Advice worth 500 sheep

CIDA and CSR

2012-01-26T11:53:00.003-05:00

I don't know enough about this topic to comment adequately. But I know that CIDA's new corporate social responsibility strategy - funding corporations' CSR programs - is controversial, particularly when CIDA is cutting funding to NGOs.

CBC's The Current does a much better job at looking at the debate. Today's program devotes a half hour to this topic. You can listen to it on their Past Episodes page.

What's it like doing humanitarian assistance in conflict affected contexts?

2012-01-16T17:04:00.001-05:00

CBC's "The Current" had a half-hour documentary today looking at the experiences of three aid workers with Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF or Doctors Without Borders). You can listen to the podcast version here. Or go to the Current`s website to see past episodes.

If it's not for you - it's ok to get out

2012-01-10T11:25:00.001-05:00

I have a couple of posts about how to get into aid work. I've been invited to speak on a couple of occasions to university students and toyoung people about aid work. Most of thequestions are about how to break in.

I usually try to stay pretty positive, but realistic – not mincingwords about how much you may need to schlep before you “break in”. I havewarned people looking at this field of work of the difficulties they may face –namely that the work may not be for the a) faint of heart or b) easily annoyed.I had not thought – however- to tell people that it is ok to quit. And moreimportantly, that it will not ruin your career. The message is important, andnot one I’d thought sharing before.

Alanna Shaikh at Blood and Milk wrote a post on quitting the Peace Corps back in November. I had wantedto post this for a while. It think it is an extremely important message – not justfor Peace Corps volunteers, but anyone heading off on a longer termvolunteer/internship program that really would like to take on a career inhumanitarian aid and development. In Canada this could be CUSO VSO or the InternationalYouth Internship Program which comparably throws you out of your comfort zone. The position could be wrong for you. You may feel isolated, lonely, homesick or worse, unsafe. There are a number of reasons why this particular position may not be the right fit - it doesn't mean that your not cut out for aid and/or development work.

I wish someone had said this to me. I had an internshipwhere the head of the office was verbally abusive to all staff, and physicallyabusive to some. There were times where I actually thought I was in physicaldanger. Colleagues were physically ill with stress when he was in the office.But I did not think I could quit because I worried that I would not haveanother shot at an international internship or job. So I stuck it out andeventually was moved. I know now that I likely could have jumped ship andstarted over. I may have taken a different path, but I could still have workedin the same field.

So I have taken note. I’m sharing the post. And in thefuture I will be sure to mention that it is ok to quit.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

2011-12-17T19:28:00.002-05:00

I will start off by saying I should have posted this during the 16 Days. I've mentioned before that one of the things I really like about my job is the fact that I get to go to cool events and hear awesome people speak. So - I got to attend "Because I Am A Girl" launch in Ottawa. The project is the brainchild of Plan International that looks to highlight the plight but also the resilience of girls globally. The campaign's goal is to empower and improve the lives of girls and women - in an aim for gender equity - and it is frankly... awesome. The campaign has been running for 5 years now, and this year it is on "So, What About Boys?" It's really great - and everyone should check out the BIAAG reports and resources. But I digress. The real reason I wanted to write is because at this event I had the fortune of sitting beside the Executive Director of the White Ribbon Campaign. An organisation that encourages men to help stop violence against women. It's an incredible organisation that I was aware of in a Canadian context, but I had no idea that the campaign was global. It's actually in about 60 countries (I may have counted wrong... I should never work with numbers). So check out them because they are doing fantastic work to recognise the role that men can play in fighting violence against women and breaking down barriers to gender equity. On a related note I also wanted to post this video from Simon Fraser University's Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies department taking part in the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes Campaign to fight violence against women (featuring such notable personalities as David Suzuki and the Mayor of Vancouver, Greg Robertson)Men raise money for to stop gender based violence by literally walking a mile in pumps. These events are happening all over the place and you can see if one is happening in your area on the webpage's calendar. I tell you - I always thought David Suzuki was pretty dreamy. And then I saw him in stilettos...In other news - I have been really poor about posting for this year. It's mostly a combination of being unenthused with life and also taking up writing as a job. Basically the last thing I want to do after work is write more words on paper. Hopefully that will change soon.

Celebrities helping causes the best way they can

2011-10-18T12:33:00.003-04:00

Thank you Funny or Die

Ending impunity for human rights abusers

2011-09-16T09:57:00.000-04:00

Interesting opinion piece in the New York Times by Kathryn Sikkink on prosecuting leaders who use - or turn a blind eye to - gross human rights abuses in their country. Research apparently shows that states that have prosecuted leaders for this are less likely to have their future leaders practice human rights abuses.

The next fight in global human rights

2011-09-13T21:17:00.002-04:00

For work I had to provide some comments on the Draft Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. I saw that a number of groups were provided for in some sense or another, this included special consideration for women, children, ethnicities (sort of - a little sparse on the indigenous) and also a variety of ages and disabilities. Yet scanning through there was no mention of sexual orientation. There are 82 countries in the world where homosexuality is illegal. Countries such as Iran and Uganda have moved towards stricter, harsher penalties for those suspected of engaging in same sexual encounters. It's a global uphill battle facing prejudice that no other form of discriminated group has faced in recent history (controversial statement I know - but at least, globally, with a number of other persecuted groups people do not pretend that they don't exist or that being a woman, or indigenous is a disease you can be cured of... I ramble). The Guardian has a piece focusing on positive movements in global LGTB rights - mainly that under international law, pretty much every country that criminalises homosexuality has signed up to a convention that protects their freedom of choice, association, and orientation (with the exception of *ahem* Saudi Arabia). So unleash the lawyers...

On Voluntourism

2011-08-30T22:22:00.004-04:00

The CBC radio program Q had Daniella Papi on today talking about Voluntourism and the way she is trying to change the industry. Arguing that young privileged people need to see the world to become better people - "they need to get angry and change the world". But they should do this after they learn and when they leave. Her company does voluntourism with the aim to educate about development and address a lot of the ills that voluntourism presents.

I'm not sold on the gap year program, and she lost me on voting for orphanages - but if voluntourism is going to happen anyways she may be heading down a good path.

Iraqi men give advice to Libyans (also presumably men)

2011-08-30T14:00:00.006-04:00

I was a little peeved by this article by Michael Schmidt in the NYT's on advice Iraqis could give to Libyans post "Liberation".

I though the premise was ok, interesting even. The situations are not that similar, but enough so for journalists to make comparisons. But I was extremely disappointed to read that the viewpoints solicited were only from men.

I worked in Iraq for a while. I can think of a few women there that would have some sound advice for Libyans, particularly concerning the erosion of women's rights and the rights of minorities. Are the viewpoints of men the only voices that count? And the Libyans receiving this advice – are they also only men?

