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Published: June 29th 2007
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Our Convoy
taken at CAMP 15 enroute to Kapoeta I have been a little sidetracked the past few days... I have been in a village called KAPOETA about 120 km to the East of TORIT. It was a really great experience, and I got to know some of my colleagues better, made some new friends, and enjoyed my time away from the team site.
We left for KAPOETA an hour and a half late, and this is fairly typical as punctuality is not a widely-respected quality in Sudan, or much of Africa for that matter. In fact, a simple, often-used expression for why things just aren’t working right is “TIA.... this is Africa.” I think that came from the Sean Connery/Michael Caine movie “The Man Who Would be King” Anyhow... I digress.
During our time in KAPOETA, we made a day trip to the regional village, known as a “PAYAM” of LAURO. We met with village elders and various administrators, and asked a bunch of questions. LAURO was the area that the massacre of 54 people, mostly women and children, occurred in May 2007. Thankfully, things have been calm since that time.
The accommodation where we stayed at was really nice. It was a little more “rugged” than I
would choose if I was staying in downtown Vancouver... but hey... TIA. The beds was so hard, I actually thought the mattress was Styrofoam. It had pit latrines, and the shower consisted of a large barrel of pump water that you scooped over yourself, and then soaped up, then rinsed off. It was surprisingly refreshing, and to be honest, I felt a little proud of myself for jumping right in and doing it the way the locals did. Except I messed that up. Oops. Story goes... there are 3 stalls to the shower, and I had always just used the one with the barrel of water was in, as I figured that all the stalls had barrels in them. Well, we all know what happens when you assume things... On day 3 of our stay, I noticed a sign (in English) scraped into the tin door of my “shower stall” It said “This room is for bathing water, it is NOT a bathing room.” So peered into the other stalls and noticed that they only had an empty basin on the floor.... aaaah... the light bulb comes on. You are supposed to fill up your basin and shower in the
other stalls. D’oh. Silly khawajah, showers are for EVERYONE. Khawaja means “strange one,” or “white guy.” Way to foster international relations Don.
We returned to TORIT on Friday, 29 June, and on the way back, the UN vehicle in front of me left the road and rolled three times. Luckily a cut finger was all that resulted, but as I pulled over and sprinted towards the car, yelling for my passenger to get the medical kit, I was expecting much worse. They were lucky. We continued home without further mishap, and I slept well for the first time in a week.
During the trip, I got to know Shahed, a Platoon commander from Bangladesh. He is a really nice guy, and we shared many cups of tea in the evening, chatting about the differences between Bangladesh and Canada. We had some funny similarities too... like the fact that when he was married, he had to deploy on the night of his wedding... he didn’t get to spend the first night with his new wife, and in fact didn’t get to see her for another month... sounds just the same as when Laura moved in, and I pack up and head
to Sudan. Oops. When I told him that Laura had just moved in he thought I meant we were married, but when I explained that we weren’t yet, his eyes got wide and he said “In my culture, this is forbidden.” I really enjoyed our chats over tea, and sometimes he even shared his food with me, and it was delicious. By far some of the best food I have ever had... and all I had to do was travel to Sudan, and meet a Bangladeshi Platoon Commander to find it. Coincidence? I think not.
Anyway this is getting way too long, and I have other stuff to write about in the next few days... I’m a little backlogged... sorry!
Take care all!
Don
Sorry about the billion pics... but I can't help myself.
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Laura
non-member comment
I love the pictures too. It's so good to see your face and to see you smiling. I miss you, I love you...hurry home and cook me some goat! ;) xo