I’ve just been listening to one of the sermons from Maybridge Community Church – the Church in Worthing in which I grew up. Andy was talking about John 17 where we have a window in Jesus’ relationship with his Father as we hear his prayer. How can we live having the same intimacy with God that Jesus did? ‘Trust him more’ is one answer, but how can we actually do that? Andy points out that one aspect of that is to challenge our habits and culture of ownership.
‘For everything I have is yours’. Do I live and recognise the fact that everything I have belongs to God? If I have ownership of anything, then I am not being completely dependent on God. In today’s culture, there’s such a stigma about being dependent – people associate it with being useless, unable to take care of yourself, being a burden on others. Independence is seen as a pinnacle to reach – to have control and power of your own life, your own finances and your own decisions. It also implies that we have no need of others, and that we can live perfectly ok by ourselves. Actually, I think that devalues community, breaks at the bonds of society and misses the fun and the pleasure of sharing. We should be living in interdependence with other people – where I depend on them and they depend on me. Where my gifts and strengths can fulfil what someone else needs, and my weaknesses can be covered by what somebody else has. I think all of us do like to be able to do something for others – I’m always happy to babysit for example and give people a chance to go out. But if we are trying to be sufficient and independent it means that we then struggle to accept other people doing things for us, and our pride can get in the way of enjoying something that is willingly given. Generally, I’d say that I don’t have too much of a problem with that – during the past couple of years I have not been financially independent (and have been amazed at the provision of money that people have generously given) and relied on other people for transport, food, holidays, support or whatever else. However, I can still pinpoint times, some very recently, when I’ve found it difficult to accept gifts because they seem too valuable for me to repay. My pride and equal give-and-take mentality still insists that I can’t take anything ‘for free’. I wonder how much of that mentality is in Christianity? The whole nature of grace is that it is something freely given, something that we do not deserve and cannot be earned. Yet so many people are trying to live a ‘good life’ in order to pay back something to God because they feel indebted and do not like it. They do not want to be in the powerless position of owing anything to anybody, even God.
The truth is that we do owe everything to God. The fact that I’m alive, the food that I eat, the work that I do, the people that I know, the skills that I use, the ideas that I have. They are all gifts from God. And I want to acknowledge that, and be dependent on God. Interdependent with other people, but completely and utterly dependent on God. There’s nothing that I can do for him that makes him more complete than he already is – he does not need me – but I need him for everything. Therefore, independence in a relationship with God is a complete contradiction as I’d be trying to have a relationship with someone whilst denying one of their essential characteristics; he is my Jehovah Jirah – provider of all things. But this dependence on God is not a burden, it’s not a debt that I have to feel that I need to repay (not that I can!) and it’s not a weakness to feel ashamed of. It’s a recognition of who God is, and who I am, and how God meant for us to live in relationship with him. It’s freedom – there’s no expectations, no worry over performance and no fears over money; I am dependent on God who he is my provider.
I think that one of the areas that I probably find most difficult in knowing that it all belongs to God is in the area of work. Looking back over the past couple of weeks(/years!) I can see that I tend to take on responsibility not just for jobs, but also for the outcome. I believe that me and me alone can do this task properly and that the success or failure for the work is all down to me. Which is pretty egocentric. Yes, I believe that God wants me to take on responsibility and yes, I believe that he wants me to use the skills and intelligence that he’s given me (that’s why he gave them to me). But that does not mean that I should try and take the work out of God’s hands and do it myself! I need to recognise that the work I do is God’s work, that I can do the best I can and that is all I can do and all he wants me to do. It’s in God’s hands when things go wrong and there are problems, and when things are going well God gets the glory! And through it all we can praise and trust and worship him because he is always worth it.
So there’s a challenge. To recognise that I don’t have ownership of anything – not my money, my time, my work or my things – and that I am a dependant on the One who is the Creator of all things. Who else could I depend on?!
Saturday, 14 August 2010
Monday, 9 August 2010
Liquid Gold
A question for you – what would you give to have clean water?