There is a paucity of women present in the rebel movement to topple the Ghaddafi regime. I think there is one in the transitional council (responsible for legal AND women's affairs). The violence has taken focus away from the fact that after Ghaddafi, freedom – or liberation as the article puts it - may only exist for men in Libya. Unlike in Egypt where the participation of women in the revolution was lauded, and the exclusion of women from decision making decried, we are extremely silent on what the Libyan revolution means for half the population of the country. There are a few accounts of females fighting or on life at the home front but much of the media coverage only shows men.

I would be extremely interested to see an article showing the views and suggestions of various members of the population, including women, but also of different ages, backgrounds and locations. Iraqis have a lot of advice to share about experiments in statebuilding - male and female.

Model United Nations in Ghana

2011-08-28T16:01:00.001-04:00

I was (possibly wish I was still) a HUGE model UN dork in High School. So much so that I got involved in organising high school conference in University, volunteered at the famed UNAUSA symposium in New York, and may or may not have attended a few university level conferences myself. **I still maintain that by university - at least - you should be trying to change the world for real. Not for pretend. But the travel was subsidised - and there were good parties.**

Anyways! I was over-the-moon to see this on my walk back to the hotel from Osu.

41 YEARS! Good to know MUN is strong everywhere.

Orphanage Idol in Nigeria

2011-08-24T16:54:00.007-04:00

I think my jaw dropped when I watched a commercial for Melody Star. It's a televised singing competition for orphans. There's a cash prize for the winner, and other prizes for the runners up. The sponsors come across quite earnest, but it's extremely exploitative. As in many countries, homes for disadvantaged and abandoned children are for the most part privately run in Nigeria. Even state supported homes don't really get that much support. So creative ways of fundraising help. However, publicly displaying - to the entirety of West Africa - the children as sad, poor victims and having them sing for their support may not the best way to do it.

I met up with my old supervisor/mentor/superwoman from my first gig out of college - the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice in Ghana [she now works for ISODEC. Great places - look them up.] We got on to the topic of the emergence of corporate social responsibility in Ghana and it's impact on Accra's orphanages. Here too, company's are realising that they should give back to communities - and are also realising that it gets them great press. But there is limited needs assessments or community consultation as to how their help could be best used. So we end up with a case of classic SWEDOW. Companies donate food, clothing and toys to orphanages without much concern for whether they need those items, and then in return receive a performance of song and/or dance for their cameras. She said that over weekends, the orphanages can be so booked up with donations that the children end up working all day. Yet the orphanages are wary of shunning the support - it is charity and also draws attention to the issue of neglected children in Ghana. A number of orphanages are actually more like foster homes, hosting children that do have surviving parents or relatives, but are unable/unwilling to care for them.

There are other ways to promote your company's compassionate side without exploiting your beneficiaries - obviously. Donors, such as CIDA, are becoming slightly more interested in CSR and supporting companies develop their programs in a responsible fashion. Perhaps a new avenue for West African CSOs could start with CSR programs with a child protection lens?

Posters and GBV

2011-08-23T03:41:00.004-04:00

In Sierra Leone, there is a clear public campaign to counter sexual exploitation and assault of women. This is in the professional and domestic sphere. I saw a number of posters and billboards with women being harassed or in imminent danger of being beaten - I particularly enjoy the use of posters from the Ghanaian Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (my old stomping ground) - reminding us that sexual abuse and exploitation is not acceptable and is punishable. Some are in Krio -possibly much more useful then straight up English for billboards at least - and seem to act as a reminder to men not to prey on women. I did not see any posters in Salone with men being abused by women, unlike in Ghana.

Gender based violence and exploitation is endemic in Sierra Leone, from cultural initiations into secret societies that involve genital cutting to human sacrifices (there's concern of this increasing in the lead up to the elections next year). I'm working with the police, and sexual harassment and exploitation is more than just common place. Fortunately this is an area that is heavily supported programmatically and institutionally (for example the SLP has a new Sexual Harassment Policy and a complaints division), but as of yet it's difficult to tell if this is making a difference. Or whether this is just lip service. I didn't really see many posters IN police stations or headquarters reminding people that sexual exploitation, assault, or domestic violence is wrong (there were large billboards beside or in front of some police stations in Freetown at least). I only conducted a basic search for information on how effective the posters are. Obviously many poster campaigns are coupled with use of other media (radio discussions/adverts, television, comic strips, public protest, training and workshops etc). But I couldn't really find anything - I'm not sure if anyone has any suggestions.

While we're on this topic, there was an interesting article in Foreign Affairs on the reliability of rape reporting numbers during war.

Freetown

2011-08-19T18:32:00.003-04:00

I haven't had much sun in Freetown. But when there's been a break from the torrential rain I've managed to snap a few shots.

Liberia's Bike Riders

2011-08-16T17:32:00.006-04:00

Motorcycles are everywhere in Monrovia.

During the Liberian civil war combatants and refugees sought refuge in neighbouring Guinea. Inspired by the enterprising young Guineans running their own business, Liberians returned with an idea to fill the transportation gap in their country ravaged by years of war. Former Combatants used the money they received from the DDRR process to purchase inexpensive Chinese motorcycles and lease them to drivers.

The business model exploded.

The work serves as good employment for scores of unemployed young men - an estimated 75% or more are former combatants. It also provides employments for younger members of society, as motorcycles washers. The children use the money to pay excess school fees.

But the model isn’t perfect. This mode of transportation is dangerous. Daily there are several crashes resulting in severe injuries and sometimes death. The bikers do not wear protective gear – neither do their passengers – and outside Monrovia, it’s rare that they have a license. The bike riders have a tenuous relationship with the police and some members of the community who see the bike gangs as unsafe. Altercations with the police have left some police stations up in flames. Police and community members know bike riders can organise quickly and as a result there is unease about the gangs of bike riders.

It’s something the police are going to have to work with. Motorcycle taxis, or “motos” as they are known in some areas are becoming an increasingly common mode of public transportation in West Africa. It is inexpensive, the bikes are easy to maintain, and business is flourishing as a result of limited public transportation options. More importantly, they are fast. They can weave in and out congested traffic on overcrowded streets.

There is work to further professionalize the practice – realising that it provides much needed employment to young men (from what I’ve gathered there aren’t any female bike riders). NGOs, the UN and even the World Bank have worked with the Bike Riders Association – their informal union – to increase licensing, encourage safer practices and facilitate dialogue between the police and the bike riders. These actions have some effect, yet more is likely needed to improve the safety of the community and the riders themselves. Much more needs to be done to build trust between the police and the bike riders.

Dear Artesunate,

2011-08-15T12:12:00.002-04:00

I love you. You should be everywhere.

Symbols of the Liberian Electoral Season

2011-08-13T18:49:00.003-04:00

Liberia is heading into elections season, starting with a referendum on constitutional reform followed presidential and congressional elections.

The referendum looks to review a few key things, like the amount of time you need to have been in Liberia before you can run for president or vice president (10 years), raising the age of supreme court judges from 70 to 75, moving the election date from the second Tuesday of October to November, and changing the presidential vote from a two round voting system to a first past the post.

