Bling, bling

Everytime I come around yo city
Bling bling
Pinky ring worth about fifty
Bling bling

It's a good time to be an Iraqi parliamentarian! France 24 reported on a Iraq's law makers approving a massive personal budget and payrise, plus other lavish perks.

Under the law, an MP will have a monthly budget of around 25,500 dollars (17,230 euros) encompassing a salary of 8,450 dollars and allowances for up to 30 staff, primarily security... They will receive 80 percent of their MP salary as a pension for 10 years after they retire, as well as a plot of land of up 600 square metres

They will also be receiving diplomatic passports for themselves are their family members, good for the rest of their lives.


You can imagine this has stirred some controversy in a country where unemployment has skyrockted, particularly after ministries cut government jobs, and where 2 million + people are displaced with little to no help from the government. This is an astronomical amount of money in comparison to what an average (employed) Iraqi makes. The organisation I work for pays between $400 - and $700 a month for support staff, and $1000 - $2000 a month for operations/program staff depending on experience and qualifications. This is an international organisation - which is seen (outside of plum government postings) as la creme de la creme of salary options.

Religious leaders have been speaking out about this in mosques. This is great because the government has also started heavily censoring media through lawsuits for defamation. They have sued papers such as the Guardian and the New York Times, and kicked Al Jazeera out of the country. The fines have been heavy (upwards of 10's of thousands)- payable by the big names, but stiffling for local media (especially if their paper is forced to close).

Reporters Without Borders reported that news outlets have been been prevented from objectively reporting on internal security - even when it is massive breach - such as the August Baghdad Bombings. Therefore it is unlikely that much will get out about this.

Photo: IDP Camp, contested areas. Author's own

Arms, Comedy, Protest

I got sidetracked for about 4 weeks. October is one of those months where US government grants get the best of you. Since everything operates on the US fiscal year, something unfamiliar to me until I joined the aid world (why can't they operate a fiscal year on a calendar year... nothing is wrong with the Gregorian calendar), one month after each fiscal quarter is what I like to call... Hell.

This kept me from writing on somethings that are very important (not the UN shootings, I totally missed the boat on that one too) and that I'm keenly interested in. Arms trading, comedy and protest.

There was a report in the Guardian back in October that showed "police spotter cards" aimed at helping police identify "trouble makers" at protests. Except this one was created for the Docklands Biannual Arms Fair, and the people listed were not "troublemakers" but comedians and community workers(well I guess it depends on your definition of troublemaker - one man's troublemaker is another man's comedic genius and social worker!).

People who are genuinely concerned about arms, who they are sold to, and how nations are involved in this trade are targeted, rather than those who embezzle money through parastatles to finance civil war in... oh I don't know... say Angola. I'm looking at you Jean-Christophe Mitterand (son of former French President Francois Mitterand), Chales Pasqua (currently a French Sentaor) and Arcadi Gaydamak (who, despite several international arrest warrents, was running for mayor of Jerusalem when I was there).

Mark Thomas, the comedian in question, wrote a response piece that I enjoyed attacking the democratic right to peacefully protest at events. Particularly when those events host the likes of those that commit horrendous acts through the goods that they purchase at said events. Blurg.

Now why might a comedian be persona non grata at an arms fair is another thing:



If you watch the whole show on You Tube... you can see maybe why the arms world does not want Mark Thomas kicking around. But the stifling of protest on such an important topic so much that community activist are unwelcome is infuriating. Not many people know about the arms trade, and I'm pretty sure governments and arms companies are keen on making sure it stays that way.

Support organisations that make sure it doesn't:

Global Witness
ICBL

Aid workers freed

Here is a story from the Irish Times regarding Goal Aid Workers Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki freed after they were kidnapped and held hostage in Darfur.

The women were kidnapped this past July amidst a time when Aid work is becoming more and more dangerous. They underwent a series of mock executions - knowing that their captors could actually kill them at any time. Sharon Commins said that their friendship is what kept them positive.

Photo from the Irish Times

From people who write better than I do

- Things may be getting better in Mosul... Inshallah
- But people are still being killed at weddings
- UNRWA is going to teach children about the Holocaust despite Hamas' warnings. John Ging, Director of Operations for UN Gaza says: "No human-rights curriculum is complete without the inclusion of the facts of the Holocaust, and its lessons." Happy the UN stopped pandering to ridiculousness... In this case.
- And finally "It's all about liverty and the pursuit of good beer" says the owner of my favourite brew in the world - Taybeh

Just because I'm abroad does not mean I can't be be enraged by national politics

So my prime minister thinks women are a fringe left wing group... grrrrr

uhhhhhh....

Image: The Insider
Please tell me this is joke:

Noble Awards set to honour celebrity humanitarians?

It's going to be 2 hour awards show to honour celebrities that give up just that "little" amount of their time to a cause of their choice and have "really" made a difference.

Now don't get me wrong.

I've had this debate a number of times with friends about the merits of celebrity support for a cause. I'm on the pro-side. As long as it is done responsibly, celebrities can bring massive amounts of coverage to causes. Ambassadors such as Angelina Jolie and Alicia Keys highlight the plight of refugees or the disabled for organizations such as UNHCR, IRC and the amazing Best Buddies. They can meddle a bit too much, such as in the case of George Clooney and Darfur, or become so over exposed that we roll our eyes everytime they appear off-stage (eyes on Bono - but maybe thats more because people forget that he's not an expert on global poverty... but actually rock musician). I also have no doubt that many of these celebrities aren't doing this because it makes the look good to the public (although that does factor in) but because they genuinely believe that they should work for humanitarian causes because they can bring so much exposure.

But do they really need a 2-hour awards show?

