Toyota Landcruiser & NGOs

The World Peace Foundation published an article on 22 June 2013 that called for the Toyota Landcruiser to be regulated as a weapon of war because it has been used by many in conflicts in Africa.  However, the author of the argument neglected to notice the many good purposes for which people use the Landcruiser.  Driving around N’Djamena an observer would notice that everybody that wants to leave the city drives a Landcruiser or some Toyota 4WD variant.  That includes MSF, Catholic Charities, SOS Medecins, ASTBEF, the US Embassy, the French Embassy, the Chadian government, and the Chadian military.  These organizations use their vehicles to do a lot of good in the country and to blame the vehicle for its use in conflict is wrong.  

In some places “bad guys” conduct raids on camels or horseback, should these animals and their use be regulated as well?  If the Landcruiser was to be regulated as a weapon of war, will this expand to the regulation of all 4WD vehicles?  Jeep makes a decent off-road vehicle, as does Range Rover, are they next after the Toyotas?  In some places terrorists like to use non-descript cars like the old Peugeot 504 for VBIEDs, so should we regulate them as well?

Other vehicles just aren’t as reliable as the Toyota Landcruiser and no other 4WD brand has established such a robust base of mechanics and spare parts train to support their vehicles.  There is a sweet Porsche Cayenne Turbo parked by the Toyota dealer in N’Djamena, but there are no mechanics that know how to work on it and parts will take forever to get here and cost a fortune!

I agree that the Toyota Landcruiser has often been used in conflicts, but to blame the vehicle or to try to regulate it is not the solution to resolving these conflicts.  I would rather that more effort be put into understanding, conflict resolution, and resource sharing than increasing international regulation of a good truck.

Perhaps I feel so strongly about this because I like my Toyota Landcruiser.  It has driven me across many African countries and always brought me back safely.

Labyrinth of Kingdoms

A Labyrinth of Kingdoms by Steve Kemper

(The story of Heinrich Barth & his five-year expedition 1850-1855 through Central & West Africa before European Imperialism)

An amazing story of over 10,000 miles through Africa 160 years ago from Libya to Lake Chad and west to Timbuktu and back by Heinrich Barth.  Barth was a different kind of explorer than Livingston, Stanley, or Park because he was interested in learning about the people, their culture, and sought knowledge instead of conquest or expanding the European empire.  His books differed from theirs as he put the Africans first and not his own dramatized adventures.  The book is full of great descriptions of African societies and kingdoms before they were subjugated and many destroyed during the scramble for Africa.  Barth met with and shared scientific discussions with African scholars throughout the Sahel and not just in Timbuktu during his travels. Barth not only took made maps and made cultural notes but he also studied the languages, becoming conversant in many of them, and later publishing volumes on African languages. 

I wish I had learned about this book earlier as it destroys the many myths that Africa was a dark continent without any learning or civilization that needed to be tamed by Europeans. I hope I can find in print his original works published in the 1800s.

Chadian School Graduation

This morning I was invited by some expat friends to go with them to the graduation ceremonies for two of the schools they set up in the countryside outside of N’Djamena.  My friends have been living in Chad for decades working for various organizations and are not teachers, but started out by teaching the neighbors kids and slowly their group expanded.  Today I saw over 60 kids at one school and nearly 100 at the other.  The kids were smart and their French was much better than mine, despite speaking only arabic in their homes. 

Singing about the parts of their bodies

The school graduation ceremonies were attended by the proud parents and the top three kids from each group were individually recognized and received a gift bag with pencils, a notebook, and other school items.  We also tossed in a small bag of candies for each kid.  Before the top students were recognized each class gave a small presentation, usually in the form of signing and dancing, a short skit, or by reciting poetry.  The first group to present were the smallest kids, maybe four years old, but they could recite the alphabet perfectly and sang songs that showed off their robust French vocabulary (remember that many of their parents could not speak French).  Older kids talked about the metric system, the environment, human rights, and other things.  The parents were extremely proud of their kids and the moms were ululating as their kids were recognized for their achievements.

Proud parents & smart kids

My friends explained that the kids in their schools were more advanced than many in the city because they decided to focus on teaching quality and good treatment of the kids instead of buildings and other things that ate up the meager budget.  The first school consisted of a couple short wall buildings with a roof that allowed the breeze to pass through and provided a lot of light.  The second school had both the open walled facilities and complete buildings with doors, lights, and fans.  The operating budget of the second facility was much higher as they had to pay for electricity and maintain the more expensive buildings.  Additionally, the closed in rooms were much hotter as the air could not pass through the buildings (and most days are over 110*F outside with the breeze).

Handing out the prizes

Teachers were paid on average 50,000 CFA per month (approximately $100) and were paid year-round as in the summer they would attend teacher professionalization training.  The primary requirement to become a teacher was to be literate but over the years as the schools have grown the quality of the teachers also improved.  (Imagine how much good $100 per month could do here by paying a teacher’s salary).

Skit about an educated nomad herding his sheep

The cost of constructing a simple school building was about $1000 but the need for funding would continue after that for maintenance of the facilities and continuous repairs.  My friends said that once they were able to raise the funds they would like to build a wall around the schools, but so far this had been cost prohibitive as walls that are not done right or done cheaply have a tendency to fall down.

The schools were integrated and included kids from the nomadic northern tribes but also the local kids from the south of Chad.  It was evident that the kids mixed freely, studied, and played games together.  My friends said that working with the schools has been tough but their success was due to the involvement of the parents.  The parents made sure the kids made it to school on time, did their homework, and the parents did the extra work around their homes that normally for which they would depend on their kids.  

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.