Xaver the Monkey

I have some down time today so I figured I would post a few photos on the blog. Nothing new to report other than that we have a new mascot, Xaver. One of the German Military Observers bought him for 30 Sudanese pounds. It's about $15 Canadian. He is slowly getting used to us, but some people think we should set him free or hand him over to Wildlife Protection. Problem is if we do either he will get eaten or be stuck in a cage. Different standards here. Oh yeah, and by eat, I am referring to the locals. They believe that the brain of the monkey has very strong healing qualities. They eat the meat as well. Another snack is a type of termite like insect with wings. They pull of the wings and fry them in oil. I haven't tried either of them...yet.

On the topic of food, I found a local bakery that bakes some pretty good bread that you can pick up in the afternoon straight out of the brick oven. I also found some local pastries called "mendazis". For the Portuguese out there they look and taste exactly like "sonhos".

That's all for now.

Cheers,

Gonzo.

Alex with "Xaver" the Yambio Team Site monkey

The local bakery

"Kolja" the baker and I in front of his brick oven

Don't Eat the Meat

Things continue to go well here in Yambio. What a place. I am getting to know some of the SSPS (South Sudan Police Service) officers and have managed to get out on patrol along with my other duties. The people of Yambio are very friendly and seem to appreciate our presence. The SSPS officers are very cooperative as well.

This week has been busy. We have the UN Police Commissioner, Kai VITRUP, coming for a visit and on Saturday, the UN Security General from New York is coming as well. I have to believe they picked Yambio because of all the attention it has received over the last year, especially when the SPLA (Sudan Peoples Liberation Army) shot and killed three SSPS officials just down the street back in November 2007. We had two Dutch UNPOL officers their on patrol at the time and they had to run back to base leaving their UNPOL vehicle behind. It is also likely because Yambio has to be one of the most beautiful places in all of Sudan. I think we‘ll be ready…I hope.

Today we had a new Danish UNPOL officer join the team so I took him on a patrol to a small community called Hai Kokura. We brought a language assistant along to help us communicate. We met some locals and asked questions with respect to the SSPS and the kind of work they have been doing. They seemed pleased with the local police service and we continued on. Our language assistant asked that I stop at Masia market so she could by some meat from what she said was the best butcher around. We got to a small makeshift outdoor kiosk where the butcher was busy with his clever. You can imagine the look on my face to see the head of a donkey on the table along with it’s legs and tail being prepared for sale. I asked the butcher if I could take a photo of his little shop, but he would not allow it. The language assistant paid her money and we left. I ate at a restaurant a few days ago and had some liver. Hmmmmmm….I don’t think I will be eating any meat unless I see what it is before I buy it. As soon as I got back to the UN base I told my fellow Canadian…Don’t eat the meat.
One of my fellow Fijian UNPOL officers has a friend in Yambio who is making a BBQ for us from some scrap metal so he and I are currently enquiring on the purchase of a goat. Sorry Stacey. I have killed a few rabbits and helped with a sheep or two when I was younger, but my Fijian friend promises that he knows what he is doing so we will be barbequing goat here in the near future. Just like mom makes.






Cheers,

Gonzo



Track and Field runners without running shoes.














The Yambio Main Market












My fellow police officer from Fiji and who I will be adopting a goat with.












The Yambio Team from left to right. Nigussie (Ethiopia), Evgeny (Russia), Meheret (Ethiopia), Olufemi (Nigeria), Fazia (Sudan), Joseph (Ghana), The Boss Hazem (Egypt), Okha (Nigeria), Sajid (Pakistan), Wayne (Canada), Josiah (Kenya), Hugo (El Salvador), Evaristo (Zambia), Gonzo, and Sergey (Russia).

Welcome to the Jungle

Well, I finally made it to my posting in Yambio and finally figured out how to connect to the internet. It is pretty secluded here, and although there is a small dirt airstrip, we flew in on a helicopter. The area is beautiful and definitely much nicer than Khartoum and Juba. The climate here is a lot more moderate as well. It is like stepping back in time here. People are still living in mud huts called Tukuls, and although there are a few vehicles and several motorcycles here, I have been told that five years ago there was nothing. There is also no electricity or water either. Living at the UN compound though we do have electricity which is produced by two large heavy duty diesel generators. One of which is not working. There is some well water here that we can drink, however, the water is rarely available and the taps are always dry. When the water has been, I seem to always miss filling up my water bottles.

Food is scarce for us here as well. My partner and I were able to package a small box and fill it with food before coming, but it is pretty much all we have. We also have all of our gear that has yet to be shipped from Juba. A contract with the Russian Air Force expired so the large cargo plane that normally drops off supplies is not flying. Hopefully we’ll get our gear soon. My trailer is decent. Much better than the tent I had in Juba. It is air conditioned and I have a desk and just recently obtained a dresser for storing clothes, food, etc.

