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Published: October 15th 2007
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Edward
He is always hanging off my leg as soon as he sees me. I have somewhat fallen off the proverbial blog horse in the past few weeks, so here I am again.
Many things have happened and work has been busy since I returned fom vacation.
The biggest thing is that Laura has developed a pinched sciatic nerve due to bulging disc in her lower back. She was somewhat uncomfortable in the mornings in England, but I could see a progression in the 10 days I spent with her. Right now she has numbness in her left foot, and the pain is somewhat relentless, especially during the night and sleep has been a luxury at this point. I'll find out on Wednesday if she will require surgery, and if so, I will be cutting my tour short by a few weeks to return home as soon as possible. So, obviously, that has pretty much been occupying my mind as of late.
On top of all that, work has been busy... it seems that the workload in my section tended to build up while I was away; funny how that happens when the people you work with don't. Anyhow, my morale was a lot higher when I got back this time compared
Boys with Izzy dolls
Even though they had bows and arrows, they liked the Izzy dolls. Except the kid who is holding his upside down. to my first vacation to Canada... for me, the end is clearly in sight and I am feeling motivated and keen to work hard for the homestretch of my time in Sudan. Some things continue to drive me nuts, but... T.I.A, it's not Canada. Our patrol schedule has been cut to local patrols only, as our vehicles are in such bad shape that we only about 2 of 8 capable of making a medium or long range patrol. That leads to a bit of boredom some days, but that is whre your personal motivation is key to staying busy. A fine example of UN logisitics was the arrival of three new, desperately needed car batteries. And no battery acid. It would apparently follow on a later flight/convoy, but 2 weeks later it hasn't arrived, and we desperately need the batteries as 3 vehicles need jump starting every time you shut them off. So Robert (from Sweden) searched through the village and found some battery acid which we bought the entire stock of. The UN has promised to reimburse the purchaser, but I doubt it will happen any time soon. Previously. a $15 dollar welding job took almost 2 months to
re-pay. Good luck.
Recently, I managed to make contact with some UN Mine Action employees, and will be trying to arrange some eduaction on the risks/dangers associated with Mines and UXO's at the local school. If they can't do it, I am hoping to get the teaching materials from them, and do it myself before I leave.
Happily, I have been able to hand out some of the Izzy dolls that were sent to me, without causing a disaster among the local children. I've included a few couple of pics of Edward with his doll. (I mistakenly called him Joseph in an earlier entry) I realize that the key is to aim for small groups of kids, even individuals, as even a small group rapidly becomes a bigger one when the kids see something being given out... then the grab what you can instinct comes out.... and I don't like that.
Yannick and I were driving along on our way back from a patrol in town, and we saw a little guy about 2-3 years old standing out in the street. He looked really cute, but he wasn't wearing a shirt, and his pants had fallen half-way
Toy truck
Made completley from scrap. Lots of younge boys pull these around by a string. And we cry if we don't have a Playstation3... down his bum. We decided to stop the car and give him our last remaining Izzy doll that day. As Yannick opened the door and stepped out to crouch down and hand him the doll, he began to cry and took a few steps abck towards hs fathers shop/stall at the side of the road. At this point his pants fell down even further, and now his bum and his "little guy" were hanging out. Yannick, sensing the child's distress, stopped his advance, and held out the doll... that's when his curiosity got the better of him. So now he's turned and was just staring at the two scary white folk, trying to give him a doll... with his pants hanging down. Sooooo funny. His dad came out, and helped him pull his pants up, and he handed the Izzy doll to the child for us, which he was happy to accept. I think he was just a little startled by the two khawajas...
The political situation here in Sudan has also taken a bit of a beating in the past 4 days. The Government of Southern Sudan has elected to suspend it's participation in the Government of National
Edward 2
Showing me his Izzy doll... the dolls was completrly filthy, but it made me smile. Unity, which is the interim, "cooperative" government formed by the North and South. They are upset because they do not see the North as having fulfilled some of their obligations under the Comprehensive peace agreement. So they withdrew all their ministers, and are trying to force the North to accept their requests for some changes. It has been said that this could lead the country back into another civil war if the goverment does not reach some sort of agreement. I hope it does not lead to that, and many of the people I speak with are happy without the war, they have enjoyed almost 3 years of relative peace, and they like it.
This past Friday marked the Eid-Al Fittir holiday, which celebrates the end of Ramadan. Once the first sliver of a moon is visible in the sky, Ramadan os declared over, and people may begin to eat and drink during the day. We were invited to a dinner put on by the Bangladesh Company, and all people in the teamsite were invited. We enjoyed a simple, but very flavourful dinner of hard-boiled eggs, bread, rice, noodles, and yup, you guessed it.... goat. It was a very
Women road workers...
The women shovel the dirt and fi the roads in 40 degree heat, while the men sleep in the shade of trucks and trees.... not exactly like home. nice celebration and we spent the evening sitting outside sitting around a little charcoal stove, smoking sheesha in a water pipe. Sheesh is a moist molasses tobacco, flavoured in this case like apples. It was nice way to unwind after the week, and just socialize and tell stories. I really enjoyed it.
Finally, I was ale to celebrate Thanksgiving yesterday with a great meal that fed 9 of us, all thanks to Laura. Her Thanksgiving package served up a great meal, including mashed potatoes, stuffing, ham, turkey carrots, beets, cranberry sauce, and I even managed to get a pumpkin pie baked. Just call me Betty Crocker. Everyone was so impressed with her support and ingenuity... myself included. She even put candles, a tablecloth and some autumn-leaf garland in the package for decoration. I never thought I have the turkey sleeps in Sudan. Thanks honey. Being here has made me reaize exactly how much I have to be thankful for... the list is long.
Anyhow, that's all I've got. I'm out.
Love,
Don
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Teresa and Matt C
non-member comment
Don, we were both delighted to hear of your stories on your vacation.. long entries but wonderfully intriguing and we can't wait to experience more of Europe ourselves! I also think it's so great that you plan on going into the school and teaching the children about the dangerous explosives. You will make an incredible difference! It's very humbling to read about your experiences. Great writing! Keep on taking good care, love T and M Coleman.