Think about what you use water for. For drinking water, cups of tea. For cooking your pasta and vegetables. For cleaning your teeth. For washing the dishes. For washing yourself. For cleaning the house. For flushing the toilet (even though it doesn’t matter if that’s a bit dirty). What if you didn’t have clean water? How quickly would you have it installed in your house? How much would you be willing to pay to get it?
I found out today how much money people at the UN get paid, which seemed to me to be very high. The lower positions are paid around $5,000 a month. Mid level managers might be $14,000 a month, higher level we’re talking about $20,000 or more a month. That’s so much! No wonder people want to work for the UN for the salary…. Compare that to the salaries of NGOs and it’s laughable – NGOs pay fairly (particularly when you consider we get accommodation and food provided) but not huge amounts. We’re probably talking around $4,000 a month for a mid-level manager.
In the Water and Sanitation project that we’re currently doing, it costs about $1,200 for the materials and labour for each water source that we protect. That provides improved, cleaner water for about 700 people (SPHERE quality guidelines say one source for 400 people but actually far more than that will use the source). Yet we’re limited in the work that we can do because of lack of funding. In the area where we’re working, there’s a population of about 16,000 people, sharing 24 sources of water. Of these, maybe a third have been improved during the past, but because of the war they have fallen into disrepair. With the money from Pooled Fund, we’re able to rehabilitate just 5 of them. That’ll make a difference to those people, but what about the others? In the town of Kalima, where we have our sub-base, the nearest water source is 7km away – we would love to get a gravity water system up and working there – if we can find the money. We have a vehicle which makes it easier to collect water – how would you feel about walking 14km every time you needed 20 litres of water?! Now there’s a week’s water challenge if any of your feel like taking it up!
Our Watsan Technician, Edgard, takes a sample at the source of Kambili.
The source at Kamundala. This is where families take water for drinking, cooking and everything else.
There’s also a challenge in there for any of us with money. What are we doing with it? When I was chatting to the guys about the UN salaries, my mind briefly flitted over the idea of working for the UN for a year, earning a lot of money and being able to use that to protect a lot of water sources. Then I realised that I can provide the day-to-day management of protecting the water sources which is not something that most people are in a position to be able to do. However, there are plenty of people who are earning the salaries (which isn’t something that I can currently do!) which can pay for the improvement of the water sources. So why don’t you?! Most people believe in giving a little to charity – why not give a lot?! And if money for a whole water source really is beyond you, get together with a few other people and give the money with them.
I’m not sure what the current $ - £ exchange rate is, but let’s say that one water source is £1,000 (to help cover transport, salaries and other overheads as well as the actual materials & labour). £1,000.
My question again - what would you give for clean water?
A few more statistics:
• 30% of people in this area do not make any income – they just about grow enough food to feed themselves.
• Of the 70% that do make any income, the average earning is somewhere in the region of 10,000FC-20,000FC a year (900FC to $1) which is about $10-$20 a year. Food costs about the same as the UK – a kg of meat is 8000FC ($9), rice is 1000FC per kg (just over a dollar).
• In Pangi territory (where we’re working) over 70% of children under 5 got diarrhoea within an 8 month period. Around 10% of all deaths from children under 5 are from diarrhoea - primarily caused by unsafe water.
• Only 1.2% of people in Pangi have got access to clean water.
“Look at what you’ve got. Take from it what you need. What is left is needed by others.” (St. Augustine)
Think about what you use water for. For drinking water, cups of tea. For cooking your pasta and vegetables. For cleaning your teeth. For washing the dishes. For washing yourself. For cleaning the house. For flushing the toilet (even though it doesn’t matter if that’s a bit dirty). What if you didn’t have clean water? How quickly would you have it installed in your house? How much would you be willing to pay to get it?
I found out today how much money people at the UN get paid, which seemed to me to be very high. The lower positions are paid around $5,000 a month. Mid level managers might be $14,000 a month, higher level we’re talking about $20,000 or more a month. That’s so much! No wonder people want to work for the UN for the salary…. Compare that to the salaries of NGOs and it’s laughable – NGOs pay fairly (particularly when you consider we get accommodation and food provided) but not huge amounts. We’re probably talking around $4,000 a month for a mid-level manager.