The first day on the job was interesting. My partner Wayne and I were immediately told that Wayne was to be the Yambio Team Site Administrator and I was to be the Operations Officer. For those of you that know what a Watch Commander is, that is basically my job. Now I know why I do not want to be promoted. This week I have just been getting to know my duties which means sitting at my desk reviewing reports handed in by other UNPOL (United Nations Policer) officers and also drafting daily and weekly reports and forwarding them to the higher ups in Juba. Oh yeah, the english is really bad as well, so I end up doubling as an english teacher and correcting spelling and grammar. I thought english was a requirement for this job? And since when do I speak or write english good…I mean gooder. By this coming Monday though, I plan on having my duties down to a science and at the least head out on patrol with the rest of the crew on Monday to Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Thursday and Friday are big paper pushing days.

Everything is pretty secure here right now, but there is always the LRA factor as they reportedly continue to congregate along the border. The other hazards are the malaria and the large variety of poisonous snakes. I haven’t seen any yet though so that’s good. We had a thunderstorm last night and wow! I haven’t had one that close for a long time. It literally shook my trailer. It was pretty cool. I promise the photos will get better.

Cheers,

Gonzo

Juba

As you likely have heard, we were delayed due to the crash of a Sudan Airways plane crash on the June 10th. Today we were finally able to fly out. I have to say, it was a little weird seeing the remnants of the plane crash just before take off. It was still on the tarmac and they were in the process of removing it. I am happy to be flying with the UN.

I have been told by several people in Khartoum that Juba is nice. Bullshit. I hate to say it, but it is a shit hole. SHIT HOLE. Lucas if you’re reading this ignore the SHIT part please and don’t tell all your friends that I said the S word. I think most people think it is great because you can drink here, but trust me, it’s not. I am here for a few days and then off to my post in Yambio. It will be more rustic, but at least I will be able to call a trailer home. I never thought I would say that. Yambio, like Torit, has issues with the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army). They recently attacked Nubanga, a village near Yambio, where both SPLA (Sudan Peoples Liberation Army) and civilians were killed. The security level is high and if we get the opportunity to go on any long range patrols, it will be with armed security personnel.

Right now I am living at the OCHA camp in a tent. My neighbour is the SPLA headquarters. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is a coin toss. I’m already half eaten by mosquitoes, but it really is not that bad. I’m in a tent, it’s warm, mosquitoes, if there was an ocean it would be like another weekend in Tofino. Minus the malaria factor. Apparently everyone gets it despite taking medication. Keeping my fingers crosses. I couldn’t imagine getting a fever in this heat.
Right now I am under a tent in the OCHA camp eating area watching the Netherlands kick France in the Ass. With Italy, France, and Germany on the fence, I think this could be a good year for Portugal. Sorry Kelly, but the gloves are off and I don’t want Germany to face Portugal in the final. A few photos of Juba for your perusal. Here for a few days of security training then off to Yambio on Monday. Looks like no more UEFA for me once I’m there. Hopefully I’ll have a decent enough internet connection to see the highlights. Take care my friends. Viva Portugal!!! It’s our year. Stand back and observe.

Cheers,

Gonzo...Kelly, who you calling little?




My tent at OCHA













Hey Frenchy...Plan B

Vegas Baby!!!

Well dude, it had to be done... while you're away on your little holiday, Pokey and I decided to continue on to our own desert war zone. Wish you were there dude! Some vagrant took this pic for us and did NOT steal our camera.. not a bad pic, and I thought you'd appreciate it. Moments after this photo, we were able to locate a store selling giant Red Stripe for $4 ea... only trouble is, its hard to find a carrying case for giant beer. Anyway buddy, we were thinking of you down there... and we may have to consider the possibility of planning another trip upon your return.

Awesome pics buddy. Keep 'em coming. By the way, my Dad is in contact with Wayne P. over there, so it has been neat to get a few updates from a different angle as well.... small world dude.

Enjoy, stay safe and keep your head down.

Ssd

This Tusker was for you little Buddy.
Thinking of you and hope all is well.
Take care.


Kelly :o}

Yambio It Is

Well folks our barrack boxes arrived today and it looks like I will no longer be going to Torit. I just received confirmation that my posting will now be Yambio. I will travel to Juba on Wednesday where my team and I will spend a day of security training there. There is a lack of accommodations in Juba, however, our Contingent Commander has arranged for us to stay at the OCHA camp. Yambio is a capital city of West Equatoria, Sudan, close to the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Yambio is the home of the Azande people. It apparently has less land mine issues and when it comes to access to food, it should not be a problem.

My duties for the meantime will remain the same, police mentoring and training to assist with the restructuring of the, SSPS (South Sudan Police Service) and developing good community relations with the people. I am very excited to finally be heading south and am truly looking forward to it. Me enjoying a Tusker beer from Kenya.



