How do people get around Goma?

I know you have all been asking this question.

Well, the answer is, in fact, the Chukadu. A cumbersome wooden scooter. And now it's finally getting the recognition it deserves from AJE.

Watch it here.


Or look at my personal rendition:

Hey Kivus! What's up?

I leave today. I'm excited.

I'm on a beach! I'm on a beach! You are probably at your desk! I'm on a beach!

I finished in South Sudan just over a month ago and I retreated back to the Middle East for some much needed nostalgia, falafel, non-South Sudanese sun (and a break).

I only stayed one year in South Sudan. Outside of Juba is can be a tough environment, and I marvel at colleagues that can stick it out longer. More than a year at a time of pit latrines, nairobi eye, cold showers, flooding compounds, no AC in +45C heat, every bug imaginable and constant gunfire is a lot to handle.

I have written a couple posts on burning out, and wanted to make sure that I didn't get to the point of a) crawling at the walls to leave, b) loathing every moment of my life, and/or c) absolutely hating the country.

I did enjoy my time there. I learned so much from my colleagues and hopefully made a difference in some way, shape or form. I left quite sad, and questioning my decision. I even panicked 3 weeks before and offered my services to whatever or wherever I possibly could in the country program. After one week away though,  I knew I made a good decision and am enjoying sleeping, travelling, vacationing and visiting friends (not to mention eating... everything).

I'm making a decision on where to head next this week. At some point between next Sunday and the beginning of June I will be in a new place with new anecdotes. I'm excited! But I am sad to leave this:

I have a very big announcement to make

WE CAN GET NUTELLA IN THE MARKET!!!

Happy Olympics!

The Olympics have started! Congratulations to Guor Marial! The first athlete to compete in the games for South Sudan in the marathon. Well - under the Olympic Flag. South Sudan doesn't have a national olympic committee yet. But he's still there!

He has a pretty amazing story and he will surely make South Sudan proud.



(and go Canada too!)

End of an era at Juba Airport

Ladies and gentlemen, gone are the days that one can literally lounge in an airport lounge. Juba Airport took lounging seriously, filling the departure area with large, bulky, comfortable (albeit smelly and sticky) sofas accompanied with coffee tables (of course!) arranged around the one airconditioner and television set.

But this is no more.

Juba is a real international airport. In a real new country. Two out of the three baggage scanners work! (the other just gets in the way in the arrivals area... but that is another post for another day)

The lounge is now filled with practical seating for many. The television remains.

In other news, here are two interesting opposing views on pressure groups and South Sudanese independence from Reuters and Foreign Policy.

Happy Birthday South Sudan!!!

Hope you have a lovely day! And you fix your economy!
xox

Yes. This will solve all the world's problems.

Angelina Jolie is now an official ambassador for more than just good will, reports UNHCR.

We will now have world peace.

Shoe Shopping in the Market

Any in purple? Size 6?

Ethics of the Compound Dog

So you come home one evening from the expat bar to find an adorable little flea bag underneath your guard's chair. You know shouldn't keep it, but it looks so frail. So adorable. And heck, it may die anyways, so what's the harm in giving it some of your extremely difficult to find (so must buy all of it at once) UHT milk? Right?

All the sudden you're sourcing deworming pills, taking advantage of your proximity to VSF, and feeding the thing better than yourself. I grew up with dogs. I've always wanted one of my own, but knew that working in humanitarian contexts for the time being, that I likely would not have a dog for a while. I'd felt funny about taking in a dog while working abroad because I wasn't sure how I felt on the moral spectrum. We had a compound dog when I worked in Baghdad, but it belonged to the boss... and went back to the States with the boss when she left. I know that is not an option for me.

There are two camps on the issue.

Unethical/What the hell are you thinking?!: "Who's going to take care of the dog when you're gone?"/ "You're not equipping it for life outside the compound if the guards let it go."/ "There have been too many expat + dog stories that end in disaster."/ "Your dog is going to get rabies and bite you. I'm going to say I told you so."

Not the best choice you can make with your life, but it's nice to have a dog: Ok so no one says "YES GET A DOG!!!", but a lot of people who have dogs in the field take the point of view that for 1, 2, 3 years a dog that may not have cut it in the wild gets a pretty good life. There is a chance that the dog will be adopted by others that live on the compound or another aidworker after you go as well. Some do actually go home with workers, although this maybe so complex from South Sudan, that our dog probably will not have that option.

There is a recognition that is selfish, but...

Dewormed, and fattened up. Who could say scram to this face?

Oy gevalt. Welcome to the family Kapir.

*Stuff Expat Aidworkers Like has a much funnier post about this. 

Celebrities helping causes the best way they can

Thank you Funny or Die

Model United Nations in Ghana

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.

Freetown

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.

Back... And In Monrovia

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.

Suad Amiry at TedXRamallah

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.

Happy Happy Holidays!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Inukshuks in Northern Iraq

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

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




Not sure what the locals will think of this.

Arms, Comedy, Protest

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

Support organisations that make sure it doesn't:

Global Witness
ICBL

uhhhhhh....

Image: The Insider
Please tell me this is joke:

Noble Awards set to honour celebrity humanitarians?

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

Now don't get me wrong.

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

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

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

I really hope this is a joke.

Medivac experience (I have a blog?)

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

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

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

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

I learned a few valuable lessons from this experience:

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

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

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

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

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

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