Medal Presentation

While on tour I have earned two medals. The first is the United Nations Mission In Sudan medal for serving over 90 days on a UN Peacekeeping mission.

The second medal, which will awarded in Canada, is the Canadian Peacekeeping Medal.

The following are pictures from my medal presentation at Canada House

Oh.... this one shows what I was really wearing.... it's the new Air Force Desert dress!! LOL

Reflections of Sudan.....Final Words.....

Reflections of Sudan

I figure that this will be my final blog entry of my Canadian Forces tour with the United Nations Mission In Sudan. I was notified of this position in April 2009. It has now been 12 months since I realized that I was going to be deployed to Sudan.

Since I arrived in Sudan I have worked with and alongside many great people. I have made numerous friends and developed many professional relationships. I have worked directly with military members from 12 different countries including: Philippines, Indonesia, Germany, Russia, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, Romania, China, Yemen, Tanzania, Bolivia, Rwanda, Sudan and of course Canada.


I have also worked with UN POLICE from countries such as: Ghana, Fiji, Nepal, Philippines, Korea, Indonesia, Australia and many others.


During my tour I also landed in or visited 13 countries including: Holland – Amsterdam, Budapest – Hungary, Cairo – Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican, Tanzania, Kenya and Dubai.


During my travels including the UN flights within the Sudan I have traveled well over 50,000 kms. Just as a reference the distance around the world at the Equator is 40,000 kms. So I can say I have flown around the world.


Some other interesting facts about this tour are: I lost 10lbs, I have learned to say “Thank You” in 7 different languages, I adopted a pet chicken and a dog, delivered over 20 soccer balls to underprivileged schools and villages, delivered school supplies from family and friends to over 15 schools, made three delivery of toys for the local hospitals children’s ward, visited over 40+ villages showing the people that someone does care about their security and their situation, taught first aid to the Sudanese Police unit on their Crowd Control course, Climbed the Kurmuk mountain and left a Canadian Inukshuk behind, enjoyed traveling to Italy with my mother, learned to appreciate my family and friends more and realized how important they are in my life, and I learned to work in a multicultural, multiethnic and multi-religious organization like the UN.


I have seen more of the world in six months then I ever would have even in 6 years. I have had a great experience and have learned a great deal during my time away. I am, however, ready to come home. I am looking forward to seeing my friends and family. I will be quickly returning to work at Toronto EMS where I will be embarking on a new position for the next two months.


I would like to thank everyone who supported me on this mission. Especially those who were kind enough to send me care packages in the mail. They helped me to survive and made me very popular amongst my team mates. I was called the Canadian PX (Store). Even the daily dose of emails, face book messages and cards were a great morale booster and helped me get through to tougher days. And of course thank you for reading my blog. I hope that it was interesting and somewhat informative.

Shukran

Thank you


Signing off……. Captain Mike Wionzek….. UNMO #02906 – UNMIS

Flying home

I am now in Khartoum and living at Canada house. The out clearance here only took about three hours for about 90% of the procedures. The remaining 10% have taken five days as many of the decision makers and people who can authorize payments are either off sick or on holidays. The UN does not assign back up people for authorization while others are off. I have been told that they are deducting one of my holiday days and that the three days of pay that I was authorized by 5 different people is not going to be paid and that it should not have been authorized. I decided to fight this however after the 4th day I have given up.

My flights had to be changed to accommodate the cloud of ash from the Iceland volcano. I was supposed to be leaving Sudan for Amsterdam, visiting The Hague for a couple hours and then heading to Toronto. Now I will be flying Emirates Airlines where I will have a 9 hour layover in Dubai from midnight till 9 am. Then I will fly to Toronto direct.

MEROE Pyramids - Sudan

My camel



The group.....

Some of them have been restored to show how they would have looked...

All tops were smashed off by an Itialian explorer in search for gold... he found some gold in one pyramid, all of the others were empty

All the tops...gone..

On the way out......

My Last time passing through the gates of TS KURMUK...... :(



My "dealer" Afrim - our Beer and Birr dealer.... Great guy....



Mike Stacey - this one is for you. The first School to receive your Sqn's gifts.

Yeh, I thought I was strong..... 80 year old women with no muscle tone carry these loads for miles.... three of us (me being the smallest) had great difficulty lifting it.

