UN Secretary General in Eastern DRC

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo this week reminds me of the death of the second UN Secretary General, Dag Hammarskjold.  Both traveled to the region to seek peace between UN, government, and breakaway groups in eastern Congo.

It was 52 years ago, on 18 September 1961, that the plane carrying UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold crashed while traveling in eastern Congo.  Hammarskjold had come to the region to facilitate peace talks between UN peacekeepers and Congolese fighting for the independence of the breakaway Katanga province.  Some reports suggested the Secretary’s plane was shot down by mercenaries paid by Katangan separatists.

Now Secretary Ban Ki-Moon is traveling to the Kivus to try arrange a peace deal with M23, an rebel group reinforced with deserters from the Congolese military.  The UN has agreed to send in more UN troops as an “Intervention Brigade” to try to force a peace in the region.  On this trip the Secretary General was welcomed with rocket attacks and intensified fighting between the military and M23. Hopefully he will make it out of the country alive.  

Cholera Water

The biggest challenge I have had so far in Chad has been dealing with water.  Granted most of Chad is located in the Sahara and Sahel deserts, but I live in N'Djamena, a city on the banks of the Chari River. Right now the river is very low- this weekend I saw people wading across the river- but my problem is with how water is delivered to my house.

I am not hooked up to the city water infrastructure so my organization that provided and takes care of my residence put a 1400 liter water tank next to my house and is supposed to fill it up every other day.  I figure the pipes to my house from the tank must be broken since the tank needs to be refilled with at least a 1000 liters each time.

So far I have run completely out of water six times in the three months I have lived in N'Djamena.  I suppose running out of water every other week isn't too bad since many of my neighbors have to carry water from the local pump to their house in buckets and other containers.  Thankfully there is a shower at my office so I can clean up if there if needed.

The new twist to my water problem is that the water tank has turned green and black.  Clumps of algae float on the surface and hang from the ceiling of the container.  When I run the shower in the house the water comes out a light green color.  The guards refuse to drink the water saying they will catch cholera or some other parasite that will make them sick.  Hopefully we can clean the tank before somebody dies.

Here is a link to the facts about Cholera from the World Health Organization.  I think we'll be ok since nobody is using my water tank as a toilet (at least I hope not).  Maintenance should empty and bleach it in the morning.  Inch'Allah.

Chadian Nomads

This morning I was invited by some friends to go visit some nomads in the countryside and to ride their camels! I had previously ridden camels in Qatar (bareback) and Senegal (hard wooden saddle) and this was the best camel riding experience so far.  The simple wooden saddle that was padded with blankets was comfortable and gave a reasonable feeling of control, kinda like riding a horse with an American saddle.

Some people in the group brought bags of candy to give to the kids in the photos and we were invited to visit their huts.  Inside the huts there were raised beds made of blankets spread across a woven mat of sticks and the roof was supported by another interlaced series of branches covered with tarps and blankets.  It wasn't too hot inside, definitely better than living inside a concrete box that turns into an oven during the heat of the day.

The people were nice and it was cool to talk to the few kids that could speak French.  Highly recommended day trip if you can arrange it when you visit Chad.

Nigeria State of Emergency

Since I last wrote on 6 March 2013 about Boko Haram things have only gotten worse in Northern Nigeria.  I said it met all the qualifications to be counted as a civil war but some said no, it wasn’t that bad.  Today the President of Nigeria declared a state of emergency due to Boko Haram.

Yesterday, Boko Haram released a video where their leader claimed responsibility for attacks that left 240 dead and claimed they will continue abducting women and children.  Another report stated that Boko Haram has destroyed 50 of the 175 schools on Borno state.  Boko has also mounted increasingly sophisticated attacks, including one in Bama on 8 May 2013 where 200 fighters arrived in buses wearing army uniforms and freed 105 prisoners and burned the police station, army barracks, and other government buildings.

Boko Haram also hit a major payday in april 2013 when they received $3 million for releasing the French family taken hostage in Cameron.  All the extra cash will go a long way in financing future attacks and undoubtably contributed to Boko Harams declared affinity for kidnapping.  The more ransoms are paid the more Boko Haram can expand their operations.