To accommodate voters that are semi-literate and illiterate the referendum is using symbols to assist voters.

Now at first I found the symbols confusing. Liberians I spoke to said despite some organisations doing civic education on the symbols – it will not make much of a difference. Political parties are telling people to vote either all yes, or all no. But the impact of the decisions, particularly the question of residency, could have destabilising effects. Candidates have already begun campaigning for the elections. If they do not meet the residency requirements, their investment will be for nought.

Political parties, instead of actively engaging young people and community members in the political system, have produced their power base through reliance on what they can provide to their specific power group. Some NGOs in Liberia, such as International Alert, are concerned that election outcomes could result in post-referendum and/or post-election violence. They are working to counter this through engaging youth leaders (approximately 60% of Liberia’s population is under 30), but the onus in turn is on the youth leaders to engage a wider base of youth so that more understand what the referendum and the elections actually mean.

Back... And In Monrovia

2011-08-11T18:56:00.005-04:00

I'm in Monrovia for fieldwork. I love it.

It's chaotic, warm, friendly and... temperate (in comparison to southern Ontario this time of year)!
Despite the incredibly large UN presence and a US Embassy compound that could rival the NEC in Baghdad - It's beautiful.

Happy Birthday to The Republic Of South Sudan!

2011-07-09T16:47:00.000-04:00

A big welcome to the world's newest country!

Suad Amiry at TedXRamallah

2011-04-27T13:34:00.004-04:00

I kept meaning to post this from TedXRamallah. Suad Amiry's closing speech. She is such an enthusiastic and brilliantly funny story teller. Her book "Sharon and My Mother and Law" was given to me to read before I moved to Ramallah - funnily enough into a house quite close to her mother-in-law's. It was helpful in preparing me for the absurdity of the day-to-day existence in the Occupied Territories.

Part 1

Part 2

... oh and there is this. Response to uprisings? Consolidating efforts? Kissing and making up for the greater good? Will be interesting to watch.

TEDxRamallah

2011-04-08T11:15:00.003-04:00

TED Talks are coming to the Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon on 16 April 2011!

Tomorrow is the last day to register for TEDxRamallah (for attendance in the Levant area of the Middle East). There are a number of sites globally where you can attend and view the Talks in the Gulf, Europe, North America and around the Middle East. ALSO if you are interested in hosting a TEDxRamallah gathering, you can – get in touch with the organisers before 16 April 2011.

All you need is a laptop, internet and some eager viewers.

The event include talks from personalities such as Suad Amiry – author of “Sharon and My Mother-in-Law: Ramallah Diaries”, Julia Bacha – filmmaker, and musical performances from artists such as DAM – an acclaimed Palestinian rap group.

More information can be found on the event page.

(logo from the event)

The Youth Vote

2011-03-30T11:23:00.000-04:00

What many youth around the world would die for - a chance to determine their country's political future. But in Canada - Apathy amongst young eligible voters remains.

From CBC's "Rick Mercer Report" 28 March 2011

The Best Day of the Year!

2011-03-07T19:48:00.004-05:00

International Women's Day!
If you are in Ottawa - Come celebrate the 100th Anniversary (!) at the National Archives from 7-10pm!
Details HERE

Also check out this list of the 100 most influential women as composed by the Guardian. As well as a great article by Stephanie Nolen about how for we need to go still...

Yup

2011-02-28T10:28:00.002-05:00

Article on the key role youth can play in the Middle East from the National Journal

stopping sexual violence and harassment with technology

2011-02-17T12:26:00.006-05:00

There was a lot of buzz created by the assault CBS reporter Lara Logan in Tahrir Square. On the twittersphere a lot of the discussion has pointed to the blame and owness that is placed on the survivors - Still!

There are a lot of tools out there to break the stigma of talking about sexual harassment and assault. A number of which were spearheaded in the middle east where taunting and catcalling are endemic, and little fault or blame is placed on the perpetrator. Instead, the survivor - primarily women - is blamed and her freedoms are curtailed in order to preserve honour and to "prevent" these acts from "occurring again" (wear less revealing clothes, don't go outside without a male escort etc.).

Despite tireless efforts to dispel myths surrounding SGBV, it still occurs and can be difficult to combat because there is so little hard data on the topic. This is why new initiatives using technology to map from the ground up are so important.

Here are some tools I have come across:

Hollaback : Global site using online and mobile technology to track and collect data/information on street harassment.

HarassMap Similar to HollaBack, spear headed in Egypt (in arabic)

There is Visualising Women's Rights in the Arab World is an online space for women's rights initiatives including SGBV work.

In DRC there is Si jeunesse savait an online and mobile support network for young feminists. (in French)

A general project taking place during the 16 days of Activism is Take Back the Tech imploring women to use technology to combat violence against women and girls and highlighting projects. It has a handy map of what is going on tech wise associated with the project around the globe.

On a more national/state driven and generic level there's CartoCrime, and initiative by l'Observatoire National de la Délinquance in France that maps crime in general. (in French)

These are the few I can think of with websites. Any more? (I'm sure there are tons)

Egypt! Where are the women?!

2011-02-14T11:50:00.004-05:00

As the Egyptian government is transformed a great opportunity presents itself. Women are often excluded or at the very least underrepresented in state affairs, peace processes and statebuilding exercises. Egypt is presented with an opportunity to buck the trend and involve women in the formation of their new state governing apparatus. A democratic reform process has the aim of creating a freer, fairer governing apparatus that respects the rights and will of all people, including women. This end goal is impossible without the inclusion of women, a point recognised and highlighted internationally through the Beijing Declaration and subsequent UN resolutions. Yet women still remain excluded. Journalist and political commentator Mona Eltahawy tweeted on 14 February that despite women being active in the Egyptian revolution, they have been all but excluded from talks with the military. Only one woman, Asmaa Mahfouz, who’s Vlogs are cited as one of the drivers of the youth movement, was present at talks between youth organisers and the military. Egypt and other stakeholders need to recognise the importance of having a balanced perspective when building a new governance structure. Egypt can provide women with an equal voice, unprecedented in that region (or further afield for that matter). Let us support women activists in having their voices heard.

Today we are all Egyptian.

2011-02-11T12:49:00.003-05:00

Alhumdelah. Mubarak and his friends have listened to the 18-days worth of protests. The army will take over, and oversee a hopefully peaceful transition of power and reform. Let us hope that Egyptians will have the opportunity to actively and substantially support the change in their country. Let us hope that results of this change will be recognised by the international stakeholders (i.e. what happened in Gaza/West Bank elections). Let us hope they get what they have sacrificed for (and that we leave them alone to do it).

But for now, let us celebrate with Egyptians. They have shown us a fine example of peaceful activism to bring about change. Something we can learn from. Today we are all Egyptians.