In the Water and Sanitation project that we’re currently doing, it costs about $1,200 for the materials and labour for each water source that we protect. That provides improved, cleaner water for about 700 people (SPHERE quality guidelines say one source for 400 people but actually far more than that will use the source). Yet we’re limited in the work that we can do because of lack of funding. In the area where we’re working, there’s a population of about 16,000 people, sharing 24 sources of water. Of these, maybe a third have been improved during the past, but because of the war they have fallen into disrepair. With the money from Pooled Fund, we’re able to rehabilitate just 5 of them. That’ll make a difference to those people, but what about the others? In the town of Kalima, where we have our sub-base, the nearest water source is 7km away – we would love to get a gravity water system up and working there – if we can find the money. We have a vehicle which makes it easier to collect water – how would you feel about walking 14km every time you needed 20 litres of water?! Now there’s a week’s water challenge if any of your feel like taking it up!
Our Watsan Technician, Edgard, takes a sample at the source of Kambili.
The source at Kamundala. This is where families take water for drinking, cooking and everything else.
There’s also a challenge in there for any of us with money. What are we doing with it? When I was chatting to the guys about the UN salaries, my mind briefly flitted over the idea of working for the UN for a year, earning a lot of money and being able to use that to protect a lot of water sources. Then I realised that I can provide the day-to-day management of protecting the water sources which is not something that most people are in a position to be able to do. However, there are plenty of people who are earning the salaries (which isn’t something that I can currently do!) which can pay for the improvement of the water sources. So why don’t you?! Most people believe in giving a little to charity – why not give a lot?! And if money for a whole water source really is beyond you, get together with a few other people and give the money with them.
I’m not sure what the current $ - £ exchange rate is, but let’s say that one water source is £1,000 (to help cover transport, salaries and other overheads as well as the actual materials & labour). £1,000.
My question again - what would you give for clean water?
A few more statistics:
• 30% of people in this area do not make any income – they just about grow enough food to feed themselves.
• Of the 70% that do make any income, the average earning is somewhere in the region of 10,000FC-20,000FC a year (900FC to $1) which is about $10-$20 a year. Food costs about the same as the UK – a kg of meat is 8000FC ($9), rice is 1000FC per kg (just over a dollar).
• In Pangi territory (where we’re working) over 70% of children under 5 got diarrhoea within an 8 month period. Around 10% of all deaths from children under 5 are from diarrhoea - primarily caused by unsafe water.
• Only 1.2% of people in Pangi have got access to clean water.
“Look at what you’ve got. Take from it what you need. What is left is needed by others.” (St. Augustine)
Monday, 2 August 2010
Travel in Congo
Sometimes we travel by road...
The first picture is en route to our sub-base in Kalima - we did actually get stuck here, but fortunately only for a few minutes. It's amazing what angles the landcruiser can go at! The second picture is when we were travelling from Uvira to Bukavu over the escarpement route. We came across a large yellow lorry that was stuck right in the middle of the road - no way round, no way to move it. We had to turn round, drive back 30 minutes, leave one of our staff (who doesn't have their passport at the moment) and take a route through Rwanda instead.
Sometimes we travel by river...
Actually, Tearfund staff never cross the river in the same way as the photos above. We normally cross the river in lifejackets on our own pirogue, like this:
Sometimes we travel by plane...
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These pictures include the UNHAS plane that I normally take to Kindu, the airport at Kasongo (it made me laugh, it's not much of an airport. The airstrip is only a piece of grass as well) and a somewhat steep turn we did we did in said plane....
The first picture is en route to our sub-base in Kalima - we did actually get stuck here, but fortunately only for a few minutes. It's amazing what angles the landcruiser can go at! The second picture is when we were travelling from Uvira to Bukavu over the escarpement route. We came across a large yellow lorry that was stuck right in the middle of the road - no way round, no way to move it. We had to turn round, drive back 30 minutes, leave one of our staff (who doesn't have their passport at the moment) and take a route through Rwanda instead.
Sometimes we travel by river...
Actually, Tearfund staff never cross the river in the same way as the photos above. We normally cross the river in lifejackets on our own pirogue, like this:
Sometimes we travel by plane...
