We finished Integration training on Thursday, that is combined training with the new military and civilian employees here in UNMIS. It was very repetitive of our police-only induction training last week, which was very repetitive of our Pearson Peacekeeping Centre training the week before we left Ottawa, which was very repetitive of our RCMP pre-deployment training we took the second week before we left Ottawa. Enyways, we met some nice people, a group of German military officers, some Australian military officers who invited us to a birthday party last night at Australia House, and two young, very pretty Sudanese women from Khartoum; one who has a degree in Sociology and will be a security guard checking for ID cards at the front gate and one with a degree in Economics who will be working in Maintenance cleaning the base. Obviously they look at these jobs as a foot in the door to become eligible for jobs that are more suitable for their qualifications once they become available. Our university graduates in Canada could learn a lesson here.
One of the women, Souaousa (ph? Pronounced Sow-ou-sa) told me it was always her dream to work for the UN! Hmmm! The things that make you go “Hmmm”.
Interesting place this Sudan. We were thinking that none of the local people liked us because we said good morning to everyone as we walked to work and nobody responded. I started saying "Salaam" instead and now they smile and say "Salaam" back. I'm glad all this cultural awareness training I've recieved wasn't for nothing!
My health (read: digestive system) is off and on, but I find curry is very good for the digestive track; for breakfast yesterday I had two omelettes, pancakes with jam as there was no syrup, and curried potatoes. For lunch every day they serve curried vegetables. I’m developing a taste for curry.
And coke unfortunately. The coke here tastes like the coke back home. I wasn’t going to drink coke here (pop is the “cigarettes of obesity” don’t-cha know!!) but one of the guys told me of an RCMP member who went on four peace keeping missions and never got sick because he drank coke everyday which killed anything bad in his digestive track. That’s good enough for me. In this case the cure may be worse than whatever ails me but I’ll use any excuse to drink coke.
Now we sit and wait for our barrack boxes to be released from Sudanese Customs (anybody remember how long it took for us to get our visas to come here?). We’re not going to deploy to Juba till we get our barrack boxes as all of our mosquito nets, DEET etc., some of our medical kits are in our barrack boxes. It is rainy season in the south, the mosquitos are bad and malaria is an ever-present danger so we need our mosquito equipment.
Yesterday and today are days-off for the military and civilians so we just kind of sat around; I’m using the time to catch up on some correspondence. I phoned down to Juba yesterday morning to find out what I’m going to be doing down there and was told they are “having discussions” about what to do with me!
Today we have driver's tests in order to get our UN driver's licences.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Now that was a hot one!
It was 46 today according to the Internet. And it felt like it. We were outside for about three hours, first doing a GPS exercise and then practising how to deal with ambushes, hostage taking and minefields. The latter included a practical exercise in which members of the Force Protection Unit, that's the armed military guys who guard the UN posts in Khartoum which in this case are Rawandans, acted as rebels at illegal check points and dragged us out of vehicles at gun point, slapped us around a bit, emptied our pockets, made us stand up and lie down continually, yelled at us a lot in their native language etc. etc. It was all a test to see who will take that docilely and who will fight back. Fighting back will get you killed here. We all passed the test fortunately. I sweated a lot and I didn't feel that well as we were walking back to our residence. I decided to skip my run this afternoon after work, I lay down and slept for a while.
Not eating last night didn't work so I ate lots today ("lots" by Sudan standards for me, not for Canada). I had plain yogurt and orange juice for breakfast, a chicken sandwich on brown bread for lunch (the meat looked like balony to me, but they said it was chicken!) and beef medallions in mushroom sauce, grilled vegetables (very grilled) and french fries with a coke for supper. I probably won't be able to sleep tonight because of the coke, but it sure tasted good! Generally, I don't have that much of an appetite here, probably because of the heat.
I'm going to count the number of bottles of water I drink tomorrow to see how many that is. I usually have one for breakfast, one walking to work, one during morning class before break, one at break, one between break at lunch, one at lunch...you get the idea. I think I'm drinking a lot (compared to Canda I really am) but I wonder if it is enough.