"We" supported technology in favour of facilitating democracy. But "we" didn't mean use it! (and more hypocrisy etc)

2011-02-08T15:45:00.007-05:00

Across the Middle East and North Africa, most obviously in Egypt, populations are coming out in droves in support of regime change. One of the many positive outcomes from the surprise overturn of the Tunisian government by the Tunisian public is that it provided an example of what masses can do. It created a fearless public face that spread to young people across the region, telling them change is possible, and you do not have to live without rights.

According to the Carnegie Foundation two-thirds of the population of Egypt are under the age of 30 and nine out of ten are jobless. This is similar to the rest of the region, where the Middle East Initiative has placed 65% of the population under 30 years of age. For many, their current regimes are all they have ever known in terms of government. Realising this, innovative programs for youth engagement throughout the Middle East provided and supported by western donors, such as the United States, have promoted the use of new technologies to build bridges and support democracy, as well as to prepare them for the work force. Programs meant as extracurricular activities promoting peace and dialogue have also prepared youth to take the reins in their country and become a driving force for change. Through connectivity, they have learned of the perceived social and economic benefits of democracy. Now youth are pouring out onto the streets in search of these democratic and social rights. They crave the ability to make effective change in their own country, rather than pandering to the concerns of an outside power. They want a real voice – and we have given it to them. Our muted responses, are an attempt to say “speak out, but not too loudly”, but in doing this, the voices will only get louder.

Using mobile phones, social networking sites and proxies to get around firewalls, youth aid each other in banding together and getting a message out to a wider, begrudged audience. The fearlessness displayed by Tunisians and now by more and more Egyptians has shown the level of anger that exists among the young populations, the power and popularity of these new tools, and also how angry people get when they are taken away. The grievances are endemic and structural. They are about access to food, jobs, inflation, freer and fairer governance, services, safety and security, and so much more. No fix can be quick. People on the ground know this. What they do not want to see is more of the same old guard. A way to prevent this is to engage those who were most instrumental in mobilising the country. Actively engage youth.

Tunisia’s new transitional government has incorporated young activists in the cabinet. Persons such as Slim Amamou (@Slim404) are available on Twitter to their constituents. There could be important lessons drawn from this case. Greater support for change in the way that Tunisia and other governments’ reform can be a model for the rest of the Middle East. What governments should not do is pick sides. This is a reform that needs to be driven from the bottom up. Support should be provided accordingly.

Youth engagement needs to continue at a broader level, making sure the voices of both young men and young women are heard. A number of men have emerged as potential opposition leaders, but few women have been catapulted to the forefront. This is an opportunity to bring women (note: plural) to a negotiating table, ensure their viewpoints are being heard, and quell fears of conservative governance.

Overall, if the West and – and other current regimes - wants stability in Egypt and wider region, the viewpoints of all must be heard, and respected. Canada can play a strong role in supporting a new government, providing and advocating for assistance to reform the constitution, as well as support whole of government reform to ministries and services with the aim of greater civilian oversight, stronger judiciary, and a vibrant civil society. Canada, as a multicultural country, with visible and strong minorities and a history of peace we have a lot to share with our friends in Egypt.

All I am watching...

2011-02-02T10:44:00.004-05:00

I'm glued to what is happening in Egypt. Fortunately for me I can watch this for work on Al Jazeera. The youth-led revolution is coming to a head with the government controlled, police enforced "pro-government supporters". In a future Egypt, it will be interesting to see how people can make amends with a police force that has been equated to thugs.

Other Arab regimes are falling in line, and trying to buck the trend - Jordan and Yemen in particular. I am most interested (aside from current events) in what will happen with the Palestinians. Will this open an opportunity to leverage on their side a better deal from the peace process? Or will it drive young people to protest en masse (more than usual) against their own government and their current situation? Does the momentum created in Tunisia compounded with the release of the Palestinian Papers provide the perfect opportunity for change?

Broken Record: Women and Youth. Youth and Women.

2011-01-27T09:40:00.002-05:00

People are finally catching on! Of course the uprisings in the Middle East are “Youth Uprisings”. My Grandad was on Facebook, but I’m pretty sure he was in the minority of septuagenarians. Well done to ElBadari to state that “youth are important”.

Also, interesting new watchdog on the scene for the UN, particularly watching what happens (or does not happen) with UNWomen. VSO has started “The Godmothers”. Signing up will get you updates on what is happening and how you can push for change, or at least try to keep the UN and donor countries on track. For more information see an article by Madeleine Bunting in the Guardian.

Palestinian Papers. Israel. Win.

2011-01-25T08:47:00.004-05:00

The Palestinian Papers released gives insight into Middle East negotiations, and have been interpreted as a blow to the old guard of the PA. An article by Chatham House’s Kate Nevens and Jessica Forsythe sums up the fear of western stakeholders that this will increase support for Hamas, and also stoke violent resistance again against Israel from the West Bank, but also further a field in Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt. Much of this is agreed. There is already widespread disenchantment from Palestinians with Fatah, but also with the political situation in general. Many also do not see Hamas as a viable option wither… just worth a shot in the face limited options. More importantly, reports are ignoring the elephant in the room. The easy win the Israeli government has received from these accounts of historic concessions. With support for Fatah split, Hamas may gain more power, but less of a bargaining chip with western stakeholders. Palestinian political groups disenfranchised on a whole could very well revolt against both guards. What we could be faced with is in internal struggle in the West Bank between multiple power brokers, making oppression easier. Likely in the name of security. Hopefully, this is recognised early, and alternatives are presented. A good start would be for the PA to cycle in some new blood, and at risk of sounding like a broken record, give greater voice to younger party members. Additionally, moderate leaders in general need to embrace new methods of communication and news sources rather than attacking it, to allow for more democratic input into next steps as well as to monitor activity throughout the territories by all groups. (See a great OpEd by Naserine Malik in the Guardian on Al Jazeera). The more open and transparent Palestinian leaders can be right now, the better, in order to reduce the opportunity for violence and extremism.

In other news. Have you been watching Egypt? Oh. And how about Lebanon?

In light of Tunisia and Youth...

2011-01-14T16:50:00.002-05:00

Posts on the revolution in Tunisia.

Well educated youth + socioeconomic and political grievances + new social media = Revolution

Op-Ed from Nawaat (French) and the Guardian (English) from 13 January by a youth activist.

From the Telegraph

Make Youth Count in Sudan

2011-01-14T16:03:00.003-05:00

This Saturday marks the end of the voting period in a referendum of self-determination for the Southern Sudanese.

No matter what the outcome will be after January 15th, as Sudan moves forward, both the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan, international organisations, donors and all other stakeholders should be mindful to involve all parties (women and men of all ages) in the statebuilding process. They should also be mindful to maintain substantial involvement of the largest demographic, youth, in order for peace to continue into the future.

The government, donor countries and all stakeholders in times of statebuilding implement projects to engage youth to various degrees in attempts ranging from diffusing a potential spoiler group, to building peace. Standard programming ranges from vocational training and employment schemes, to involvement in civil society organisations and youth activities. A wise move, given that according to the Southern Sudan centre for Census, Statistics and Evaluation, 72% of the population of Southern Sudan is under 30 years of age. Youth programming, if well-coordinated and developed in a participatory fashion, can bring together youth from different backgrounds in building a stronger state.

