Well time certainly flies by when you're having fun. I hadn't realised just how busy the last year has been until I look at a few of the things that I have been kept me occupied over the last year.
A year ago we had just experienced a coup by rebels called the Seleka and we were all evacuated out of Central African Republic over to Cameroun. We started back at work during the summer but were stopped now and again by security issues. I was based at Bangassou in the South East but unfortuantely 2 of my colleagues were shot so we transferred the project over to Bouar in the North West as it appeared to be quieter. As you would have guessed the troubles followed us to Bouar but we are operating at nearly full throttle so have made up some of the lost time. My colleagues are fully recovered and back at work!
Below are a few of the hundreds of photos I have which hopefully you will find interesting
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Tasty lizard
This creature was caught by the local restaurant and offered up on the following night's menu. Although it looks quite appetising, I haven't met anyone who sampled the delights!
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Ahmed's Daughter
The food here in CAR leaves something to be desired - in the south east the diet consisted of green leaves boiled until tasteless along with plantain and bananas and mangos. If you like monkey, it can be arranged. The delicacies are the head and hands apparently. ANyway Ahmed is a lovely old Lebanese guy living in Bangassou. He has a shop and brings in treats like chick peas and lentils and I would join him for Sunday lunch which included chips every now and again. This is his gorgeous daughter enjoying having her photo taken by the strange white lady!
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| Gender training in Bangassou |
I have learnt a few things in the past year. This was a course on gender training and I am delighted to say I now know the difference between gender and sex - not that it has been particularly useful! This is Whitney, my old boss who I miss a lot now she is working in Haiti
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Outside my room in Bangassou
After we were evacuated last year, the locals helped themselves to the contents of our offices and house so we moved to a "new hotel". Sadly the running water and electricity were not included in the rent agreement but the hotel did have very pretty flowers.
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| New Year's Eve Dubai 2013 |
Needing a bit of a rest I popped over to Dubai to see Carolyn and Farhad. I tried to make up for 12 months lack of cheese consumption and managed to eat my body weight in crisps and as you can see we did a fair bit of partying.
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| Burj Khalifa Dubai |
Dubai has lots to offer and so I popped along to the world's tallest building. Great views but no bungy jumping.
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Typical Classroom in CAR
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Back in CAR, due to the persistent security threats in the villages we were really surprised to find these children at school. Most of the schools have been shut down for the last year. One of our programs is to work with teachers and parent teacher associations to improve the level of teaching and to ensure that schools are maintained. We are building 4 schools in the North West and water points for the pupils
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| Seleka |
These are Seleka rebels who took over the country in March 2013 and have now been virtually overthrown by the next set of rebels - the Anti Balaka.It is all very confusing because we also have African Union Armed Forces and French soldiers who all shop at the same store and look pretty similar to me. The easiest way to tell the difference is if they drive stolen cars then it is likely they are rebels. Our Mercy Corps vehicle was car jacked 2 weeks ago and the Anti Balaka stole money and phones from our staff. If it hadn't been for the fact that they wanted to "borrow" the vehicle to take their wounded to hospital we may well have lost our pick up too.
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Child Protection training
Another of our programs is child protection and this was a training for local kids to explain to them and the local community about their rights to education, safety and health.
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| Zanzibar July 2013 |
Withdrawal symptoms from lack of ocean meant Zanzibar was a perfect location for R and R. What a great place it made to do my PADI diving certificate!
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| Security Training |
As you can imagine there have been some hairy moments in CAR. I arrived when the country was classed as a family posting and I had had no security training. Using common sense to duck at appropriate moments was the limit to my security knowledge. Mercy Corps arranged a great training with an interesting ex ........ guy (can't tell you or I'd have to kill you) and we learnt some good techniques especially for carrying injured personnel, avoiding an ambush and fixing a punctured lung. I am also now able to tell the difference between shooting n the air and targetted firing. Not sure I will be putting it on my cv though.
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| Zanzibar July 2013 |
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| Cairo March 2014 |
No I don't spend all my time on holiday but they do make the best photo locations. Flying to Cyprus from CAR meant 5 different flights so we popped out of the airport whilst in Cairo to check out these. Very Impressive but makes me think of Toblerones
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| Displaced camp Bangui Airport |
Flying out from Bangui airport back to Bouar I took this picture out of th window. Due to the Anti Balaka and Seleka clashes and retaliation attacks there have been up to 150,000 people in this one camp. Apparently the number has now dropped to 70.000 but as the rainy season starts the health threats become more serious - told you holiday pics were better!!
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| Anti Balaka soldier |
I was at a food distribution one day and this Anti Balaka rebel was hanging around asking if he and his "soldiers" could have some food. Try saying no to someone like this but we have to!!
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Refugees
This child and her family are part of the Muslim population who have had to flee the country due to revenge attacks by the new "Christian" rebels against the former "Muslim" rebels.
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| Prefect of Boaur |
Being white and female I sometimes end up doing important jobs such as presenting the Bouar Prefect with his leaving present. He was an excellent leader for Bouar during the rebel conflict in January when I and the Mercy Corps team spent 2 weeks in hibernation and he has been promoted to be a minister in the new Government
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Phikardou Cyprus
Peace and tranquility in sunny Cyprus. I visited with Terri a friend from Mercy Corps and met up with my sister. How embarrassed was I when Terri and I were having a quiet drink on the terrace and a load of explosions and shots were let off. We certainly jumped. Apparently it was military practice, road mining and a military exercise at sea.
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| Cyprus |
So the end of my latest holiday has arrived. We are now in Cameroun on the return leg to CAR. Apparently the curfew is now at 9pm - about 1 month ago it was 6pm so that is a big improvement.
I hope you have enjoyed the update and have a bit of an understanding of what I am doing here. remember I always want to hear news from you guys as well.
Next update won't be too long!