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500846539189382178" />
These pictures include the UNHAS plane that I normally take to Kindu, the airport at Kasongo (it made me laugh, it's not much of an airport. The airstrip is only a piece of grass as well) and a somewhat steep turn we did we did in said plane....
A day in the life of...
27th July 2010
NB: This may not be a typical day. I only returned to Kindu yesterday, and Benoit is away on leave which means I’m in charge of 30 people, 2 projects and investigating an emergency project…
7.30am: Alarm goes off. Walk blurrily to the door and unlock so the house staff can start work.
7.31am: Throw buckets of cold water over myself. My hair is definitely due for a wash – haven’t washed it in about 4 days. Slightly less blurry eyed.
7.40am: Start unpacking my bag which I was too tired to do yesterday. Give the cook a grater, a vegetable peeler and spatulas I bought in Uganda (the potato masher got beheaded en route). Realise I need to wash my underwear.
7.55: Force down some porridge made by our cook.
8.00: Devotions – sing in French and Swahili. I’m leading devotions today (that’s a nice welcome back!) which I do for the first time ever in French. Felix translates into Swahili giving everyone else a second chance of understanding what I said. Then prayers and announcements. My French holds up. Sort of.
8.45: Quick chat about the HIV training proposal with Madelaine.
8.50: Transfer money so Yvonne, our finance administrator can start paying the salaries. Show her how the payslips work. Sign the authorisation for the travel movements for the week.
9.20: Catch up with Jean-Pierre, our PHP (Public Hygiene Promotion officer). Discuss the site selection of our water project and the per diems for BCZ (Government health workers).
9.50: Quick catch up with Arnold (Food Security Management) about the distribution of seeds.
10.00: Notice a load of the animators hanging around in the hut outside waiting for the payroll before they’ll go to the field. Go and give them the photos I had printed in Uganda so they can start creating the presentation boards.
10.09: Bearded by 2 people wondering how to photocopy data when our photocopier is broken. Send them to logistics to arrange to get it copied by someone in the town.
10.10: Meet with Sadok, the Monitoring & Evaluation person. Run through his plan for the week and discuss the different ways he can verify that the beneficiary selection has been done well. Chat about gathering ‘stories of transformation’. Interrupted in the middle by Josephine (our cleaner) who wants to know if the clothes unpacked on my bedroom floor need to be ironed.
10.45: Go hunting for the camera charger.
10.46: Delegate the job to someone else.
10.47: Discuss an issue over payroll with someone – explain it’s pro-rata’d from when the contract starts.
11.00: Receive a letter with information pertaining to an HR issue last week. Read and discuss with Person 1.
11.50: Discuss payroll issue with someone who doesn’t appear to be on the payroll. This is problematic.
12.00: Try ringing two different people at the Bukavu support base to discuss payroll. No answer. Write email instead.
12.05: Go and check emails on the BGAN (satellite internet thingy)
12.10: Return to office. Laptop makes a loud beeping noise and starts declaring that the hard drive is broken. Wonder if it was the 3-4 minutes of sun. Run diagnostics.
12.15: Discuss payroll issue further with our missing payroll employee. Give him a cash advance on his salary instead. Hope I’ve done the right thing.
12.35: Diagnostics still showing a hard drive error. Laptop not working. Pray.
12.40: Another payroll issue with someone who has more children than the infants allowance is showing. Wish the HR Administrator was here to deal with this.
12.45: Meet some visitors who are here to talk to Jean-Pierre. Give authorisation to Jean-Pierre to use the projector at the WASH (water and sanitation) cluster meeting this afternoon.
12.50: Laptop running memory tests. No-one waiting to talk to me. Decide to go and eat lunch whilst I have the opportunity. Finish washing underwear. Rice, ugali, beef, vegetables for lunch – quite tasty but far too much.
Is it really only lunchtime?!
13h15: Return to the office. Reboot the laptop. It’s working! Hooray! Thank God.
13h18: It’s quiet in the office as most people are on lunch break. Read emails whilst I get a chance.