I'm in my second day of upset stomach, abdominal cramps etc., not enough to keep me from doing much but keeping me close to a washroom just in case. But my spirits are good, I enjoy the guys I'm with and the people we are meeting, the Brazillians are hilarious as are the Australians.
The power went off again right after my last blog entry so I try to keep these short so I don't lose them. And there are more people staying here now, someone was actually looking to sleep in one of our beds this morning after we left for work! I got up at 6:30 this morning to use the Internet and there was one person already on it and two more waiting to use it.
Hopefully when I get to Juba I'll be able to access a wireless Internet with my laptop and can go on the Internet whenever I like.
In the photo, that's me (on the left), Scott and Rory in flak jackets and helmets for the ambush practical test.
Monday, May 26, 2008
My uniform
I tried uploading this picture of me in my unform, taken by my darling daughter Natalie before I left Ottawa, when I started the blog but it doesn't seem to have worked. Yes its dark blue and yes its really hot. I'm wearing a baby blue ball cap instead the beret these days and I haven't worn the vest yet because of the heat and because we're in training mode but I will be when I get to Juba. The boots are really comfortable and thanks to everyone at work who contributed to the gift certificate from Mountain Co-op for me, and thanks to Raj who took me shopping there with his membership card, I've got some really good sports socks and tshirts that wick the moisture away from my skin and keep me dry. No blisters so far as a result, and I'm prone to blisters, especially on my feet. A big thank you again to everyone who contributed.
I spoke too soon about not being sick yet, I've had stomach and abdominal cramps off and on the last two days. I'm not going to eat tonight to see if that solves the problem (yes, I know I should eat but it won't kill me to miss a meal, believe me.) However, Charles has lost 7 pounds already and it looks it, he is getting gaunt looking.
In the dark in Sudan
The damn electricity keeps going out. People warned us this would happen but its very annoying nonetheless when it does. It went out three times yesterday afternoon during class and once last night when I was exercising (I had just started my warmup walk on the treadmill) and it went off another three times this afternoon during training and just a little while ago it went off when I had just finished my run and Rory had just started his. At least its only off for five minutes at a time when it goes out, it doesn't heat up too much. Poor Rory, he was in the zone when he was running and I think he ran into the control panel of the treadmill before he realized the power had gone off. In the "looking at the bright side of life" dept. at least when the power came back on this evening the wall fan over the treadmill started working; it hasn't worked since we got here.
Two more military guys arrived this afternoon to stay at Canada House. Its getting a bit crowded. But on the bright side again, some Australian military people who were in the same training class as us invited us to a birthday party on Friday night at Australia House. It looks like we'll be here through the weekend as we are now not scheduled to go to Juba until next Monday. And we're supposed to have another week of training in Juba before assuming our duties. I'm getting trained out, I fell asleep twice again this afternoon.
Wayne
Two more military guys arrived this afternoon to stay at Canada House. Its getting a bit crowded. But on the bright side again, some Australian military people who were in the same training class as us invited us to a birthday party on Friday night at Australia House. It looks like we'll be here through the weekend as we are now not scheduled to go to Juba until next Monday. And we're supposed to have another week of training in Juba before assuming our duties. I'm getting trained out, I fell asleep twice again this afternoon.
Wayne
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Monday May 26th (I think)
Our Internet was down again last night so I couldn't reply to any emails, I'll try again tonight. I will reply to all the individual emails in time but please be patient with me, I only get a half hour access to the Internet at a time, we have one working Internet connection, there are 15-16 people staying here at Canada House and the Internet is frequently down. I appreciate the emails I recieve a lot but I can't reply to them as quickly as I'd like, especially since we don't get any days off here and we don't have Internet access at the UN base (yet).