This is going to sound whiney - but there are thousands of relif and charities workers globally who toil day in and day out, not just because its their career, but also because they want to work the greater good. There are even more volunteers that do this for free with little thanks. Occasionally they are trown big parties to give thanks and priase where it is due(the organization I work for has quite the star-studded event every year in new york, and regularly has event in which celebrities and people in the know attend)and they are useful tools to draw attention to causes, but if they get too crazy or extravagent they are scoffed at. The money, at least I believe, that goes into these events could and should be better spent on advocacy, campaigning, or back into program coffers so that we're less dependent on pandering to foreign policies of the US and EU, and more focused on exactly what is needed.

I really hope this is a joke.

Changing face of child protection

The UN's SRSG for Children in Armed Conflict released a report on changing affects of armed conflict on children, particularly noting the increase use of sexual violence against children. Topics such as child soldiers and the effect on a child's education wer discussed as well, but this report takes yet another move at highlighting the use of rape as a common tool of warfare - particularly against girls.

The relese date of the report to the General Assembly (August 6) coincided with Hillary Clinton's trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo where rape is endemic. It has been estimated that 3,500 women have been raped in the DRC this year alone. Men and children are not immune from this either. Attrocities are carried out by all sides, leaving the general population with nowhere to turn and few to trust. But will Clinton's outspokeness towards the Congolese government on the topic of sexual violence or papers released by the UN calling on the world to protect children from this form of abuse change anything?

Unlikely.

Rape was first declared a war crime after the Bosnian war in 1996 with the indictment of 8 Bosnian Serb Military Policemen for their connection with the rape of Muslim Bosnian women. It was the first time a sexual assault case was brought to the Hague as a war crime in its own right. Since then, rape has been included in war crime indictments, including that of Omar al Bshir's. This hasn't changed anything, in fact, the widespread use of rape as a weapon or even as a effect of conflict may be increasing.

Many of my female colleagues here in Iraq report that the lawlessness of the past few years has contributed in a rise of violence against women. What is more frightening is the number of deaths of young women due to sexual violence, either from honour killings, suicide or homocide. One former colleague, who splits her time between Mosul and Kirkuk, stated that because of the lack of rule of law men rape and kill women just because they are good looking. Coupled with a sexually repressive society, where shame for sexual violence falls on women and girls, one can only imagine the restrictions now placed on daughters, sisters and wives.

In the report, the UN calls on greater involvement of children in the peacemaking process and more importantly to mainstream child protection into all activities. But more is needed. From a young age education on gender equality is needed, and less separation of the sexes is reqired (I'm not a huge cultural relativist). Young women need to be encouraged into non-traditional roles such as the police force, law making, and even the army - such as in Liberia. Sex education is needed for children and young adults. And finally, and most importantly - gender-based violence programs are needed for everyone - children, adults, front-line workers such as police and health care workers - to remove the stigma of reporting and talking about sexual violence. To stop blaming victims and to empower survivors. This may just put a dent in the problem.

Two Posts in One Day!

I am actually quite busy - but this is cool, and sad, and anger inducing, and just very interesting.

It's an illustration of the world's needs for humanitarian crises in both monetary and human resources

Delayed Doom and Gloom

I may or may not have on here, or amongst friends, predicted that things will intensify in the north. I still hold my ground, although its taking longer than expected. Not to make that sound like I want things to intesify. I'm just mearly stating a fact. The US Army is moving more troops up here to hopefully reduce tensions between the Iraqi Army and the Kurdish Peshmerga, Kurdish leaders have walked away from the governing council in Mosul claiming that the Arab council members are allowing Al Qaeda to flourish, Al Qaeda may be flourishing in Mosul (altough most information has been pointing to a reduction in their presence in the country... however Mosul seems to buck the trand on all accounts), and now there is a severe drought in the north increasing tensions.

Now I'm being told that Aid-Workers' resilience is beng put to the limits the field... Al Humdeliliah Eid is coming! In the mean time... this is the picture I always look at whenever I'm stressed.
Gets me every time.

For more information on this, please refer to people who write better than I do.
- On US Army plans for northern Iraq
- On the problems in Mosul
- On the water shortage
- On Aid workers' mental health

...

Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.- Ted Kennedy

Words to live by.

Farewell Sir.

This one's for the girls

The New York Times (and I want to say CARE - their ads are all over the thing!) is running a special called "Saving the World's Women". Not so sure of the title ("save us oh male knight in shining armour"), it is just a tad condenscending. Women can help in their own "saving". However, despite this, it highlights the importance of women in the world, the disadvantages they face, and how our involvement and equality is better for everyone. (Plans for global takeover was not discussed... mainly because its planned for when you least expect it).

Anyways - you can find the articles on the NYT website:
The Women's Crusade

Afghan School Girls vs. Jihadists

The Disappearing Girls Effect
Hillary Clinton's New Foreign Policy Agenda
And finally and interview with everyone's favourite female President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Mixing Aid with Military

An interesting article in Slate Magazine from the Washington Post appeared this week, and continues my discussion on the mixing of military and civilian organizations in humanitarian aid work.

As per previous posts (namely the one where I went on and on about the humanitarian code of conduct vs. the USG plans to implement SPOT), I do not agree with the blurriness that continues between where military ends and the humanitarian work begins. This article, written by Anna Huskarska from the International Rescue Committee in Afghanistan further highlights the problems facing aid agencies in even receiving credit for their work or their committment to the communities and countries in which they operate.

Huskarska writes of a school opening of the CAI (famous from the book "Three Cups of Tea") depicted by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times in Aghanistan shows how the hard work of agencies can often be used as a means to show the "good donations" (=work) of the donors - and now in many cases in post-conflict settings, the military. This associations leads one to believe that without the US government (or any other donor agency)secular schools for children would not be built (and everything will go to hell in a handbag!), ignoring the longstanding relationships and commitment of the community and the aid agency to the project and the area.