Engagement between different groups of youth, externally but also internally in Southern Sudan, and greater Sudan, will help mend fences broken by decades of conflict. Projects that bridge understanding so that all Sudanese see each other as equals, such as inter-Sudanese peacebuilding projects, online discussions and youth conferences will ease some of the divide. However, youth need other motivations to build and participate in peaceful states. They need jobs. They need to be empowered. They need to feel valued and be heard.

The media spotlight on Sudan means that many have now heard the grim figures and uphill battle that Southern Sudan in particular faces in terms of healthcare, education, jobs and gender equality. Those who have been following the context are aware that a girl in Southern Sudan is more likely to die in childbirth than finish grade school. The illiteracy rate stands at 24% in Southern Sudan and 55% for Sudan as a whole, with immense gender discrepancies. But many are unaware that while the governments in Khartoum and Juba provide the majority of formal employment, there is a growing private sector hungry for educated Sudanese youth that have the prescribed skill sets. Discouragingly, while vocational training does exist, provided by both the government and external organisations, there are no common curriculum or shared certification programs, and the training targets limited numbers. Companies turn to better educated foreigners or returnee Sudanese who were trained outside of the country. They are perceived as more capable and reliable, but also create tension between Sudanese that stayed in Sudan and other groups. Moreover, many of the new businesses started in Southern Sudan are not by Sudanese, but by people from neighbouring countries. Foreign investment and development can be a positive thing, but it must be matched with Sudanese growth, particularly in areas of strength such as farming and animal husbandry. Entrepreneurship and financial support for youth led-business development will also stem some of these concerns, but financial capital must be extended to young people in an effort to promote youth-driven development and in support of youth empowerment in the statebuilding process.

Girls are missing out as well. The Government of Southern Sudan has made a commendable effort in promoting the inclusion of women into the public service, including into male dominated forums such as the Southern Sudanese Police Service. Despite this, girls’ education and involvement in the workforce in Southern Sudan is drastically low. The majority of youth programs are notoriously designed with young boys in mind, stemming from the belief that large groups of idle young men left to their own devices have the potential to become a source of political unrest. Girls are often taken on through promotion of access to education, a tactic that the Government of Canada is using. This is a start, however youth issues are far more complex than this, and links are rarely made between the disempowerment of young girls and cycles of poverty and violence. Education programs coupled with job creation and political and civil society programs targeted at women can help combat early marriage, transmission of STDs, improve maternal and infant health, reduce violence against women and improve society as a whole. Reaching young adolescents and women is key to building a strong and peaceful state. Numbers are better for Sudan as a whole, however fear remains that should the South choose to separate, women’s liberties will move backwards under strict application of Islamic law.

Youth issues are complex and under studied.In Southern Sudan, as well as in the rest of the country, there are generations that have known nothing but varying states of war. Although some have been demobilised, there are youth, both men and women, in large militias and armed forces on both sides. Some point to the so called “youth bulge” in a fragile state context such as the one in Sudan as one that will lead to unrest. I’m inconclusive. What I do know, is that this, compounded with a feeling of exclusion from the political process, perpetrated by corrupt governments, and little economic and employment growth will cause problems for future Sudanese state(s). Governments and other stakeholders need to be holistic in their approach, and listen to the youth.

Remembering the victims of the December 6th shooting at L'École Polytechnique

2010-12-06T15:03:00.006-05:00

Today is the anniversary of the shootings at Montreal's l'École Polytechnique. In 1989, Marc Lépine entered the school and opened fire on the women in an engineering class. He was reported to have separated the women from the men - with survivors recalling him stating that he hated feminists. He killed 14 female students.

Since 1991, the day has been designated - in Canada - a national day of remembrance. It helped build another important campaign - The White Ribbon Campaign - bringing men together with women to fight gender based violence. During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence we remember the victims and survivors of the shooting.

In Ottawa there is a memorial at Minto Park at 18h00.

Promised 16 Days Blog. There might even be two.

2010-12-03T17:23:00.002-05:00

The other day my place of employment had the pleasure and the honour of hosting Barbara Bailey. Barbara, was until recently, the head of the Gender and Development Studies department at the University of the West Indies at MONA, and she is the CEDAW representative for Jamaica. She has just completed a long study on gender and education, commissioned initially to find out why boys were dropping out of secondary school. She managed to refocus the study so that it looked at the socioeconomic factors that affect both boys and girls and how that contributed to them leaving or staying in school.

Her description of the study – yet to be published – highlighted an important concept: The Currency of Certification. The presentation displayed the fact that, in addition to pay disparity, and a thick glass ceiling, women also need more schooling than men to reach the same professional level.* Boys are still learning that they do not require high levels of education in order to work. Moreover, highly educated women are still being pushed out of the job market despite their certifications. Therefore despite the focus on women’s education as a means to greater gender equality, it does not help much without a push on the economic side to create jobs for women – but also men.

During the 16 Days of Activism we look specifically at gender violence. The focus of Dr. Bailey’s study showed that the economy on a whole contributed to boys leaving school early. There has been a reduction in the West Indies in areas of employment gendered as male, with growth in areas traditionally gendered as female – such tourism and call centres. There has not been a rebranding of these industries as something everyone can do - therefore, women are now having greater access to jobs/money. This change in gender parity has resulted in men reasserting themselves through macho activities such gun running and drug dealing – where they can earn a lot of cash. This has also attributed to a rise in violence on the streets but also in the homes.

The study reminds us that gender violence and gender equality cannot be fixed through simple targeting, but requires systemic and holistic changes to pretty much everything we do. Not an easy task.

*In her presentation, Dr. Bailey pointed to a UN study that showed that women need on average 6 years more education than men to reach the same job level. I cannot find the report, but will cite it once I do.

Wikileaks – What does this mean for humanitarian aid and development?

2010-12-02T11:02:00.001-05:00

I haven’t had a lot of time to focus on external writing, and in truth I would rather spend my time focusing on a good post for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (which will happen – the 6th is my personal deadline). However, the fallout or I guess potential fallout for people in the field of development and humanitarian aid could be quite big from this Wikileaks fiasco. I’ll admit I find the whole thing entertaining to read – it’s a bit like an OK! for politicos. And for the most part it says what everyone who is mildly intelligent and mildly follows international politics already knew – it was just never put in writing.

Will this have an effect of development funding and activities? Funding – unsure. I can’t see why states would use this to lower their aid budgets. If anything – it may open them up a bit wider to repair damage. What it could do is make access more difficult. Quiet diplomacy just had a pie thrown in its face and this could result in difficulties for aid agencies and other NGOs in certain areas to get permission to operate, acquire visas for international staff, and have activities approved by their host governments. It will be interesting to see what happens in this regard over the next year.