This one for you Mobbsters to celebrate Germany's win over Poland and Portugal's win over Turkey.



For everyone who provided me with children’s clothing to help out some of the families here, I ended up giving them to Elsie, the lovely Dutch lady I have spoken of before who works with the Leprosy Mission in Sudan. I had hoped to have given the clothing to families myself and have it be more personal, however, due to my position as a UN police officer and my duties here, I can not appear to be favouring one family over another . The SSPS officers I will be working with come from different tribal groups of southern Sudan and it could appear that I favour one tribe over another based on who I give gifts to. Some villages may also have people living there from different tribes. This could cause some major issues with respect to my duties. Thus, Elsie has offered and I have entrusted her to distribute the clothing to those who need it the most.

So Yambio it is. The best part of going south is that there are far less restrictions with respect to photographs. Also, being a more Christian than Muslim area, this also means that I will finally get to enjoy an ice cold beer after work and a nice glass of red wine with dinner. Not too much though. Don’t know if Sudan can handle me when I’m in Gonzo mode.


Asalaam Alykum.




Me and "Skippy" the Kangaroo after he was kidnapped from the Australian House.

My Sudanese Girlfriend is a Sweet Ride

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go on a "Cultural Awareness Tour" to see the pyramids in the region of northern Sudan. I jumped at the chance to go. After a long 4 hour drive we finally found the pyramids. As luck would have it there did not appear to be any roads that led to the pyramids that we could see in the distance, so we went a little offroading. Then, as my luck would have it, I got us stuck in the sand. I was not a happy camper. Nothing like a bunch of police and military A-type personalities telling you what you should or should not have done to not get stuck. I just laughed in my head. It was quite comical actually. Especially because I always seem to get vehicles stuck in the sand, mud, snow, you name it. Sure enough though, as if getting stuck was a sign of better things to come, a young arabic boy showed up on a camel. We all quickly forgot that we were stuck for a few moments. Anyway, we freed the vehicle and then we all got to go for a camel ride. The camel and I are now dating and I tell you, my Sudanese girlfriend is a sweet ride. She grunts alot though, likes to spit, is a little stubborn, and smells like shit. Hey that rhymes!!! I had a blast. I can now cross "camel ride" off of my list of things to do.

I was able to manoeuver the van we were in to the entrance to the pyramids. After having a look at some of the trinkets for sale and paying our fee to enter the area, we all began walking through the sandy grave of the Meroe Pyramids. What an awesome sight. I did expect the pyramids to be bigger, but it didn't matter. I was in awe of it all. I think I said this before, but I felt like I was in something out of a movie. A dream come true. I did not talk much to anyone, and except for a few photo opportunities, I walked through and was in my own little world for a while.

Now for some facts:

The pyramids in northern Sudan were built from the 4th century BC to 3d century AD. They belong to Nubian kings. Between 712-657 BC, Sudanese kings conquered and ruled Egypt. By

about 300 BC the center of the kingdom had shifted south to the Meroe region in central Sudan, where the pyramids and tombs were built to house the bodies of their kings and queens.
All the tombs at Meroe became victim to grave robbers that stole everything of value. The majority of the pyramids had the tops blown off in the early 19th cenury by an Italian explorer named Giuseppe Ferlini. He apparently found gold hidden in the top portion of one of the pyramids (which was a rare find) and started blowing the tops off of the others. He never found any more gold though. The gold he found is now on display at museums in Munich and Berlin.

As you will see in some of my photos, efforts have gone into reconstructing some of the pyramids to what they would have looked like originally. I don't know if I really agree with this. There is something to be said about leaving things as they have been found. If they were to repair all of the pyramids to their original state, I think they would lack the historical authenticity that they possess.

Hope you enjoy the photos,

Gonzo

A village near the pyramids close to a town called Shendi where people live.

This is what a "tuk tuk" taxi looks like.

"Haboob Haboob!!!"

The other day I had the opportunity to see a "haboob" or sandstorm. "Haboob" is an arabic term which means "strong wind". It was very interesting and I had been hoping to see one while here in Sudan. I can cross this off my list.

Haboobs are created by a thunderstorms that blow winds to the ground and stir up the sand. The winds create walls of sand that can be up to 100 kilometres wide and several feet high. There is sometimes light rain after a haboob, but usually, the rain evaporates before hitting the ground due to the hot dry air. After this one, there was some rain, but not alot.

Haboobs do not really cause any damage, but they get sand everywere. Visibility can also be next to nil and everyone heads indoors when one of these hits.