13h25: Continue calendarising budget (working out what month we’re likely to spend what money in) which I started yesterday whilst waiting at the airport. Interrupted by Mama Mkubwa (our cook) with the guard for translation (she only speaks Swahili and my Swahili just isn’t that good) to discuss what food is needed when visitors arrived tomorrow.
14h00: Meet with Person 2 over HR issue
14h45: Ring Betsy, the Deputy Programme Director, to discuss HR issue.
14h50: Finish calendarising the budget. Check out where we’re likely to run into difficulties.
15h25: Write various emails - budget issues, appraisal feedback, donor reports.
16.00: Meet with Person 3 over HR issue
16h40: Meet with Felix, our Logistician, on the set-up of our new sub-base. Interrupted by another person with a question over payroll. Felix leaves to pick up some papers. He’s gone for over 10 seconds and his chair in front of my desk quickly gets filled.
17h10: Arnold pops in for a quick chat on the days work.
17h13: Person 4 arrives to discuss HR issue.
17h19: Wonder if the AC’s role is always so busy.
17h20: Feedback to Madelaine on the HIV budget.
17h25: Continue conversation with Felix on procurement and requisitions. Sign off some purchase requests. Discuss the prices we need to find out for an emergency project for displaced people in Kalima.
18h00: Try ringing our Logs Manager. No answer.
18h01: Read appropriate parts of National Staff policy manual for dealing with HR issue.
18h20: Find Yvonne still working. Suggest she goes home before it gets dark. Arrange to meet tomorrow.
18h25: Write email on logistics and HR stuff.
19h15: Go to send emails. Remember one I’ve forgotten one on security and write that. Send by BGAN
19h30: Officially finish work for the day. Go and eat dinner. Pancakes, fish and vegetable stuff. Give the rest to the guards. Eat an apple. Bit bruised – it did come with me from Bukavu.
19h50: Read through the statements for HR issues with my French dictionary at hand. Wonder whether to write the report now or leave it till tomorrow. Tomorrow wins.
20h15: Start writing a blog entry about what I did today.
20h55: Watch an episode of House and enjoy a piece of (fair-trade) chocolate a very kind person from the UK sent me.
21h45: Go to sleep, perchance to dream.
NB: This may not be a typical day. I only returned to Kindu yesterday, and Benoit is away on leave which means I’m in charge of 30 people, 2 projects and investigating an emergency project…
7.30am: Alarm goes off. Walk blurrily to the door and unlock so the house staff can start work.
7.31am: Throw buckets of cold water over myself. My hair is definitely due for a wash – haven’t washed it in about 4 days. Slightly less blurry eyed.
7.40am: Start unpacking my bag which I was too tired to do yesterday. Give the cook a grater, a vegetable peeler and spatulas I bought in Uganda (the potato masher got beheaded en route). Realise I need to wash my underwear.
7.55: Force down some porridge made by our cook.
8.00: Devotions – sing in French and Swahili. I’m leading devotions today (that’s a nice welcome back!) which I do for the first time ever in French. Felix translates into Swahili giving everyone else a second chance of understanding what I said. Then prayers and announcements. My French holds up. Sort of.
8.45: Quick chat about the HIV training proposal with Madelaine.
8.50: Transfer money so Yvonne, our finance administrator can start paying the salaries. Show her how the payslips work. Sign the authorisation for the travel movements for the week.
9.20: Catch up with Jean-Pierre, our PHP (Public Hygiene Promotion officer). Discuss the site selection of our water project and the per diems for BCZ (Government health workers).
9.50: Quick catch up with Arnold (Food Security Management) about the distribution of seeds.
10.00: Notice a load of the animators hanging around in the hut outside waiting for the payroll before they’ll go to the field. Go and give them the photos I had printed in Uganda so they can start creating the presentation boards.
10.09: Bearded by 2 people wondering how to photocopy data when our photocopier is broken. Send them to logistics to arrange to get it copied by someone in the town.
10.10: Meet with Sadok, the Monitoring & Evaluation person. Run through his plan for the week and discuss the different ways he can verify that the beneficiary selection has been done well. Chat about gathering ‘stories of transformation’. Interrupted in the middle by Josephine (our cleaner) who wants to know if the clothes unpacked on my bedroom floor need to be ironed.