There has been some writing on what this means for people who work in development – they write much better than I, so here’s two gloomy articles.

-[Guardian] How Wikileaks could affect the USG and international development funding.
-[Globe and Mail] Wikileaks made the world more repressive

What the CBBCs comment actually means

2010-11-22T14:56:00.004-05:00

NATO official Mark Sedwill, in an interview for the CBBC program “Growing Up in a Warzone” stated "Here in Kabul and the other big cities (in Afghanistan) actually there are very few of those bombs. The children are probably safer here than they would be in London, New York or Glasgow or many other cities." The comment has caused a stir across the western media and outcries from public councils and humanitarian aid agencies, such as Save the Children.

Mr. Sedwill later tried to diffuse the statement, saying that it was not very well put. And he’s right – it wasn’t. But the essence of what he was trying to say is important. The news often distorts day-to-day life of people living in conflict affected areas. In states affected with armed conflict, not every moment of every day, in every location, is there life threatening danger. Pocketed and fragmented fighting is localised and that often means a good chunk of a state is relatively safe for people to go about their daily routines. What is more, general crime rates can be lower in these areas, as well as the lure of dangerous activities such as drugs and alcohol. Finally, societal bonds are stronger, with a neighbourhood formed to mimic a large family – meaning many people are looking out for your wellbeing, rather than the isolation that is becoming a norm in Western cities. Because of this, it can be argued that if one looks at a child’s access in the city, and the safety net surrounding them – in many cases it may be on par or better than life for a child in some of the West’s more notorious cities. This is a question of physical security.

Indeed, the plight of children in developing areas – particularly in fragile and conflict affected states – fair far worse on a human security level. Save the Children noted that 1 in 4 Afghan children will not live to see their 5th birthday, and UNICEF in 2009 declared it the most dangerous place to be a child. There are greater barriers to life saving health care and nutrition in these areas. Gender equality is at a greater disparity, and so is access to education. But what Sedwill’s statement should have done is allowed us (and kids) to review our perceptions of what safety is and what it can be to others. Moreover, it reminds us all that people around the world are not so different from each other – and face similar problems.

Last Resorts

2010-11-09T15:31:00.003-05:00

The New York Times has a story and a video journal on self-immolation of women in Afghanistan. It is a contribution to raising awareness to the despair women face by the lack of options everywhere. Forced marriage, sexual, gender and domestic violence/abuse and little to no options to leave unsafe situations safely or to seek counselling because of cultural taboos – compounded with a strict sense of honour linked with the behaviour of female family members - leads women to suicide (sometimes pre-empting their own honour killing). Women identify their limitations on movement outside the home limiting their suicide options. Women also believe that burning is an instant death – an assumption that leaves many with extremely painful, disfiguring but non-fatal burns.

The authors speak to this phenomenon being highest in some areas of Afghanistan in close proximity to Iran (where the practice is also common). However it is not only common to this region. I have been exposed to this in Kurdistan, Jordan and the occupied Palestinian Territories, and know of its commonality across the Middle East (and further afield). Women choose this method because it can be attributed to a “cooking accident” saving face for family members. More alarmingly however is the practice of burning as a method of honour killings – much for the same reason and particularly where states have made judicial progress towards persecuting perpetrators of honour killings. It is easier to hide from investigation.

I think the most disturbing story I heard, while in the Jordan Valley, was of a woman who had gone to the toilet in an outhouse. While she was in there, her family members threw in kerosene and a lit match from a small vent into the confined space and burned her alive. The women I spoke with said that this was not the first time in their community this method had been used. These stories point to a greater need to integrate counselling into programs in women friendly spaces and to improve community liaison to lift taboos associated with talking about gender based violence and depression. Moreover, international development partners and states need to encourage a holistic approach to protection of women and girls – not only through judicial and security reform – but also through involvement in health, education programs and community/state building throughout the process. There needs to be recognition that as states progress to greater gender equality and to protecting the rights of women and girls the threats facing them may change.

A great person to follow on this is Rana Husseini and the team at the Jordan Times that have worked tirelessly to remove the leniency in Jordanian law towards honour killings and further afield. No Honour in Crime follows Honour Killings as well [primarily Arabic].

Oral histories and viewpoints

2010-10-25T21:39:00.009-04:00

UNRWA has put together a beautiful campaign of video histories and viewpoints. Through 15 stories it chronicles the very different and similar experiences Palestinians have throughout the Middle East. The stories are moving but also inspiring, and provide an overview of the vast amount of assistance UNRWA gives to Palestinians. At a time when people question the relevance of this UN Agency - particularly those that assert that it prevents assimilation into a Palestinian state through perpetuating refugee status (which is ridiculous for a great number of reasons...) - promoting the rights of Palestinians and the hard work of this agency will hopefully increase support and understanding of the issues.

Go to the Peace Starts Here website

Young Professionals in Human Rights

2010-10-19T07:36:00.003-04:00

I'm guest blogging at YPHR about choosing a field posting or a HQ post. YPHR is a great resource for those living in the UK, providing a chance to network and learn about careers in the broader human rights sphere.

Working in relief or development

2010-09-27T15:07:00.003-04:00

As with many of us that work in the field of international relief or development, we're regularly approached by people asking whether we can advise them or their [Insert child/friend/relative] on how to get jobs in the field. I usually rally off the same stuff. However, thanks to Good Intentions Are Not Enough I was directed to this blog posting from a couple of years ago that is really great written by Alanna Shaikh (of many other blogs fame). I may use it in the future.

Why you probably can't get an international job (and what to do about that)

Good Intentions also has a great series on volunteering internationally as well.

I wish I had found these earlier ... so much less writing!

What's there to do for fun in a refugee camp?

2010-09-14T06:26:00.004-04:00

May not be the first thing you'd ask when you get there. But for children and youth in refugee/displacement camps (or in locations affected by conflict or natural disaster) the opportunity to let loose is an important part of retaining some of the "normal" in their lives, and thus caring for their psycho-social well being.

There are a lot of fantastic programs that promote play for children and youth. One of my favourites is Right to Play, an organisation that started in Canada running sports programs in conflict affected areas. They have moved now to training physed teachers as well, so the concept of play pervades that curriculum, in addition to running sports programs for kids. They rely heavily on dedicated volunteers to carry out the projects, and occasionally get a few olympians along the way to give their time.

There are other fantastic initiatives that I have seen that have been wildly successful in popularity amongst kids. I have seen great work done by circus schools in the West Bank. One of my favourites is Capoeira programs which kids, both boys and girls, seem to take to like a fish to water. Oragnisations such as Capoera Arabe and Bidna Capoeira have been running programs for Palestinian and Iraqi refugee children and youth. The program teaches children to dance capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian dance style, as well as the songs and instrumental accompaniments. The basic moves mimic martial arts, but there is no contact. The dance is about creativity, and designed by oneself, giving the dancer the opportunity to choose what they do next - it's not dictated by choreography. It may seem trivial, but an outlet to vent frustration through dance driven by ones own creativity gives an important elemental of control to that kid when many other things seem out of their hands. What is more, the program to my knowledge has attracted both girls and boys (but I am unsure about young women).