One of the problems with working everyday is that you lose track of the date and the day of the week (the UN Police work straight through the weekends and only get time off when we take our Compensatory Time Off or CTO days. We earn 6 CTO's a month so I have to work 30 days straight to get 6 days off. The military on the other hand get the weekends which here is Friday/Saturday off, and they are only here for 6 months. Wimps! lol We're here for nine months by the way). I think this is Monday, May 26th because we left Ottawa on Sunday May 18th and arrived in Sudan on Monday May 19th, which was officially our first day in theatre. Enyways, I passed my English tests, that was a relief, I always wondered if I could really speak English that well or if my friends and family were just humouring me. We had Driver training in the morning yesterday which entailed an hour or so of standing outside in the sun looking at the engine of a vehicle, being shown how to use the winch in case we get stuck and have to pull ourselves out, and where the emergency equipment, spare tire etc. is kept. I could feel the beads of sweat running down my back for the whole hour or so.
We finished our induction training yesterday and today we begin Integrated Training with the UN Civilians and Military. Its really hot in the trailer we have our classes in despite the air conditioning, and I keep falling asleep during class. The other guys keep count of how many times my head bobs during class and have a good laugh about it.
I feel tired this morning, I couldn't get to sleep last night for some reason, I tossed and turned for at least an hour.
One of the problems with working everyday is that you lose track of the date and the day of the week (the UN Police work straight through the weekends and only get time off when we take our Compensatory Time Off or CTO days. We earn 6 CTO's a month so I have to work 30 days straight to get 6 days off. The military on the other hand get the weekends which here is Friday/Saturday off, and they are only here for 6 months. Wimps! lol We're here for nine months by the way). I think this is Monday, May 26th because we left Ottawa on Sunday May 18th and arrived in Sudan on Monday May 19th, which was officially our first day in theatre. Enyways, I passed my English tests, that was a relief, I always wondered if I could really speak English that well or if my friends and family were just humouring me. We had Driver training in the morning yesterday which entailed an hour or so of standing outside in the sun looking at the engine of a vehicle, being shown how to use the winch in case we get stuck and have to pull ourselves out, and where the emergency equipment, spare tire etc. is kept. I could feel the beads of sweat running down my back for the whole hour or so.
We finished our induction training yesterday and today we begin Integrated Training with the UN Civilians and Military. Its really hot in the trailer we have our classes in despite the air conditioning, and I keep falling asleep during class. The other guys keep count of how many times my head bobs during class and have a good laugh about it.
I feel tired this morning, I couldn't get to sleep last night for some reason, I tossed and turned for at least an hour.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Finally...
I finally created my blog, I know it took a while but our Internet has been down the last couple of days and I've been adjusting to life in "the Sudan" for my first few days here.
My five intrepid companions and I arrived in Khartoum, finally, last Monday night after waiting almost nine months to get here. The temperature was 42 degrees but as everyone says, its a dry heat (lol). At first I found it like a very hot day in Ottawa; on Tuesday we walked back to where we're staying from the UN base here in Khartoum and I worked up a sweat but I wasn't like ready to pass out or anything. But it got hotter and yesterday was a real scorcher.
We're staying at Canada House, a big new house the Canadian military has purshased or rented for their personnel working in, passing through or staying in Khartoum for a few days. I have to limit my time on the Internet as there is only one connection working at present.
I slept really well my first night here, a combination of not much sleep on the plane rides over and the time change but I was wakened early that morning by my roommate Wayne P's snoring; even the earplugs I was wearing couldn't muffle the sound. It was around 6:00 Am at the time and even with the air conditioning it was hot inside, around 37 degrees outside I think.
On the Tuesday morning I tried to begin my time in Sudan with a good shower but the shower curtain fell down on my while I was showering; I had to tie the shower curtain up to the ceiling light fixture with some string, and I had to use a pillow case as a towel because the towels I brought with me are in my barrack boxes which are in Sudanese Customs somewhere, but at least the air conditioning works. I tried my first Sudanese food at lunch, and it was good and I've been eating it ever since with no problems (knock on wood).
On the Tuesday we went to the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) base and recieved some more uniform (a ballcap with the UN crest on it, yay, we can't wear anything on our head that doesn't have the UN crest on it and the blue berets are just too hot in this heat. One of the other guys, Scott from Calgary has this huge head that nothing seems to fit on, his ball cap was too small for him at the largest setting. We wore our tilley hats on Wednesday which are probably better for UV protection anyway, but we were told several times that day that we couldn't wear them as they are "country of origin" issue rather than UN issue and dark blue instead of powder blue. Back to the ballcaps (and in Scott's case the beret).