This is not to say that some credit for donation is not due to a donor. However, activities such as this should be more of a celebration of the community rather than the aid aganecy or the donor agency - and it should most certainly not include the military.

The Afghanistan experience parallels that of Iraq, where military representative from Provincial Reconstruction Teams are often present at events. This gives the impression to the local community that none of this was possible without "us giving you freedom". If the military goes away - so do all these nice projects. Scary.

To move away from this, strict policies can be put in place to ensure that this association is not made. Low profile security in dangerous areas, strict rules about "no guns" (which are also applied to your donor), and refusal to work with the military (including PRTs). This helps to distance an agency from these associations, and to quote the title of the article - give "credit where credit's due".

Gaining acceptance vs. Getting kidnapped

There's an article today on Reuters Alertnet (Reuters news source for those who care about humanitarian causes that is a bit more edgier that IRIN - I follow their "tweets"... I am a dork) that reviews that dangers of providing humanitarian in conflict and recent post-conflict societies.

Aid workers all know their environment is changing - at least I hope most do - and our families always assumed it was worse than what it actually is. Until now (duh-duh-duuuuuh).

It's been reported that aid workers in the Horn and Central Africa are being robbed weekly and that kidnappings all around have increased.

"Humanitarian workers are seen as rich people in places where most of the population is poor," said Philippe Adapoe, the Country Director of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Chad.

"In general aggressors target assets and money and we have visible assets such as cars, satellite phones, money and laptops."

Additionally, we can often be seen as collaborators with the "enemy" - as seen in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Anyways - it's pretty interesting to read the article - (here!) And interesting to note that one method of protecting aid workers is to become more accepted in the community. In my case here in Iraq - aid workers have been doing the opposite. Until recently only a few were operating low profile in communities - most (including my own) are/were working remotely from the north or neighbouring country or high profile behind compounds and security companies. Doing this associates us with immediate relief and money - and makes us seem superficial. Acceptance requires us to be in the communities, building relationships and understanding of the work we do.

Medivac experience (I have a blog?)

So sorry for the delays. I haven't been posting because a) I burnt my right arm to a crisp and b) I then went on a computer-free vacation (much needed). Amazed by the ability of the human body to heal, I am now back to typing in a mere 4 weeks and have almost full motion of my hand.

So what happened. An IED? Insurgent firefight? After all I am in Iraq.

Well friends, I was in fact attacked... by a flame-throwing oven. All I wanted to do was bake some eggplant. A gas leak had filled up the stove with gas whilst I was cooking lentils on top of the stove. When I went to "turn on the gas" for the oven and "safely" light it with the barbecue lighter... KABOOM!

2nd/3rd degree burns on my hand and lower arm and a medical evacuation to Amman (although not on the cool medical planes... just on RJ).

I learned a few valuable lessons from this experience:

1) Where protective goggles whilst cooking
I was lucky enough to have been wearing my glasses when it happened. I lost all the hair on my face, and some on my head (not like MJ). Had I not had glasses I would have no eyebrows or eyelashes (managed to preseve those... phew). I think from now on I may wear my fire-retardent gloves too....

2) Always carry a satelite phone
Normally Iraq has semi-decent cell phone service. But then there are the days that the Vice President of the United States is speaking at the convention centre next to your house. Warlocks on the enire area jam cell phone signals, aking it impossible to use them in the even of an emergency. Fun.

We have a few satelite and sets that would link up in this event - but we couldn't find them so my roommate and I just ran out of the house screaming instead.

3) Occasionally be thankful you live in cushy ex-pat-ville
Screaming did not last for long as we realised that our cush sub-division had a fully western, fully operational private medical centre a block down. Complete with very good looking EMT-Practitioner that administers very "beautiful" (to quote my jordanian doctor) drugs.

4) When in doubt always assume the ambulance is for you and not for victims of swine flu
When mdeically evacuated, they pic you up in an ambulance. I am not sure it was fully needed in my case. My boss/emergency escort and I made the assumption that it was for something else when we approached it, and there staff were not there. So we went and had a coffee. It was for me and the staff had been wandering around the airport trying to find the "burn victim".

So when medivaced - yes the ambulance is for you, unless you want an excuse for a coffee break.

No typing. My hand looks like a roast chicken. Fact.

Will tell everyone about this later.

In the mean time read post from Stop Genocide blog from Change.org

All blogs of note should quote Eddie Izzard.

Do We Have a Compassion Deficit?

This post took me 25 minutes to type...

something to think about

- 18 trillion has been given to save ailing financial institutions this year
- 2.8 trillion has been given in foreign aid over the last 50 years

Aid money is drying up, and many countries are not honouring their commitments to humanitarian aid (not that they ever were).

Something to think about.

Happy U.S. Troop Pull-Out Day!

In the event of the US Army withdrawing from urban centres (there will still be 130,000 in the country), the governments in both Iraq proper and the KRG have called... of course... and official holiday! For those places south of Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah, yes - this is a good move. Security wise, its good to have people at home with their families... up in the three northern governorates...

The organization I work for has a pretty strict policy on holidays. This came about because some countries have a tendancy to have a lot of them. Often impromptu. Iraq is no different. Because of this, my current organization gives 15 pre-determined days a year that staff can have as holidays. Anything extra is evaluated, but usually not granted.

I was working for another organization previously here in Iraq, and I can see why the 15 day rule is useful. In December of 2008 and 8, because of a combination of pre-determined holidays and impromptu holidays, I think my staff worked a total of 8 days the entire month. A little ridiculous. Between the KRG and the GOI, and many last-minute declared holidays (often the day before - with a phone call at 4pm from the Operations Manager saying - the government says there is a holiday tomorrow so we are not coming to work), which of course you need to give to staff in both areas, actual work can go a little slow.