10.45: Go hunting for the camera charger.
10.46: Delegate the job to someone else.
10.47: Discuss an issue over payroll with someone – explain it’s pro-rata’d from when the contract starts.
11.00: Receive a letter with information pertaining to an HR issue last week. Read and discuss with Person 1.
11.50: Discuss payroll issue with someone who doesn’t appear to be on the payroll. This is problematic.
12.00: Try ringing two different people at the Bukavu support base to discuss payroll. No answer. Write email instead.
12.05: Go and check emails on the BGAN (satellite internet thingy)
12.10: Return to office. Laptop makes a loud beeping noise and starts declaring that the hard drive is broken. Wonder if it was the 3-4 minutes of sun. Run diagnostics.
12.15: Discuss payroll issue further with our missing payroll employee. Give him a cash advance on his salary instead. Hope I’ve done the right thing.
12.35: Diagnostics still showing a hard drive error. Laptop not working. Pray.
12.40: Another payroll issue with someone who has more children than the infants allowance is showing. Wish the HR Administrator was here to deal with this.
12.45: Meet some visitors who are here to talk to Jean-Pierre. Give authorisation to Jean-Pierre to use the projector at the WASH (water and sanitation) cluster meeting this afternoon.
12.50: Laptop running memory tests. No-one waiting to talk to me. Decide to go and eat lunch whilst I have the opportunity. Finish washing underwear. Rice, ugali, beef, vegetables for lunch – quite tasty but far too much.
Is it really only lunchtime?!
13h15: Return to the office. Reboot the laptop. It’s working! Hooray! Thank God.
13h18: It’s quiet in the office as most people are on lunch break. Read emails whilst I get a chance.
13h25: Continue calendarising budget (working out what month we’re likely to spend what money in) which I started yesterday whilst waiting at the airport. Interrupted by Mama Mkubwa (our cook) with the guard for translation (she only speaks Swahili and my Swahili just isn’t that good) to discuss what food is needed when visitors arrived tomorrow.
14h00: Meet with Person 2 over HR issue
14h45: Ring Betsy, the Deputy Programme Director, to discuss HR issue.
14h50: Finish calendarising the budget. Check out where we’re likely to run into difficulties.
15h25: Write various emails - budget issues, appraisal feedback, donor reports.
16.00: Meet with Person 3 over HR issue
16h40: Meet with Felix, our Logistician, on the set-up of our new sub-base. Interrupted by another person with a question over payroll. Felix leaves to pick up some papers. He’s gone for over 10 seconds and his chair in front of my desk quickly gets filled.
17h10: Arnold pops in for a quick chat on the days work.
17h13: Person 4 arrives to discuss HR issue.
17h19: Wonder if the AC’s role is always so busy.
17h20: Feedback to Madelaine on the HIV budget.
17h25: Continue conversation with Felix on procurement and requisitions. Sign off some purchase requests. Discuss the prices we need to find out for an emergency project for displaced people in Kalima.
18h00: Try ringing our Logs Manager. No answer.
18h01: Read appropriate parts of National Staff policy manual for dealing with HR issue.
18h20: Find Yvonne still working. Suggest she goes home before it gets dark. Arrange to meet tomorrow.
18h25: Write email on logistics and HR stuff.
19h15: Go to send emails. Remember one I’ve forgotten one on security and write that. Send by BGAN
19h30: Officially finish work for the day. Go and eat dinner. Pancakes, fish and vegetable stuff. Give the rest to the guards. Eat an apple. Bit bruised – it did come with me from Bukavu.
19h50: Read through the statements for HR issues with my French dictionary at hand. Wonder whether to write the report now or leave it till tomorrow. Tomorrow wins.
20h15: Start writing a blog entry about what I did today.
20h55: Watch an episode of House and enjoy a piece of (fair-trade) chocolate a very kind person from the UK sent me.
21h45: Go to sleep, perchance to dream.