I have said farewell to my friends at Team Site Kurmuk. I am now at the sector HQ in Damazin. I was told that I will need 2 full days at the sector. This means that when I flew to the sector on Wednesday it was not a full day, so I would have to stay Thursday and then I would still need another full day.... Friday and Saturday are days off for Sector and then Sunday would be my next full day which means I could not fly out to Khartoum until Monday.

Well I didn't do anything on Wednesday when I arrived. I figured I would start fresh on Thursday morning and test the theory that I require 2 full days to check out of the sector. I actually used my stop watch and hit start as I walked in the main gate. I completed my entire check out process in ......... 59 minutes!!!

Welcome to the UN.... I still laugh! I am here for 5 days for something that I had told them would only take half a day at most. It took me less then 1 hour to complete a "two day" check out. LOL

The good news is that I had lots of time to study and work out. The bad news is that it was 51 degrees today at noon!! Man it was hot. I stayed in my cabin and completed another module of an online course that i am taking.... so I was happy!

I have also received a basic confirmation of my fight home. It looks as though I will be stopping in Amsterdam for 7 hours again. Last time I went to central Amsterdam. This time I will be visiting the Hague home of the International Criminal Courts. I have been told it is quite beautiful.

Oh by the way.... It has been a very long time since I have mentioned anything about my pet chicken "Sheeza". Well it turns out she did get along with the Cock across the street and she has now produced 4 chicks. They are all doing well.

The boys proudly standing by their STEAM WHISTLE Beer opener!! It will be permanently mounted on the bar next week when the bamboo comes in. Thanks Lorelei!!! More pics to follow from Canada House next week...

I was meeting the Sector Commander on the day I was leaving. The Pak Army is all about the formal "Show". This is one of the guards.

Look up, way up... (do you remember that show?) and on top of the rock you will see a little bump. That's all we can see from the camp of our Inukshuk. Its much more impressive from the top!


Another view of the same rock..... way up....

When I run I start at 6pm as it is the coolest part of the day and it's just before night. Here is the view as I come around the back side of the camp..... Every time I started my run I would smile and think.... I am running during a sunset in AFRICA!!! It still hasn't set in yet...LOL

Good-Bye KURMUK........ I will miss it..... I will miss the team members and my friends....

Best wishes to all of you.....

Kurmuk Town Part Two

Kids taking care of kids.....



Mike Stacey - School number two!! Thanks again!!



How do these bubbles work anyways?



This will be a new trend for Canadian women... I can see it catching on... no more bags!! LOL




Baobab trees in our town

Just a pic of a section of the town....

On of the main streets in Kurmuk

The Mosque in the centre of the village

Village market from the other direction

Donkey Water!!!

Kurmuk the Town....Part 1

Just a warning....we are not allowed to take pictures in our town... we could be arrested. But I figured it was my last day and I could escape on the helicopter! So here is my village/town of KURMUK Sudan.

These are school children heading home.... They all wear white for certain schools...

Ok... so I had to get rid of some extra candy (L. Holowatyj!!) Thanks! :)

The main Market



one of the shops... on the left is kitchen and house items and on the right seeds and grains




This is where we buy bread.... they all knew Kai quite well as he bought about 15 bread a day!! Those Germans love their bread! (ahem....Uncle Bill!)

This is the area we try to buy veggies.....Onions are the main veg as it grows in any climate... we also can sometimes get - potato's, cucumber, tomato's.

The local water station. You line your bucket up for one of the local youth to fill......

The view as we pull into the Main Market area.... On the left you can see several men at a open window..this is our pop and mango juice supplier... You may be able to see a blue 10gal barrel on the corner of his shop.... that is a communal drinking water barrel... just use the cup provided and grab a drink... no charge...LOL On the right is the water station (see above)...

This is a picture from inside the hospital grounds... I was just dropping of more toys (Thanks Tammy) for the sick children. The building on the right is the main admin building and the place where the Dr or RN will first see the patients. Normally they will arrive by some means (donkey, bike, walk) and will sit under the tree on the left until the Dr can see them.

This is a tukul classroom used by one of the school in town. they also have brick classes but they have too many kids right now. I was there dropping off more school supplies (Thanks Mom, Mike S, Linda)