On Tuesday we also had to watch a computer program on safety and security and write a test, fill out personal information forms and obtain our photo ids, apply for a personal issue radio, complete our application for a Bank of Khartoum bank account and some other odds and ends. If you are thinking to yourself that that shouldn't take a whole day you're right, we did a lot of sitting around waiting for someone to deal with us. That's the way it is here, apparently. We were not actually in training mode, our induction training started on Friday. That was just as well, we needed a couple of days to get organized. The barrack boxes I mentionned (metal packing cases the military uses to ship personal items) which we shipped ahead and which contain a lot of our personal effects including all of my towels (did I mention that already??) are still in Sudanese Customs somewhere. The RCMP officer already in mission, Chris Beamish from Edmonton, is trying to get them out for us. In the meantime I repacked my bags and put all the like items together and realized that I forgot my vitamins at home; not sure how I managed that. We ate really well on the plane rides over here (business class) so I'm not worried about nutrition for a while but I need to get them to supplement the food here. There's not much variety in the "cafeteria" on base (so far they've served the same food everyday, no choice, and the snack bar is really a small trailer with only locally baked goods and soft drinks).
Interesting place this Khartoum. Everything is sand-coloured and dusty, but there are trees and the odd bit of grass. When we arrived we heard about (and watched on Al Jezeera on television) heavy fighting in the Abyei region of Sudan but you wouldn't know anything is going on here in the capital. We're told not to take any pictures here however as the Sudanese govt. is very sensitive about that. We're told that its likely that if we're caught that we'll be sent home.
There's a couple of treadmills where we're staying so I go for a bit of a run after we walk back here in the afternoon, but it quickly becomes very hot. I don't think I could do my usual 30 minutes on the treadmill here, I'd overheat quite a bit.
On Tuesday night we went to eat with some of the UNMIS, military and Dept. of Foreign Affairs (DFAIT) people from the Canadian embassy at a nice little Italian restaurant called inexplicably Universal coffee. Its owned by an old Italian couple and they make their own pasta, sauces etc. We ate outside too, which was enjoyable despite the 40 something degree heat. It was very good, I had the mixed salad with tuna and a hadboiled egg and vegetable sandwich with eggplant and fried potatoes on ths side, with lots of fresh tomatos, cucumbers, onions etc. It was a bit of a treat as I wasn't expecting to be eating fresh vegetables for a while. So far I haven't been sick, although I'm told everyone goes through it at some point. I noticed that almost all people here talk about is their leave and where they've been and where they're going on their next leave and how far away that is.
Just as we were leaving the restaurant a Haboob (a wind/dust storm) blew in, I think that's the name for it in Arabic. The air got quite dusty for a while.
We got our postings after our Human Resoruces "interviews" on Wednesday afternoon. I emphasize "interview" because, as the "interviewer" put it, it was more of a negotiation than an interview and I was the only one "interviewed". We've got two going to Yambia (Wayne P and Charles), two going to Torit (Rory and Scott), Jaz to the Juba Team Site and me to Regional HQ Intelligence in Juba, all in Sector 1 in the very south part of Sudan.
Everyone seemed to have a lousy sleep the Tuesday night before our postings (I was awake from 2:30 on, Rory slept on the couch because the air condtioning was blowing on him, etc. etc.) but I slept 8 hours undisturbed Thursday night (must have been the anti-malaria medication mefloquin I took yesterday!! It gives some people nightmares). We had a good meal on Thursday night, we went to the Cedars restaurant for one of the CF guys who's going home and they served an unbelieveable amount of good Lebanese food on us for 45 Sudanese pounds each (about $22.50 US). I was stuffed but I sure slept good afterward.
My and the other guys' humour seems to be holding up; most of us are exercising on the treadmill and with the sparse number of weights here. This is a good way to get used to Sudan, staying at Canada House. Its secure, there's lots of people around to explain things to us, they take us with them when they go out for dinner, give us rides to work etc. Kudos to Brenda MacGregor, a Canadian from Saskatchewan who works in Security in UNMIS for getting us in here. Its made the transition much much easier and the CF guys seem to be fine with us staying here, they feel the same about getting a good start to the mission. As a small and totally inadequate token of our appreciation I gave Brenda some red licorice for all she's done for us including Chris and the other Canadian police who have been to Sudan on mission (she brought us a bag full of towels, handtowels and facecloths the other day, what a sweetheart).