Sunday, 25 July 2010
4 months in (part 2)
Things that I miss
Probably the thing that I miss most is seeing my niece grow up. I lived with her since her birth until she was around 15 months. Now she’s 18 months old and picking up new words every day and starting to do all sorts of new things. With other people, I can sort of make myself believe that I’m not missing out too much – they’ll be pretty much the same when I go back and I can have good times with them then. With Abigail, I’m missing a part of her life which will never come back, and that’s sad. At the same time though, I recognise that there are sacrifices I have to make to do this work – and not seeing family and friends so frequently is the biggest – but they’re worth making. I want to do this work, and I think it’s where God wants me as well, and there are also many rewards.
It’s not just a decision that impacts me though – it’s impacts my family and friends as well. Except they didn’t get to ‘choose’ me to do this work, they just have to live with the consequences of being without my company on such a regular basis!
Things that I’m grateful for
I’m so grateful that I get on with Benoit. Before I left the UK, how I was going to get on with a 40 odd year old Burundian male who was both my boss and my one housemate was the thing I was most worried about. However, the fact that we get on as well as we do, not getting on each others nerves (that much!) but actually enjoying each other’s company is a continual blessing. My life would be much poorer here without him.
Massive gratitude also to Malcolm and Elizabeth, the Australian couple who live in Kindu and have done for a few years. We have a regular time of Christian fellowship on Sunday evenings, and frequently see each other during the week as well for a meal, a chat, a game or a film. They’re our main social life in Kindu and we may well have gone insane without them. They’re great people, wise, supportive, positive and encouraging. Elizabeth is also a very good cook, and her provisions of lasagne, stew, thai green curry and quiche have been a definite bright spot in our otherwise humdrum tedium of food.
I’m also glad that I really like Kindu. Almost everyone (particularly the people who have never been) seems to have something negative to say about it – it’s hot, there are a lot of mosquitoes, it’s remote and you may get stuck there for weeks on end… Personally, I love Kindu. It’s beautiful (particularly at sunset by the river), small and quiet enough to walk around, has got pretty good roads and lovely people. Yes, it’s expensive, logistically difficult and the social life is a bit restricted, but it’s got things in its favour too! Anyway, I prefer living in Kindu to Goma or elsewhere, and don’t find it too limiting. So hooray for Kindu!
I’m very grateful for the lovely people who send me things in the post. Letters, cards, food and small presents get me excited for days. Thank you!
I’m glad of the opportunity to learn French – it’s still slow progress but I’m gradually understanding more and the team have been patient with my halting attempts.
I’m grateful for our team in Kindu. Even with language and cultural differences in the way, I genuinely like each and every member. They’ve been willing to work with me despite my youth, my newness and my attempts at French.
I’m also grateful for our international team – we’re a diverse bunch but we all try to support each other. There are obviously some people I know better than others - and one person who I haven’t actually met yet – it will be good to spend more time with them at the team retreat and meeting next week. There are also one or two people who I get on with particularly well, and am glad that they’re there to share more with and to be friends as well as team-mates.
I’m glad and proud to be working for Tearfund. I fully believe in Tearfund’s mission, values and approach, and have seen and experienced how this is evident in the practical, working-things-out-on-the-ground stuff. We’re not perfect, but the motivation, support and effort are there and the work is making a difference in people’s lives. During the period from last November to February all opportunities seemed to have closed on me, I didn’t know what options I should be looking at or what decisions to make, yet here I am now, in Congo, working with Tearfund. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be, and I’m so incredibly thankful!
Probably the thing that I miss most is seeing my niece grow up. I lived with her since her birth until she was around 15 months. Now she’s 18 months old and picking up new words every day and starting to do all sorts of new things. With other people, I can sort of make myself believe that I’m not missing out too much – they’ll be pretty much the same when I go back and I can have good times with them then. With Abigail, I’m missing a part of her life which will never come back, and that’s sad. At the same time though, I recognise that there are sacrifices I have to make to do this work – and not seeing family and friends so frequently is the biggest – but they’re worth making. I want to do this work, and I think it’s where God wants me as well, and there are also many rewards.
It’s not just a decision that impacts me though – it’s impacts my family and friends as well. Except they didn’t get to ‘choose’ me to do this work, they just have to live with the consequences of being without my company on such a regular basis!