Perspective

Today I ran into a good friend of mine from Uganda.  We had met last summer when I was in Kampala and she was very helpful and friendly and I was very glad to see her again.  After catching up with her about her family and things in Uganda she mentioned that her boss had gone with her to a conference and after a couple days abandoned her to do all the work while he was out in cafes during the day and drinking scotch late into the night.  She was, as always, very good natured about it but then she went off on a illustrative tangent about the differences between African men and American men.

She started off by saying that American women dont know how good they have it with American men.  The American man will open a door for his woman, call her "baby" and other pet names, and even cook her dinner.  American men will even clean the house and take care of the kids so their women can do things.  She, my Uganda friend, on the other hand had to open the door for the African man, do all the work, cook her African man dinner, then kneel before him to serve him.

African women have a hard life.  Some have it worse than others depending on where they live, what culture they are in, marital status, employment (if they are allowed to work), and even if they have provided a male heir.  Sometimes they are treated the same as cattle and are bought, sold, and trafficked.  Often they are victims of violence, abuses, and rape.  In some places men are expected to beat their wives and if they aren't beaten sometimes the wives feel neglected.  In some cultures female genital mutilation (FGM) is still normal and expected.

In Uganda last summer a Ugandan friend of mine died in a motorcycle accident and left behind a widow and three daughters.  Since she did not produce a male heir she was not seen as a member of the family and had no rights to her husbands property.  Soon his relatives came to take away everything they could, including the fridge, tv, and deed to the house.  The relatives took the death gratuity payment and threw a party and took as much as they could and then abandoned her and the children.  Fortunately her western friends hid the deed and a couple other things or else she would have been left out on the street with her kids.

My meandering thoughts on this blog can't fix anything, and even to suggest that things aren't right can draw accusations of racism or culturalism.  I am glad, however, that I am in Africa and can help my friends when they ask for help.  I hope that what I am doing in Africa is helping others, improving their lives,  and is mutually beneficial.  My experiences in Africa have definitely changed my perspective.

German Vacation

After six weeks in Chad its time for my first conference in Germany!  It was a good time to leave since the house where I live ran out of water a couple days earlier and I wasn't able to take a bath/shower for a couple days.  I was washing my clothes while getting ready for this trip when the house ran out of water.  Thankfully one of my friends let me jump in their pool so I could wash off before my flight.

For this conference I was booked on Air France, the first time I have ever flown them.  Usually when I flew around Africa I would fly on an African airline, like Kenyan, Ethiopian, or South African and they were fine.  Air France, the carrier usually outside my budget, was supposed to be the posh airline that treated everyone well.  They lived up to their billing except that they lost my luggage.  In over 40+ flights in Africa the local carriers never lost my bags, but my first time on Air France they managed to lose my bag.

36 hours later, still no bag.  I'm tired of washing my clothes in the hotel sink, time to go buy new stuff.  At least this happened in Europe where I can go buy new clothes, otherwise I would be wearing a bou-bou.

Arabic: Lingua Franca in Chad

After just short weeks in Chad its evident that my French isn't sufficient to communicate with the people here in Chad.  In meetings at hospitals, with government officials, military, NGOs, restaurants, taxi drivers I have found that maybe half of the people spoke French and maybe 5% of the people spoke English.  If they did speak English, few could get beyond the nice pleasantries and discuss things in detail.  Books and articles in Chad state that French is spoken by the elite, and I found that to be true in Senegal as well but in Dakar most people spoke Wolof and French.  In N'Djamena it seems that the more common lingua franca here is Arabic, followed by a local language, then French.  My Portuguese is absolutely worthless here.

Given that Arabic is the language that counts here, I would like to learn it.  However, I haven't found anything like an Arabic Institute where one could take classes.  The local dialect of Arabic is Chadian Arabic, which is closely related to Sudanese Arabic and similar to Nigerian Arabic but different the Egyptian Arabic which is used to dub most foreign films into Arabic.  Egyptian Arabic is also different than Saudi or Eastern Arabic. In my searches online for Arabic listening and learning tapes I have found claims that Moroccan Arabic is close to Chadian Arabic so I will try to order some Moroccan Arabic phrase books and listening tapes (like Pimsleur and Instant Immersion).

I'll try to get my associates to speak Arabic with me and teach me some phrases but it won't be the same as hiring a teacher.  Please let me know if you can put me in contact with a good Arabic teacher in N'Djamena!