Now in this case, my current organization has granted the holiday for June 30th. But only for staff in the central regions (Baghdad, Anbar and Babylon) as a security precaution. We don't want people travelling around cities when we do not know what is going to happen. Our staff in Baghdad already has already faced difficulties working over that last two weeks because of all of the insecurities in the central region. We haven't, however, given the holiday to the northern staff. We'll see what morale is like in the office.

As for the pullout (or more appropriate "pullback"). On va voir!

For more on the US troop pull-out:
Washington post: Jubiliation in Iraq on Eve of US Pullback
NYTs: US leaves Iraqi Districts where anger still lingers

The other Sudan

Sorry for absence - too busy with work - will get back to it soon.
In the mean time - lets learn about South Sudan. Everyone knows Darfur, but not many people realise that there are multiple conflicts on multiple fronts happening throughout the country and that the south is effectively separated (it's an autonomous region) from the rest of the country.

South Sudan boasts some of the worst development indicators (it has one doctor for every 500,000 people), and now to boot, it is back in conflict with the northern government (conviently as it approaches it referendum to separate in 2010) with effects that could soon eclipse Darfur.

So now for some light reading - here is an article on the conflict in today's Observer... I'll get back to Iraq in a couple of days.

Guns, children and cattle are the new currency of war in Southern Sudan

Sicilian-American Food from Turkmerica Hawler Style

Yesterday we had our first real "scare" of a potential IED threat in the city centre in a while. Nothing has been found as of yet, but there were loads and loads of under cover and uniformed Peshmerga and secret service everywhere. I'm torn between thinking potential violence leading up to the election or political ploy to show how safe the current government is making Erbil. I wouldn't put it past them – a lot of these ministries are shameless in trying to get exposure on anything they can – particularly if it's going to make those dreaded "islamists" look worse.

Kurds like their vices – especially alcohol. And they like being Kurdish first. I think the likelihood of this region switching over to radical Islam in one election is unlikely. But that is just me.

And don't get me wrong – I take my IED threats very seriously. I won't be going to the market or crowded places all the way up to the elections. Maybe even after. I'm really trying to not become complacent in the belief that the KRG is safe (which it's not – there's a reason they have serious checkpoints everywhere) especially after moving up from Baghdad. I just wonder sometimes…

In other news – it is the weekend and I'm looking forward to meal prepared by a friend who lives part-time in Turkey. Meaning it will include ingredients that we can only dream of here… like maybe avocado, canned tomatoes (not tomato paste), or whole grain rice!!!! I may be getting ahead of myself but TGIT!

Cool as a Cucumber

It's pretty much sweltering here. With temperatures averaging in high 30s (I know, I know, it will get hotter… I was here last summer too). What amazes me though is how quick it cam on. It seems like only a month ago I was still wearing a sweater at night and complaining that it was too cold out to wear t-shirts. Now I can't even thing of spending more than 5 minutes outside of an air-conditioned space between the hours of 8am – 8 pm.

I think things in Erbil (a sneaking suspicion) may heat up here too in other ways. Things have been pretty kinetic down Mosul way (as usual) but in a different sort of way. Now that the arab political parties have seized power, the violence has shifted to the Kurdish population (or more specifically the peshmerga) effectively blocking the arab politicians from accessing anywhere they deem to be "Kurdish" areas. Whilst doing this, they are also denying many of the people in these areas essential public services… then blaming it on the current, majority Arab government (I'm sure this tactic was also used in reverse when the kurds held power there). This has led to clashes between the Iraqi forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga (the KRG's army).

Now I'm no expert in political science… (maybe a master…) But I'm pretty sure somewhere in Statebuilding 101 they go over how more than one army in a country (particularly armies that represent different ethnic groups and exclusively responsible for certain… contested areas) could set you up for future… don't know… disasters.

To boot, the GOI is now stoking the fire with the Kirkuk question again. To be honest… rightly so. The country should have voted on the status of Kirkuk (KRG or GOI?) many moons ago, but both the GOI and the KRG have put it off for various reasons. This has enraged the KRG and maybe some of the reasons (amongst many) of the upswing (again) of violence in that contested area.

Now I'm bring all of this up because on June 25 there are suppose to be elections here in the KRG. I'm curious to see what will happen in and around the "safe" region of Iraq. Whilst it seems that everywhere along the green line is going to hell in a handbag, here is still cool (ok hot) and calm. I'm not a fear mongerer. I like to give people and places the benefit of the doubt. I am, however, a realist. And to my knowledge the KRG has its fingers in too many pots – where they happen to be stirring some serious shit. It's only a matter of time.

Then again, the GOI provincial elections went off without a hitch… stranger things could happen.

Do no harm?

Arg. There are certain principles that we (the collective we of aid workers) need to live and act by. Below is the ICRC Humanitarian Code of Conduct, signed by pretty, much every major NGO has signed up to:

ICRC Humanitarian Code of Conduct


I put this up because I have dealt with two episode this week that reflect a flaunting of these principles. One major... one a bit more minor.

1) Major - the SPOT
Good old US gov trying to get aid agencies to tell the military in Iraq where we're working (GPS location), who are staff are (?!?!?), if any major events happen in the area, and whether we have to evacuate or not (?!?!). It will become a requirement for anyone signing a US grant.

It's suppose to be for security - which in theory you may think - hey! having the military know where you're working may not be a bad thing... which in general... it's not. But staff names? numbers? exact locations? if there is a security incident? What happens if there is an incident - you report, then the military carries out an operation directly afterwards. Then community x goes... those NGOs are all working with the occupiers... lets make their life hell.

The blurring of military and aid work is a serious issue that will make any humanitarian work more difficult in any volatile country - having an even bigger impact on those most vulnerable. Let's hope this doesn't happen...