Youth often get left behind in aid - particularly in fragile areas. When they are focused on, it's out of fear that young men left idle may turn into a source of instability (scary scary youth bulge). There are very few well documented initiatives of programs aimed at young women - often left out of the youth sphere. Culturally they may not even be considered youth at all, with the passage from childhood to woman hood marked by menstruation, or early marriage/pregnancy. More creative solutions are needed to address this. And more youth-led initiatives should be developed.

PS: Guardian has a new site on international development. It says it has "the best ideas on the biggest challenges". That may be a bold, premature statement. However. At least it exists.

A rare admission

2010-09-07T22:57:00.003-04:00

Atul Khare, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping said today that the UN failed DRC rape victims. He also called (of course) for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

It is an important admission. I hope that it carries some weight and things actually start happening on the ground.

Microfinance Superstar: Little Luxuries of HQ life

2010-09-03T12:55:00.003-04:00

One of the great things I’ve found about staying on the HQ side of things is that my day to day experiences may not be “as exciting” (read: I’m in Ottawa) but I do have the fortune to attend fantastic events.

The International Development Research Centre is 40 years old this year and are holding a year-long anniversary celebration. While most people face a mountain full of “Over the Hill mugs” and surprise parties at their 40th, IDRC is running a lecture series. Yesterday I got to see Mohammed Yunis, of Grameen Bank or Nobel Prize fame.

He is an incredibly engaging speaker that inspires many to work for social change. His views on the banking industry are spot on and he has incredible vision for the world of business and industry. I was however left questioning a few things.
A few questions from the audience were left unanswered. The first being: Was there any backlash from some elements of the community against the bank? Yunis talked at length about Loan Sharking, and how that activity drew him to develop an alternative method of loans for the poor. However once loans could be obtained from a safe, less invasive source, what happened to the loan sharks? I have not managed to find any information on this but I’d be interested to find out whether this happened – and if so how was it mediated. Secondly, the money was put primarily in the hands of women who had never had the opportunity to control finances before. This is incredibly empowering, but must have been equally disempowering for men. What was done to address any backlash in the community regarding this? Nowadays if an organisation employs gender mainstreaming into its programming, women’s empowerment projects such as microfinance would include an element of engagement with men, so that threat is reduced. However, was this done initially?

The second question was regarding the role of Cooperatives in microfinance. The answer was essentially – yeah I guess there is a role there – which is not incorrect. I was disappointed in this because so much time was spent explaining many elements of the bank and of Yunis’ Social Business model, but an opportunity to highlight what I can see is an important tool to further empower and develop communities was not highlighted as well. So much of the presentation was about teaching, and I felt an opportunity was lost.

Major questions, such as how does Microfinance and Social Business account for economies of scale. Essentially, how do you make sure you are not flooding the market with tailors rather than building industry? Moreover, how does your goal of “cutting out the middle man” (he uses the example of Shea butter and L’Oreal) affect price inflation in a state? Finally, Yunis has, what seems like an interesting take on welfare systems in western states. It comes across as if he believes that they are a system to be abused and that they can be replaced with social business and microcredit. If this is the case I would be interested in hearing what his views are on safety nets for those who are in between jobs, or those with mental illness.

The lecture was still fantastic and microfinance has still revolutionised economic recovery programming. Definitely worth a viewing. All of the lectures in the series are recorded and can be found here.

Comprehensive example of the business of humanitarian aid

2010-09-02T12:53:00.001-04:00

The New York Times Magazine is running this article on Plumpy'Nut. Which in theory I have a pretty soft spot for. I'm not in health policy or practice, but in terms of its success rate it's pretty damn amazing.

Because it's so amazing, it's also become popular amongst other producers. Right now a French company, Nutriset, owns the patent to make the product (as well as off-shoots). They have relinquished rights to the developing area producers as well. The product promotes growth in the peanut producing industries in the global south through sourcing many of Plumpy's ingredients there instead of say... the US. However now others want in, including Pepsi and peanut farmers in the US. A powerful company and a powerful lobby may hurt whatever positive gains economically this product has for producer Nutriset, who has faced complaints of monopoly, but also for developing nations.

Article: Could a Peanut Paste Called Plumpy'nut End Malnutrition? - NYTimes.com

A Long-Awaited Day - NYTimes.com

2010-08-31T16:53:00.001-04:00

A Long-Awaited Day - NYTimes.com

NGO's Pawns in Terrorism?

2010-08-10T14:32:00.004-04:00

This is a pretty comprehensive- yet cynical view - of international NGO activities in conflict and post conflict areas from The New Republic. I wrote a post last May introducing the SPOT requirement on all US government funding in Iraq and Afghanistan (and possibly to be implemented in Somalia... and everywhere?!). It stands for Synchronized Predeployment and Operational Tracker This requirement requires all US contractors (including INGOs) to provide the US government and the military with the GPS location of all programs and the names, positions and nationalities of all staff so that the military can keep tabs on all activity and movement (including movement in, out and around the country).

There are some major points of concern here. The first is the close association this put INGOs in with the US military. It runs counter to a lot of impartial and neutral stances of many of the major players. Close association with the US government can put beneficiaries in danger of attack from non-us friendly actors. Secondly, it reduces the capacity of donors like USAID to collect information effectively. This has been highlighted by the GAO. I know that despite a concerted effort from NGO consortiums like InterAction, a few INGOs have signed contracts (whether they knew it was in there or not) which include SPOT. Contributing further to the bleak situation David Rieff paints.

A good point that is brought up in the article is the fact that in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, the goal is not really development but national security. The budgets are simply not high enough to actually conduct development per say. Moreover, one needs to look at the types of civil society and governance programs that are actually funded here. In Iraq, programs such as the Community Action Program (CAP) which was in its third incarnation during my time, was in all matter of fact a way for the government to provide lots of material stuff to communities so that they would not hate what is happening to the country - Despite what the NGO (or development company in some cases) intended it to be. Another gem included a 2 year nation-wide peacebuilding program (peace in Iraq... in 2 years!) that was intended to be a front for counter insurgency information.

I wouldn't go as far to say that NGOs are pawns. Many know exactly what is going on and fight it continuously with lobbying. In regards to SPOT it may actually work (inshallah). The US administration is reviewing how USAID operates and SPOT seems to be on the list for review after it was blasted by the GAO. However the cynicism is warranted.

aaaannnnddd we're back!

2010-08-04T14:53:00.003-04:00

SO after several months of jumping off the blogosphere I am back.

After some intense months in the wonderful country of Iraq, I decided that it was time for a much needed break from everything Aid related. I didn't even read the news... aside from Celebrity Gossip (a habit I thought would die as my stress levels decreased... But apparently this is one addiction that is incredibly hard to ditch, even when you are able to stomach real news once again).