Friday night the CF people here at Canada House hosted a small social event for other Canadians, Australians, the odd Norweigan and Dutch person and others here in Khartoum, it was lots of fun. Yesterday they (the CF people staying here) took me with them to the Canadian Embassy for a swim. It was great. I had to do my laundry when I got back here as I'd run out of shirts and Rory had made some pasta for every body, it was a great evening. The first day of our induction training, Friday, was boring and I couldn't keep from falling asleep, especially after I ate a big lunch (my first and only meal of the day, I wasn't that hungry). Yesterday in training we had yet another talk on sexual harassment, learned how our time off credits work, and took some English reading comprehension, English writing comprehension and English writing tests. Today we have driving training.
So that's a summary of everything to date. My blogs will be shorter from now on, don't worry.
Wayne
My five intrepid companions and I arrived in Khartoum, finally, last Monday night after waiting almost nine months to get here. The temperature was 42 degrees but as everyone says, its a dry heat (lol). At first I found it like a very hot day in Ottawa; on Tuesday we walked back to where we're staying from the UN base here in Khartoum and I worked up a sweat but I wasn't like ready to pass out or anything. But it got hotter and yesterday was a real scorcher.
We're staying at Canada House, a big new house the Canadian military has purshased or rented for their personnel working in, passing through or staying in Khartoum for a few days. I have to limit my time on the Internet as there is only one connection working at present.
I slept really well my first night here, a combination of not much sleep on the plane rides over and the time change but I was wakened early that morning by my roommate Wayne P's snoring; even the earplugs I was wearing couldn't muffle the sound. It was around 6:00 Am at the time and even with the air conditioning it was hot inside, around 37 degrees outside I think.
On the Tuesday morning I tried to begin my time in Sudan with a good shower but the shower curtain fell down on my while I was showering; I had to tie the shower curtain up to the ceiling light fixture with some string, and I had to use a pillow case as a towel because the towels I brought with me are in my barrack boxes which are in Sudanese Customs somewhere, but at least the air conditioning works. I tried my first Sudanese food at lunch, and it was good and I've been eating it ever since with no problems (knock on wood).
On the Tuesday we went to the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) base and recieved some more uniform (a ballcap with the UN crest on it, yay, we can't wear anything on our head that doesn't have the UN crest on it and the blue berets are just too hot in this heat. One of the other guys, Scott from Calgary has this huge head that nothing seems to fit on, his ball cap was too small for him at the largest setting. We wore our tilley hats on Wednesday which are probably better for UV protection anyway, but we were told several times that day that we couldn't wear them as they are "country of origin" issue rather than UN issue and dark blue instead of powder blue. Back to the ballcaps (and in Scott's case the beret).
On Tuesday we also had to watch a computer program on safety and security and write a test, fill out personal information forms and obtain our photo ids, apply for a personal issue radio, complete our application for a Bank of Khartoum bank account and some other odds and ends. If you are thinking to yourself that that shouldn't take a whole day you're right, we did a lot of sitting around waiting for someone to deal with us. That's the way it is here, apparently. We were not actually in training mode, our induction training started on Friday. That was just as well, we needed a couple of days to get organized. The barrack boxes I mentionned (metal packing cases the military uses to ship personal items) which we shipped ahead and which contain a lot of our personal effects including all of my towels (did I mention that already??) are still in Sudanese Customs somewhere. The RCMP officer already in mission, Chris Beamish from Edmonton, is trying to get them out for us. In the meantime I repacked my bags and put all the like items together and realized that I forgot my vitamins at home; not sure how I managed that. We ate really well on the plane rides over here (business class) so I'm not worried about nutrition for a while but I need to get them to supplement the food here. There's not much variety in the "cafeteria" on base (so far they've served the same food everyday, no choice, and the snack bar is really a small trailer with only locally baked goods and soft drinks).