2) More minor but with a big impact...
One of my friends on facebook has joined one of those - click and feed a child groups. I was drawn to this because the profile pic of the group is a horrid image of an emaciated child near death. Now... I'm not an expert, but I'm thinking that's nearing 80's World Vision infomercial exploitation levels of target beneficiaries. Something any humanitarian knows... i hope... is a no-no. We pledge that we're suppose to use any images of our beneficiaries that are exploitative - they should depict resilience and respect the dignity of humans.

I was going to let the thing go, but I opened up the group and saw that it had 3 MILLION MEMBERS!!!! I had to write something to the group organizer - saying I thought the picture he chose was exploitative, and I respect his cause, but its promotion wasn't done in a very dignified way. He actual wrote back - but stated that all pictures were posted to show the state of the problem around the world - which may be - but there are only a few pictures posted... and they are all by him... and they are all exploitative. He can also monitor and remove any exploitative photos as the moderator of the group. What is more... I was referring mainly to the profile picture, something he has put up.

I'm very skeptical of these click and food goes to hungry child sites anyways - i think it's pretty dubious (where do they get this food/money from the click?). Moreover, I have mixed feelings about food aid unless in the most extreme cases. But to display these photos to so many people makes the public think this is ok! To exploit people is ok!

It's not.

Not your typical disaster...

All of our staff from Baghdad had come up for a week long training. To celebrate the first time we had gotten all of the organisation's staff together for the first time, we went on a day-long excursion through the mountains north of Shaklawa (Erbil, KRG). It's beautiful up there – very mountainous, with lots of areas to picnic and hike. Erbil governorate being relatively safe allows you to travel pretty freely without any fears of roadside bombs or sketchy check-points, which gave our Baghdad staff freedom they would not normally have.

Here are two anecdotes from the trip.

The KRG approach to nature conservation: "Cover it in concrete and nothing will touch it"

Bekhan is one of my favourite places in the whole country because it is… well… absolutely fascinating. Bekhan has a large natural spring that spills into a giant waterfall. It's where most of the bottled water in the KRG comes from. They have built a treatment plant conveniently and directly beside the waterfall…

Surrounding the waterfall there is a picnic area where people can camp and eat. It's not your typical picnic area that you would find in many places. Instead, to preserve the waterfalls natural beauty, the government has covered the entire area with concrete. To boot, stalls up on stalls of shops selling Chinese junk and Turkish junk food have been opened up surrounding the entire picnic area, which is 3 floors and works it way up through the waterfall itself, connected by a series of very uneven and dangerous concrete steps. The area is completely covered with corrugated tin roofing, and plastic lawn chairs and tables scatter the area. What is more, the whole are has connecting "steams" of water from the spring that run through concrete channels. Due to a lack of garbage cans… and most patrons inability to throw anything in one most of these streams are filled wit refuse from picnics and snacks. It's truly an amazing site/sight.

Theme parks… Yes I said Theme park.

As I was speeding down a hillside on a rollercoaster I thought to myself… maybe this isn't the best idea I've had in while. I have been on some scary midway rides before at less than well maintained community fun fairs before, but a rollercoaster at a theme park in the developing world? In a war zone no less? Then it hit me, the irony of it all. In one of the most dangerous countries in the world, I may fall to my death or be seriously injured not by a suicide bomber or an ambush, but in fact, a carnival ride. The news papers back home would write: "Canadian female, 26, seriously injured in Iraq on midway ride". Instead of sympathy, that maybe my family deserves more than me, we would get: "It serves her right… what the heck was she doing on a rollercoaster in Iraq?" This turned my minute-long joy-ride into a thrill-ride of sorts.

All in All – I clearly made it out alive. To report, the Bumper Cars were more fun, the rollercoaster wasn't really a rollercoaster per say, it was cars on tracks that went down a spiral on the side of mountain – and I must say looked fairly well maintained. I didn't touch the Ferris Wheel though. I had to draw the line somewhere.

Spring comes to Iraq

Things seem like they are starting to improve - with Baghdadis taking pride once again in their city. But fortification still remains, attacks are becoming more targeted and sophisticated and summer is coming. Spring is the nicest time of year here, with temperatures moderate 24-hours a day. The weather is glorious in Erbil, but a glorious spring for the entire country? Maybe next year baghdad...

Iraq's false spring

Violence is Back in Baghdad

Most violence seen in one day in over a year.

Suicide attacks kill 76 as Iraq reports arrest

Addressing YOUR emergency from the comfort of a starbucks

While my sister is finishing up her last shifts as SBux (hopefully ever- last time I checked nursing in Canada was still a viable employment option - certainly more secure than my own) I'm starting my new shifts.

I have now settled into the dubai-ified West Amman, joined my local Fitness First and have taken to weekends writing proposals from the comfort of what is possibly the largest Starbucks I have seen. Ever. There's probably a bigger one. It's probably in Dubai. But for now, Abdoun SBux is reigning supremo. I have my choice of coffee shops to work in, harking back to my student days - in Canada - living a block away from the closes Second Cup (yes... i live a block away from Abdoun's Second Cup). I can also choose from Java U (re-living a quebec only experience) or Caribou Coffee for all you east-coast and mid-west US people. I haven't seen a Timmies yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time before one enterprising expat Jordanian returns home an over-caffinated Tim Horton's addiction (they have it in Afghanistan - only a hop, skip, and a jump).