I'm now moving back into the working world, this time on the HQ/Think Tanky side of things for the next little bit in my home and native land. I'm excited because it is an opportunity to begin specialising in areas of interest. I'm also interested in seeing how long I stave off itchy feet before I want to move. My money's on winter - I haven't lived through an north-eastern North American winter in about 4 years. From what I recall, there's nothing better than two feet of snow and -40C to make you want to run to the DRC. But we'll see.

I will be blogging at least for the next little while, once again about my favourite topic... conflict. Youth and conflict, gender and conflict, conflict and conflict.

Glad to be back.

The burn out...

2010-03-30T03:46:00.003-04:00

Apparently my last post was on January 31 2010. Since then so many things have happened. Elections... (didn't care), Settlement Debacle in West Bank... (could have written a good post), Hiking Club in Kurdistan... (meh... it's fun).

Finally something did prompt me - its what I would call... the burn-out.

I wikipediaed burnout. I wikipedia everything. It states that "burnout is a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest." This pretty much explains my general state for the past 2 months - possibly longer.

I think, well I know, it's an affliction that hits many people in the aid field (and probably a lot of other professions). A common complaint that is heard is how understaffed projects and offices are by NGOs, the one I work for is no exception. There is too much work, and in a lot of cases insufficient capacity to conduct high level programming that is expected of international NGOs and international organisations. This leads to staff who are consistently overworked with no end in site. A co-worker of mine calls it "Emergency Mode".

Although "Emergency Mode" compounded with a harsh environment may make matters worse, this affliction transcends location and even context. Because aid workers (and development workers) work in Emergency Mode all the time... Even when there isn't an emergency.

Iraq has many needs, and there are the occasional emergencies that pop up. The fact is however, it is no longer an Emergency Context (I’m sure people will debate that - but I stick by it). Large amounts of people are not in need en masse of direct and immediate humanitarian assistance. Particularly not in the KRG where I am based.

I have never worked in an actual emergency context where emergency mode is acceptable. I'm not sure if an emergency context makes emergency mode easier to sustain? However I do know that it is not sustainable in an non-emergency context. I'm proof.

Signs of burnout:
- Neglecting needs and interests
- Withdrawal from social activities (or in some cases acting out through social activities... often negative ones)
- Denial
- Change in behaviour (such as becoming snappy or quick to anger)
- Depression
- Limited attention span

I also experienced fatigue and an inability to cope with certain situations, and finally it lead to not caring too much about anything. The whole process once I realised it was happening was very frustrating as well, because it stressed me out because I could not work as well as I use to.

Ways to cope/prevent:
- Excercise
- Ensure that you take time for yourself
- Take your R&R (or vacation) on time!!!
- Confide in a trusted friend or look into getting a life coach

And because the above may not be possible, make sure you take time out between postings. A good suggested amount is about 3 months.

I am fortunate to work for an organisation that provides free counselling services, not only in emergencies. Through talking with someone I learned that what I was experiencing in my line of work was normal, and to not beat myself up for how I was feeling, or even my performance level.

Many organisations understand that people need time off in between posts. It is easy as someone just starting out to feel like you need to continuously work otherwise you may not get another job. However, in a lot of cases this is not the case. It is in the NGOs interest to promote breaks in between posts so that people taking up new jobs are fresh and able to perform well. It is also in the NGOs interest to retain good staff.

It is common to take time off and still stay within the same organisation (but you can also move if you need to).

I'm not sure when my burnout happened exactly. Probably the day after my last post. I should have seen all the signs coming. But those are famous last words. I have decide to take my advice and take some time off (about 3 months) - spending time sleeping, learning, seeing friends and family and chilling out.

Danger Zones 2010

2010-01-04T11:20:00.006-05:00

The Guardian has released its top 10 troublespots for 2010. Iraq isn't on it! Which is pretty fantastic given the elections will occur this coming March and things are already starting to heat up. I dig the positivity... (or the Iraq-Fatigue?)

Maybe they don't include ongoing and constant trouble spots - Afghanistan is not... oh wait yes it is there?

Maybe it's that, sadly, everywhere is actually much worse? Yes.. even Belgium.

Happy Happy Holidays!

2009-12-29T07:54:00.001-05:00

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!!!

2009-12-08T11:34:00.006-05:00

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

2009-12-03T04:56:00.002-05:00

- 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

2009-11-30T06:31:00.003-05:00

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

2009-11-12T05:40:00.009-05:00

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

2009-11-10T05:15:00.004-05:00

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

2009-10-19T16:14:00.005-04:00

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

2009-10-06T00:58:00.002-04:00

- 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

2009-10-04T02:58:00.003-04:00

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

uhhhhhh....

2009-09-27T06:52:00.006-04:00

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

2009-09-07T00:37:00.004-04:00

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!

2009-09-06T05:53:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-06T02:40:00.004-04:00

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

...

2009-08-27T05:32:00.002-04:00

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

2009-08-25T02:31:00.004-04:00

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

2009-08-20T04:35:00.005-04:00

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

2009-08-13T07:19:00.004-04:00

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?)

2009-08-11T07:05:00.003-04:00

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.

2009-07-19T06:19:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-03T06:45:00.003-04:00

- 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!

2009-06-30T00:37:00.007-04:00

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

2009-06-21T02:20:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-04T04:20:00.001-04:00

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

2009-05-25T02:46:00.001-04:00

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?

2009-05-18T01:54:00.004-04:00

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...

2009-05-12T01:26:00.004-04:00

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

2009-05-01T03:47:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-25T03:55:00.001-04:00

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

2009-04-20T10:15:00.002-04:00

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...

2009-04-07T05:49:00.005-04:00

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

2009-03-24T04:00:00.003-04:00

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

2009-03-14T03:21:00.002-04:00

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)

2009-03-09T02:17:00.003-04:00

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...

2009-03-04T06:44:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-02T09:07:00.000-05:00

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.

This is for my Mum

2008-11-29T03:08:00.000-05:00

After speaking with my mother a few weeks ago, and hearing about her principal's (she's a teacher) trip to Kenya and how much everyone enjoyed the blog that he was sending back - I told her I'd set up something.

The truth is, I set up this months and months ago. I told myself I would consistently update a blog to keep people informed of my whereabouts a la OAC English course in the UK circa 2001. I came across this random Palestinian fable where hero receives key advice in exchange for 500 sheep, it also involves a blue-eyed man with split teeth... but that was too long for a blog title. 500 sheep came across as a good blog title. I booked it... aaaaaaand never started the blog.

The main reason, I admit, was pride.

With so many blogs around, I couldn't really figure out whether it was "cool" to write a blog. Or whether people were so overexposed to blogs that they wouldn't bother reading mine.

But aside from being good form of venting for my mental health, it is also a way for me to jot down and keep memories of my travels. So after 10 months in waiting, I'm finally writing Advice Worth 500 Sheep.

P.s. I do not want 500 sheep.