Cheers,

Gonzo

The Sandbox is the Same

Today we visited a horse therapy cerebral palsy rehabilitation centre for children and a leprosy treatment centre. A Dutch woman named Elsie, who works for the Leprosy Mission in Sudan, took us for a visit. A British woman, Jane-Ann, runs the cerebral palsy centre. She rescues and rehabilitates abused horses and uses them to help the rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy. She married a Sudanese man and settled in Khartoum with him and now spends her days running the centre with the help of her children. Women bring their children to the centre and they are put on the horses with someone to hold them and are walked around a corral. The movement of the horse is supposed to help them develop balance, posture, mobility, coordination, and strength.

Jane-Ann works hard to keep the place going and has plans for expanding the area to include better facilities for both the rehabilitation of the children and for the animals as well. She is 46 years old though and just found out that she is pregnant. Perfect timing just as her husband was planning on taking on a second wife, bad timing because the expansion of her centre might have to take a back seat. It is called a rehabilitation centre, but it is hardly what you would expect. No real building, just an open area with makeshift huts and corrals for the storage of horses and other animals. It was definitely not a rehabilitation centre by our standards. The sandbox is the same. I tried to teach the some of the kids to build a sand castle. Thank god no one took a close up of my sandcastle. I was invited back though so I’ll be given a chance to redeem myself.

We then went to a leprosy treatment centre. Again, by our standards it was not what you would expect. She gave us a tour of the place and told us a little bit about what goes on there. Apparently there is a huge stigma attached to leprosy. People do not seek treatment and ignore the symptoms sometimes before it is too late. Thus you see a lot of people missing hands and feet around the town. My initial thought was that this was due to landmine explosions in the areas where there has been war, or due to Sharia law which is Muslim law where punishment can be brutal, but I was told that this is likely due to leprosy. The treatment centre had an area for treatment, vaccination, and for the feeding of babies. Some of the women were breast feeding babies, others had a baby bottle hanging from the ceiling by a rope with a tube from the bottle into the child’s nose and throat.

It seems like there are babies everywhere. They are adorable. Sorry mom, I know you want me to bring one back, but that’s going to be a tough one. If I can figure it out, maybe I’ll bring back two, one for me and one for you.

Cheers,

Gonzo


A quick shot of where the Blue Nile and White Nile meet.

Don't Stand on the Toilets

It appears as though we will be in stuck in Khartoum for a little longer before heading to southern Sudan. One of the main problems is that our barrack boxes containing all of our essential equipment and medical supplies still has not been released by customs. This being said, we are trying to keep ourselves busy and have had the opportunity to do some exploring.

During our walks from the base to where we were staying at Canada House it is always an adventure dodging traffic. The vehicles have the right of way here, no matter what. One day a woman completely covered in a “hijab” (traditional clothing worn by Muslim women covering everything, but their eyes) tried to get us to sign a piece of paper. It appeared that she may have wanted to come to Canada. Everyone thinks it is that easy and all they need is a signature from us to come and live in Canada. There was also a gathering of several Muslims outside of Canada House where we were living, that had travelled from their village to Khartoum for a funeral. One of the men from their village was living and had been in a car accident and killed in Khartoum. They celebrated the funeral for 3 days and we passed by them every morning and afternoon heading to and from work.

The poverty here is extreme. I wish I could have taken more photographs to show you just how bad it is, but as I have said before, we could have been arrested if caught by the police or the Sudan Armed Forces. Several IDP’s (Internally Displaced People) are living in Khartoum. These people fled their villages after they were attacked in southern or western Sudan and relocated to Khartoum. They make huts out of whatever they can find including cardboard, scrap metal and wood, and live on the dirt floor. The other day while walking home there was a young male just getting out of a garbage bin. As we walked by I could see him and another young male digging through one of the bags pulled from the bin. Then they started eating it. I bought some bread and a litre of Coke (there was no water) and took it to them. It looked like they were eating some rice that had been thrown away together with some rotten tomatoes and maybe other vegetables. I don’t know, it was hard to tell. They did not speak Arabic and said what I believe to be thank you in their native tribal language. One of the young men took a piece of the bread, broke it in half giving it to his friend, and they continued to eat the garbage with the bread putting the rest of the food aside.

I realize that we have people living on the streets in Canada that will eat out of the garbage cans when they need to, but in a lot of ways these people, in my mind, had a decision to make at some point in their lives. Despite what may have caused them to start living on the streets in the first place, they still had somewhat of a choice. These people in Sudan never had a choice when rebels entered their villages and burned their homes, killed most of the men, raped the women and took them as slaves, and in some cases took the children to train and become soldiers for their cause. There is also a division between the people from the south and the people from northern Sudan in Khartoum. The people of Khartoum do not like the southern Sudanese people and a lot of the time will tear down their huts. However, the Muslim men do not work. They lay around all day in the shade and do nothing, thus they tolerate the southern Sudanese people because they are the one’s doing all of the work.


Later dudes…and dudettes,


Gonzo

A little reminder not to stand on the toilets. And the paper is not for writing your friend a letter either