At first, living here still seemed like vacation (albeit with work). Amman is a great mental break from the immobility and frustrations faced with compound living in Iraq. Not to mention the infrequency of food poisoning and the availability of curries and sushi. But now I'm starting to wish I was still in the field. Speaking with one of my visiting technical advisors, we were talking about how people are writing proposals from headquarters in New York and London without the foggiest of what they are talking about. Laughing, I came to the realisation that I am now doing the same. Writing and developing programs for a population I have never seen. Yes. I have lived in Iraq for the past year, and hae experience in our areas of operation. But I was working on Peacebuilding with Youth. Not Internally Displaced People (IDPs), refugees or returnees (IDPs or refugees that have come back). I'm program for a population that I know limited amounts of knowledge. Based on field staff (who only really know the north) and reports published by international organisations, like the UN (which... errrrr.... are no help... sorry guys), and think tanks (which are more help... thank you USIP).

It's really incredible that I have turned into exactly what I do not want to be. I want to remedy this soon, by going back in (inshallah soon - after all I'm suppose to spend 50% of my time there), but even then, I will not know anything about who or what I'm dealing with in Baghdad. AS one of 3 people who have been in Baghdad, and the person who has been there the longest, I've become a sort of default go to on all-things central region. While I can answers questions about the best places to eat in IZ or what time the gym is busy, I can still only talk youth and peacebuilding. Sorry. Now with my new position, I stay in the north as well... soooooo... the knowledge of that area will reduce even further as time passes.

I still am learning a lot, particularly about the state of IDPs across Iraq, the way the government views and is dealing with it, and what is happening with the slow trickle of returnees that are coming along... slowly. I've also realised that Iraq is SCREWED if there is a mass return (which I highly doubt for the time being). There is no infrastructure in place to support this at all. Since 2003, 2.8 million people were displace, in addition 1.5 million before 2003. Can you imagine resettling the population of Ireland?

So far only 40 - 50 thousand people have returned, mostly displaced people from close by, and mostly those who have been displaced for 6 months or less. Very few people have returned from abroad... almost none of the returnees are from Iraq's minority populations (Christians, Armenians, Yazidis, Chaldeans etc etc). These groups were specifically targeted during sectarian violence and probably won't come back. Other displaced groups targeted such as Palestinian refugees are (doubly) screwed because they cannot go anywhere. Last I heard a few were being resettled in Romania... but a lot have been pushed out of Baghdad to camps along the border with Jordan.

The more I write, the more I realise this is the tip of the iceberg (and one depressing post). More things will be in store, but I don't think Iraq will get boring anytime soon.

You would think development was tricky...

There's a proverb in Chad that says "a pregnant women has one foot in the grave". It captures the terrifying risks faced by millions of women in the world's poorest countries.

I'm not posting a full post today. I'm still very jetlagged, and don't have enough to speak of. But this article caught my eye. It's by Kevin Watkins and it was in the Guardian. It is a simple article that states exactly what all other editorials on development state. That big problems globally can be solved so easily. It's infuriating.

What is more is that the majority of these major problems are faced by women and children - and of that group girls and women. This article is about death in child birth, and simple steps that even some of the worlds LDCs (least developed countries) are doing to combat it. This may put a small dent in how far we are behind in catching those Millennium Development Goals, but it's a start.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/07/pop-stars-adoption-africa

Double-Post Extravaganza

1) Jennifer? Jennifer Lopez?
Oh if I got a dinar for every time an immigration official has pulled that line on me. Twice in one day this time! I have finally left Iraq for vacation (and time between old and new job). A move like this requires at least 2 days of travelling and much exhaustion. No matter how you swing it - there will never be a flight from or to Iraq that will meet convieniently with transatlantic travel. Even if there was - I wouldn't chance it. Sod's law that flight will always get to the next point 7 hours after you were suppose to have left on your next leg.

I can't figure out which flight I dislike more - the flight coming from Amman to Erbil that leaves at 3am, or the flight from Erbil to Amman that leaves at 5am. Both options allow some leway for sleeping, either before or after. Both leave at incredibly awkward times in the middle of the night and disrupt sleeping patterns enormously. I think I may have to go with the latter. Sleeping from 10pm - 3am before your flight in theory allows enough sleep to function at the airport and then afterwards when you land. However sleeping during this period is light at best - especially if you are unsure as to whether your airport pickup fully understood you. (Can you pick me up at 3am? - yes ok. You will pick me up in the parking lot? - yes ok. Will you call when you get here? - yes ok. Do you understand me? - yes ok.)

Sleeping on the 1h40min flight in itself is a feet - I've seen it done, but now that RJ has added a hot meal (wow!) to the leg (should be served on plates of gold for the amount they change to get in and out of the country - almost the same price as the rest of the trip home!) means that keep the lights on the entire time. By the time you arrive at Amman you are shattered, but 6am, and a perfectly reasonable time to start your day!

Fortunately I was not working (he he he) so crashing on the floor of my future apartment was in order - and I did so like a champ for about 5 hours. I needed to prepare for my next big night of disrupted sleeping patterns... 3 am to Frankfurt. Where I am now looking forward to 6 hours in an airport that does not believe in seating (seriously - there are hardly any benches/chairs - I'm currently on the floor) or power outlets. Yeah!

2) Nawrooztan Piroza!
I was lucky to have been born the day that I was. March 21st is Persian New Years. Much of the old Persian Empire from what could be considered "Kurdistan" all the way through pretty much all of the "Stans" celebrate the coming of Spring.

Not to say that winter in northern Iraq is particularly harsh - although I assume in places such as Afghanistan it is worse. It consists of cloudy, mediocre weather, with the occasional "rain" storm (sometimes it does properly rain, followed by flooding due to the lack (or need) of storm drains) and sand storm. Sand storms are different up north than in the south as well. In Baghdad they build slowly (with sadly no percipitation in advance of or following ) - you can see them coming. The horizon is usually orange, and the air gets increasingly dusty - to the point that you can easily stair at the sun. I've only been in one really bad one, that hit quickly - sand blowing everywhere with zero visability. Up north it's more like fog. It's easier to operate in because sand isn't blown in your face - but you still cannot breath, or wear contacts (sand goes under them) or really be outside.

