Policy Brief on Female Police Staff Associations and Gender Sensitive Police Reform

The North-South Institute has a policy brief out on Female Staff Associations in West Africa and their contributions to Gender Sensitive Police Reform called Freedom Through Association: Realizing the Potential of West Africa's Female Police Staff Associations. 

Nairobi Eye - or Fly is the worst!

This ant is neither an Eye or a Fly. But it smears acid when you hit it, causing blisters and burns.

Pleasant.

I really thought I had a strange disease. Something off of house like amoeba of the brain.

Nope. Just an acid spewing ant.

What's in a name anyways?

My last flight up to Rumbek, I was placed on a milk run that had me stopping in Bor and Mabior in Jonglei State, before going to Rumbek. Lakes State.

One would assume a state of many lakes?

I had noticed on the ground a lack of visible, natural, bodies of water in the state, but it wasn't until I was airborne that I realised that every other state in South Sudan must have more visible bodies of water than Lakes State.

Also - this is not helping calm war rhetoric. 

My that's a big bag you have?

Do you really need that much stuff for one week?

I have heard this a lot in Juba. I went down for a week with my 70L backpack. Admittedly it was a bit too big of a bag coming down. But it was only 1/3 full. I'd brought it with a purpose. To bring back food. 

I'd made the fatale flaw of not booking extra cargo for food when I first moved up. (NB: I don't actually mean "food". I mean chocolate, cookies, nuts, gum, cheese etc.) I went to the grocery store, took note of what I needed to get and then figured I’d have people bring stuff up to me, or I could stock up later.

Wrong.

When I went back to find this.

Instead I got this.

Clearly I hadn’t learned from the Great Iraqi Diet Coke Shortage of 2008. Where foreign workers would drive to the borders of Turkey, Syria and Iran if they heard so much as a rumour that a shop owner had a spare flat of the silver bullet.

The rule is: If you see something you think could be a rare commodity… like Special K  - or in my case McVities Digestives – YOU BUY ALL OF THEM BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN IT WILL COME BACK.

So I went to the store and bought everything. 

And that is why my bag is so big. 

How did I just learn about this?

What Should Africa Call Me? 

Aaaaaand the UN is threatening non-military sanctions... which I'm sure both sides are really concerned about, judging by the tank I saw loaded on a boat heading north at Juba Port.

Sanctionz. Vrrryyy Srrrrrrssssssss.