Return to SUDAN.....

Well I figured it was about time for me to update you on life in Sudan once again.

I had a great trip abroad seeing Barcelona - Spain, Cannes, Nice, Aix-de-Provence – France, Monte-Carlo - Monaco, Genova, La Spezia, Cinque-Terre, Pisa, Florence, Rome (Vatican City), Naples, Pompeii and Siena – Italy. The biggest disappointment was the food. I guess I expected more flavor and variety. Over the entire trip was great!
But back to Sudan!

During my trip I received great news from Canada house… They found my Christmas lights! While in Spain I also found my Disco ball. Once I arrived back at the team site I had two gold bags waiting for me and inside there was boxes from my folks as well as Derrick and Melissa. In those boxes I received another surprise from my cousin Lorelei which was the Steam Whistle Beer Bottle openers for the new bar!!

On the note of the bar…well my suspicions were correct… nothing gets done fast in the Sudan or the UN. My bar and the camp site haven’t changed a bit except for the missing containers (shipped to another team site in the south). Even the garden didn’t get planted after I was promised it would have been.

It was hard coming back to the team site and Sudan. After spending 17 days in the history of Europe it is hard to come back to the bleak desert and brown wasteland. The coolest site was when I flew across the Sahara and looked out the window to see the very vast empty Sahara desert….It was an awesome sight.

I was invited to teach at the Sudan Police force Crowd Control Course this week. I was teaching emergency first aid and tactical patient removal. It was very interesting teaching first aid with the understanding that there are NO first aid kits anywhere and that the only supplies are those on the ground and around the area. Before the start of the course I wandered through the street and picked up some garbage that I could use in the first aid course. For instance plastic bag to use as a bandage to tie off a limb. There is no 911 for them to call and no ambulance is EVER coming! The ride to the hospital may be on the back of a donkey and may take 3-5 hours. Oh yeh… and there is no cell phone coverage in about 95% of the area.

The students loved the first part of the course. The second part will be next week,
I have been on two patrols this week that went well. One village was suffering while the other was doing quite well. I gave the first village a soccer ball and some pencils and books. They have a school that is not recognized by the government therefore it gets no support. They welcomed the pencils and books and loved the soccer ball.

I have come to learn that in Sudan and in the UN nothing gets done fast. I have also learned (although it took several times) that you can propose an idea, get people on board and willing to work and the minute they leave the room they forget all about it and act as if it never happened and they do nothing that they were supposed to. I also trained two guys to take over my job while I was away so that all of the daily work would not pile up. When I came back it was just as I suspected. NOTHING was done! Thanks “Team Mates”….

I am starting to look to the future of coming home. Hopefully I will be able to accomplish more here before I leave. I am still trying to get the CIMIC projects up and running. I have calculated that I only have 7 weeks on site left on this tour. The remainder will be occupied with another CTO trip and then the 2 weeks of check out procedures. I am getting concerned with the dates as they coincide with the elections here and that could cause problems.

The outdoor bar is receiving a new coat of paint as we speak. I had sent in a request for funds and support and it was approved. The paint is going on this week. Repairs to the cement floor will happen next week and then the new lights, disco ball and then the Steam Whistle beer openers. I am looking forward to its completion.

We lost our one day off this week due to an exercise in our area. That means my one day of sleeping in and catching up on the work that was not done while I was away is now occupied with a mini exercise. I am hoping on getting to the local hospital today to drop off some donated medications and toys for the children’s ward.

I dropped off a box of medications to a happy Dr at the local hospital from one of our German UNMOS from Damazin. The hospital said they can definitely use the medications. The Dr also asked me if I was the one who brought the children toys when I told him I was he was so happy and asked if I can come back when they give some of them to local sick children.