The KRG has actually had a decent amount of rainfall this year - in what we thought was going to be another drought. In January the weather was almost tropical at times (15C) but in early February and March the weather turned back "wintery" (rainy). The ground is now actually green, not desolate and beige. I would dare say when I look out my window it's almost pretty.

Because of this, the Nawrooz weekend was beautiful. The weather was perfect (around 20C) and the sun was out. The traditional activities for Nawrooz essentially involve a lot of food, picnics and dancing spanning over a week or two. The evening of March 22nd marked the beginning of the festivities with a concert and fireworks over the citadel which you could see from the apartment. We would have liked to go but a combination of date mix-up and then security restrictions make these types of things verbotten, unfortunately. March 21st - the actual Nawrooz date saw massive picnics in every available field that hasn't been slated for construction - meaning that the field near a friend's house in the christian village of Ainkawa became a prime location.

Hundreds of cars, barbeques, drums and girls in sparkly dresses spotted the fields. There was also live music with dancing, although others tried to overpower the wall of speakers with their own sound track. Looking at it from the roof top of the friend's house it looked more like a rock festival or a tailgate party rather than a picnic.

We were lucky to have the means to sneak into he massive dance party going on in the fields through the friend's coworkers, and spent the rest of the evening picnic-ing on her roof watching the parties below and the sun set.

Things that go Boom

In all my ranting and raving regarding the tardiness of flights and food poisoning I never touched on the fact that last week was one of the deadliest weeks Baghdad has had in a while.

The day I left for Erbil close to 30 were killed in a bombing in central (east - Palestine Street) Baghdad, and later this week over 30 were killed in Abu Ghrab (yes where the prison is - it's technically in Anbar Governorate, but it is just on the outskirts of Baghdad).

Now there are attacks everyday. Rocket fire is constant, so are improvised explosive devices. They reckon 40-60 projectiles are thrown at the green zone each week. Most don't make it in, those that do often don't explode. Occasionally some one is unlucky (in December when I was there it was the UN Bangladeshi contract caterers - who are not provided the same protection as the actual UN staff), but on a whole very few are injured or killed. Every day there are explosions in the city. You can hear them from the IZ. Sometimes they kill or injure people, now a days a lot of them are caught by the police and the military and safely detonated away from people. I have experienced the army quickly cordoning off an areas and redirecting traffic after a car bomb was discovered near a ministry building. This is a testament to how far the Iraqi Army and police have come in their development. Flashback just a couple years ago, and all these attacks were more than likely going to be deadly.

However the recent events show that those who want to re-destailise the country are learning to get around new security developments. I worry because this may only get worse. The government and multi-national forces are in the process of disbanding the "Sons of Iraq" councils (Sahwa Councils) - the Sunni - come insurgent scheme to bring hostile actors into a legitimate security role (paying them off in the process - which combats the major cause of conflict in Iraq which is unemployment, poverty and boredom). The success of these councils is shown in the vast reduction of violence in places such as Anbar Governorate. But with these councils now being disbanded, and no new jobs to provide a similar income, a lot of angry young men will be left in a spot where they will turn to the militias (or organised criminal gangs) again.

Coming back to myself (me me me), this is why I'm particularly angry about the end of my youth program. I know its small fish (30 youth per governorate) but its initiatives that bring youth together that help reduce the likelihood of young people turning to violence! My program is not interested in finding means to support the youth groups externally, so I have to go at it alone. I hope that I can find some interested donors that are willing to support these actions, but we will see.

I'm not sure where my current organisation gets off on this... particularly since they adhere to the "do no harm" principle.

Ain't no Hawler Back Girl.... (I guess I am technically)

It's always fun to fly in Iraq. There are always surprises, twists and turns. Nothing ever goes to plan - particularly when you're flying Iraqi (sc)Airways.

To start, there is no flight time. They will tell you a time to shut you up, sometimes (in the north it's always 8am, until you arrive at 6am at the airport for your flight to find out it's been changed to 3pm) but on a whole you're in the dark. Secondly, you may have ticket, you may have a reservation, you may have even paid the 100,000 IDs (approx 85USD), but that doesn't mean that you're on the name list (which in some cases doesn't emerge until 15mins prior to boarding). Finally, you may have paid, you may be on the list, you may be in the departure lounge (heck you may be flying in the plane) but that does not guarantee you will end up at your intended destination. No, no. Whilst flying in Iraq, you can never be certain that you have arrived until your feet touch the ground. Essentially, unless the sun, the moon and the stars are perfectly aligned, there is no way in hell you are getting to your destination at the time you intended to. Barriers to this can include dust, rain, VIPs, and your pilot feeling like he didn't want to get out of bed this morning.

This being said, you will always eventually leave. You just have to come prepared. Always bring a book. Always charge your laptop and iPod. Always book and extra night (or two) in a hotel in Sulaimaniyah. I was once stuck in that airport for 3 days, for, actually all of the reasons started above. I finally made it to Baghdad - they got me, my colleagues and the steady growing crowd of stranded travellers down. They had to charter a massive Airbus from "Seagull Airways" (they are slovakian in case you are wondering) to do it - but they got us there.

Yesterday was no different. After being left to ponder what time my PSDs would be banging on my pod in the morning to take me to the airport, I was scurrying around at 7:30 to cram all my stuff into my giant 70L backpack to rush to the airport. We got confirmation that the flight would be leaving at 10 - and it being rushhour in Baghdad (Sunday is the first day of the week here) we needed to get there ASAP (Yalla Yalla Yalla). At 9am we made down through Route Irish into BIAP, with our Airport pick-up (aka Palm Greaser) pacing worried we would not get tickets or on to the plane. He had already "taken care of the ticket guy" (BIAP is run by the GOI (gov't of Iraq) and therefore is the third most corrupt place on earth), but he was still unsure. At about 9:45 we got our tickets, finally, and he got us through the VIP line to check in. Withing 10 mins we were in the departure lounge.