Interesting place this Khartoum. Everything is sand-coloured and dusty, but there are trees and the odd bit of grass. When we arrived we heard about (and watched on Al Jezeera on television) heavy fighting in the Abyei region of Sudan but you wouldn't know anything is going on here in the capital. We're told not to take any pictures here however as the Sudanese govt. is very sensitive about that. We're told that its likely that if we're caught that we'll be sent home.
There's a couple of treadmills where we're staying so I go for a bit of a run after we walk back here in the afternoon, but it quickly becomes very hot. I don't think I could do my usual 30 minutes on the treadmill here, I'd overheat quite a bit.
On Tuesday night we went to eat with some of the UNMIS, military and Dept. of Foreign Affairs (DFAIT) people from the Canadian embassy at a nice little Italian restaurant called inexplicably Universal coffee. Its owned by an old Italian couple and they make their own pasta, sauces etc. We ate outside too, which was enjoyable despite the 40 something degree heat. It was very good, I had the mixed salad with tuna and a hadboiled egg and vegetable sandwich with eggplant and fried potatoes on ths side, with lots of fresh tomatos, cucumbers, onions etc. It was a bit of a treat as I wasn't expecting to be eating fresh vegetables for a while. So far I haven't been sick, although I'm told everyone goes through it at some point. I noticed that almost all people here talk about is their leave and where they've been and where they're going on their next leave and how far away that is.
Just as we were leaving the restaurant a Haboob (a wind/dust storm) blew in, I think that's the name for it in Arabic. The air got quite dusty for a while.
We got our postings after our Human Resoruces "interviews" on Wednesday afternoon. I emphasize "interview" because, as the "interviewer" put it, it was more of a negotiation than an interview and I was the only one "interviewed". We've got two going to Yambia (Wayne P and Charles), two going to Torit (Rory and Scott), Jaz to the Juba Team Site and me to Regional HQ Intelligence in Juba, all in Sector 1 in the very south part of Sudan.
Everyone seemed to have a lousy sleep the Tuesday night before our postings (I was awake from 2:30 on, Rory slept on the couch because the air condtioning was blowing on him, etc. etc.) but I slept 8 hours undisturbed Thursday night (must have been the anti-malaria medication mefloquin I took yesterday!! It gives some people nightmares). We had a good meal on Thursday night, we went to the Cedars restaurant for one of the CF guys who's going home and they served an unbelieveable amount of good Lebanese food on us for 45 Sudanese pounds each (about $22.50 US). I was stuffed but I sure slept good afterward.
My and the other guys' humour seems to be holding up; most of us are exercising on the treadmill and with the sparse number of weights here. This is a good way to get used to Sudan, staying at Canada House. Its secure, there's lots of people around to explain things to us, they take us with them when they go out for dinner, give us rides to work etc. Kudos to Brenda MacGregor, a Canadian from Saskatchewan who works in Security in UNMIS for getting us in here. Its made the transition much much easier and the CF guys seem to be fine with us staying here, they feel the same about getting a good start to the mission. As a small and totally inadequate token of our appreciation I gave Brenda some red licorice for all she's done for us including Chris and the other Canadian police who have been to Sudan on mission (she brought us a bag full of towels, handtowels and facecloths the other day, what a sweetheart).
Friday night the CF people here at Canada House hosted a small social event for other Canadians, Australians, the odd Norweigan and Dutch person and others here in Khartoum, it was lots of fun. Yesterday they (the CF people staying here) took me with them to the Canadian Embassy for a swim. It was great. I had to do my laundry when I got back here as I'd run out of shirts and Rory had made some pasta for every body, it was a great evening. The first day of our induction training, Friday, was boring and I couldn't keep from falling asleep, especially after I ate a big lunch (my first and only meal of the day, I wasn't that hungry). Yesterday in training we had yet another talk on sexual harassment, learned how our time off credits work, and took some English reading comprehension, English writing comprehension and English writing tests. Today we have driving training.
So that's a summary of everything to date. My blogs will be shorter from now on, don't worry.
Wayne
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