JULUD

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My Home for the next few months will be Team Site Julud in the state of Southern Kordofan.

Life in Julud is best described in pictures which I will add soon. In the meantime I will do my best to paint a picture for you:

Here we often refer to the team site as Julud Paradise. Which carries both truth and sarcasm depending on the person, time and day. It is located in the rugged Nuba Mountains, which at the moment are hot and dry, the daily high is +40 with the low around +25. Since arriving it has rained very lightly only twice, but the rainy season is just around the corner. Julud is a one hour drive from the nearest paved road. And unlike country roads in Canada, the roads here are not gravel nor are they graded and drained properly. Although they are in the process of completing a proper road to Julud, construction will end soon due to the coming rainy season. This will make life, and more specifically driving very interesting in the following months!

The team site itself is relatively new, and has had some recent upgrades thanks to the Egyptian Engineers. The ablutions facilities are reasonably well kept, and have recently had a Washing machine installed (this was a point of contention as it has been here for over a year without being installed), unfortunately the machine was not Installed/balanced properly so I suspect it will shake itself apart in short order. There is a barbed wire perimeter which serves only to keep us in, as all the local animals have easily found a way through. As a result we share our camp with numerous goats, donkeys, and dogs. There is a simple kitchen, as well as a small gym, and TV room. None of these facilities get used often as they are inconvenient and often is a poor state of repair, or in the case of the gym I can't find a key (there is two in the entire camp).

The accommodations are metal containers roughly 150 square feet. Currently there is a shortage so I am borrowing Albert's container while he is on leave. Each container has a bed, coat rack, locker, mini fridge, desk, and chair, and of course they are air conditioned. They are more than suitable for the 4ish months I will send Here and again pictures will give a much better idea of what the living accommodations are like here. The permanent residents are all located in one section of the Camp while the Egyptian Soldiers have a separate area with their own mess and accommodation facilities.

The working facilities are a different version of portable container. They are larger and have room for 3-4 work spaces. The UNMO's share three of these offices, as well we operate the duty and radio room for the team site (most team sites have an Indian Army manned radio room, but out team site is to small and the UNMOs picked up the duty of maintaining ours).

Like all UN bases TS Julud is very multi-cultural Here is the break down as I know it:
1 Canadian - UNMO
2 Dutch - UNMO
2 Norwegian - UNPOL(police)
1 Swedish - UNPOL
1 Brazilian - UNMO
2 Iranian - UNMO
3 Zambian - UNMO & UNPOL
2 Pilipino - UNMO
2 Chinese - UNMO
1 Paraguayan- UNMO
1 Kenyan - UN Civy
1 Indian - UN Civy
2 Nigerian - UNPOL
1 Egyptian Infantry Platoon
1 Egyptian Eng Section
Many local national staff

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