Thinking - Wow - given the urgency in which we got our tickets, maybe we'll actually leave on time today - my colleagues and I joined the line at the usual gate to board the plane up north and I called my staff coming into Erbil to tell them that I would be able to meet this afternoon. We stood there for about 3 mins until the ticket collector walked past saying "Damacus, Damascus, Damascus". Ha ha... who were we kidding. Leaving on time?

2 hours later we board the plane to Sulaimaniyah/Erbil. It's more than half empty (and I'm angry because given our numbers, we could have taken their smaller, newer, cleaner Bombardiers that are less likely to fall out of the sky - Inshallah). I'm still going to make it up north to meet my staff, but not for as long as I would like (given we have MASSIVE youth conference we're running this week - and I have been stuck in the IZ for the last month).

And... ohhhh... it's a holiday today... another one (Happy Birthday Prophet Mohammad) - that's what... the 3rd one this month and we still have Kurdish new years to go? (it's March 9th)

(Iraqis work about 85 days a year... but that is a subject of another post)

Survived to stay another day...

Our travel agent on the compound must think that our program is schizophrenic. We cannot decide whether we are coming or going. Up until 8pm last evening I was suppose to be leaving on a plane for the north today. Now I have to stick around for a couple more days to create more reports, for more meetings, for more donor questions.

Will there ever be a good time for me to leave? Probably not - but I have a massive event up north to attend next week - so I don't have a choice. I have to go.

The one good thing about sticking around is that the weather has turned absolutely glorious! It's well over 20C daily, it will be a shock once I'm back up north where it has been rainy and cold. Prep for Canada I guess. I'll also get to stick around and play a few more games of ultimate - there's co-ed sports in Baghdad, in addition to yoga, step, spin. kickboxing and aerobics classes. Something that is tough to put together up north with everyone's various security provisions. It's nice to have regular activity - the downside is that it is such a sedentary lifestyle other than this! I work 3 meters from my bed.

Another positive thing about not being up north is that I'm not in an office. I had to send out the notice today that the program would be ending early, and that my component in particular will be shutting down before others. I have only had one response? Is this normal? Is no news good news?

I was expecting dramatic emails, or questions about job security. But nothing? I wonder if my Iraqi program managers are fielding most of it and deflecting questions or criticism, or whether we had left them in the dark for so long that they figured that something like this was happening? It's really sad what is happening. I truly believed that the program I was running was innovative. Creating volunteerism with a purpose across in Iraq, and through this, linking youth from all over the country to combat major conflict causes. We had brilliant responses - but it didn't burn enough money - go figure! So whilst the rest of the program is a quagmire, the one thing that is actually functioning gets dropped for a mess that is costing 100x's the cost.

I'm hoping that I can end of the program in a way that will not deter the participants from continuing their good work. I hope we didn't do too much harm by cutting a number of our promises. To address this I'm trying to fold them into an Iraqi NGO that we have helped to gain official status. They seem receptive to this, so maybe there is hope. Inshallah.

Bad Blogger

I'm a bad blogger, but I promise to get better in the future. I have just been offered a new position to continue working out here, but at the same time, have been told that our funding on our current program is being cut, and that I will probably be the first one out. I guess timing is good - now I don't feel so guilty about leaving the program early, but the situation is sad, as I'm beginning to realise that this may be my last few days in Baghdad for a while.

See my new position is 50% Jordan, 50% Iraq. Which is a great split. Just enough Sushi and Wine, to counter the food poisoning and general sense of insecurity. However, the 50% Iraq likely means 100% Erbil. It's expensive to pay for people to come to Baghdad, particularly if I will no longer be a US Government contractor, and cannot get on those handy-dandy free flights and buses between the IZ and the airport.

Now many of my fellow lefty-liberal, NGO/Think-Tank working friends would likely question my sadness. I am blatantly part of a war-machine whilst I'm down here. I'm fully immersed in the hyper-militarised environment of the IZ, living on a PSD FOB (Private Security Detail, Forward Operating Base) and across from a Military FOB I've gotten use to blackhwaks continuously flying over head, firing ranges flanking my "pod" - aka bungalo of reinforced concrete and sandbags , convoys after convoys of MRAPS (Mine resistant ambush protected) armoured vehicles and humvees, having to wear PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) whenever I leave for the "red zone" (read: anything that is not the IZ or an Army FOB), and eating bad, freeze dried and less than fresh food from the DFAC's (I'm not sure what that acronym is for - but it's where we eat - it's also called a GEM sometimes...) on site. I'll miss getting to see the sights of Baghdad and experiencing a war-effort that is truly sureal and I will (hopefully) never see again in my lifetime. I have been both fully appalled and amazed at the obnoxiousness of the occupation - but while I am the first to complain and want to distance myself from it, I am still glad I got to witness it. It is Weird. It is the only way to describe it. And you cannot understand unless you see and experience it. I digress. What I will miss most is good friends that I have met here. I'm coming to realise that with the restrictions still in place in Baghdad, and the nature of some of their work, it is a possibilty that I may not run into them again in the near future.

But such is the life of an Aid Worker. Flitting from one place to the next. And the more I stay in this work, the more I realize the world gets smaller and smaller.

I shouldn't be too sad, I am moving on to much bigger and better things. Seriously. Much. Bigger. And. Better. Things.

My Iraqi DCOP says that Baghdad needs 5 years, then I will be fine to walk on Abu Nawas street and eat Masgoof and go to a bar... Maybe I will see you in 5 years Baghdad... (Although I kind of hope I'm not in the Middle East by then). For now, Erbil is fine, and Amman is better.