Things that I’m grateful for
I’m so grateful that I get on with Benoit. Before I left the UK, how I was going to get on with a 40 odd year old Burundian male who was both my boss and my one housemate was the thing I was most worried about. However, the fact that we get on as well as we do, not getting on each others nerves (that much!) but actually enjoying each other’s company is a continual blessing. My life would be much poorer here without him.
Massive gratitude also to Malcolm and Elizabeth, the Australian couple who live in Kindu and have done for a few years. We have a regular time of Christian fellowship on Sunday evenings, and frequently see each other during the week as well for a meal, a chat, a game or a film. They’re our main social life in Kindu and we may well have gone insane without them. They’re great people, wise, supportive, positive and encouraging. Elizabeth is also a very good cook, and her provisions of lasagne, stew, thai green curry and quiche have been a definite bright spot in our otherwise humdrum tedium of food.
I’m also glad that I really like Kindu. Almost everyone (particularly the people who have never been) seems to have something negative to say about it – it’s hot, there are a lot of mosquitoes, it’s remote and you may get stuck there for weeks on end… Personally, I love Kindu. It’s beautiful (particularly at sunset by the river), small and quiet enough to walk around, has got pretty good roads and lovely people. Yes, it’s expensive, logistically difficult and the social life is a bit restricted, but it’s got things in its favour too! Anyway, I prefer living in Kindu to Goma or elsewhere, and don’t find it too limiting. So hooray for Kindu!
I’m very grateful for the lovely people who send me things in the post. Letters, cards, food and small presents get me excited for days. Thank you!
I’m glad of the opportunity to learn French – it’s still slow progress but I’m gradually understanding more and the team have been patient with my halting attempts.
I’m grateful for our team in Kindu. Even with language and cultural differences in the way, I genuinely like each and every member. They’ve been willing to work with me despite my youth, my newness and my attempts at French.
I’m also grateful for our international team – we’re a diverse bunch but we all try to support each other. There are obviously some people I know better than others - and one person who I haven’t actually met yet – it will be good to spend more time with them at the team retreat and meeting next week. There are also one or two people who I get on with particularly well, and am glad that they’re there to share more with and to be friends as well as team-mates.
I’m glad and proud to be working for Tearfund. I fully believe in Tearfund’s mission, values and approach, and have seen and experienced how this is evident in the practical, working-things-out-on-the-ground stuff. We’re not perfect, but the motivation, support and effort are there and the work is making a difference in people’s lives. During the period from last November to February all opportunities seemed to have closed on me, I didn’t know what options I should be looking at or what decisions to make, yet here I am now, in Congo, working with Tearfund. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be, and I’m so incredibly thankful!
4 months in
I’ve now been in Congo for 4 months, having left the UK on March 20th. It’s been good, it’s been interesting, it’s been difficult, it’s been rewarding, it’s been tiring – I am glad that I am here.
I was thinking about how the last few months have been gone, and have started writing my thoughts. Hopefully I’ll be able to continue with ‘Things that have made me laugh’, ‘Things that I’ve learned’ etc. as well!
Things that have frustrated me
Communication has been one of the most frustrating things. It’s difficult to get in touch with the other international support staff – if we both even have phone signal than one or other of us is in meetings, have other priorities or they’re busy at one of the other project sites. Then there’s misunderstandings, different agendas, different timescales, emails not being delivered properly, documents being sent late because it’s difficult to transport them and lots of other things that make life more challenging for all of us. The support staff are there to support, but it can sometimes feel that they just make things more complicated – we need to make a quick decision and they’re not available, so we either go ahead and make a decision (and then don’t benefit from their advice and/or risk annoying them) or we hold-up the project which has already been delayed from this-or-that. In return, they have responsibility to make sure that things are done properly, but project sites are late at planning, don’t inform them of things that they need to know, expect them to be at their immediate disposal and don’t allow them to fulfil their jobs properly! We’re all aware of these difficulties, and try to help each other but the demands of the work doesn’t make it any easier.
Occasionally, I have communication difficulties with Benoit, which tend to be from misunderstandings arising from language. Benoit’s very good at English (certainly better than my French!) but he’s not perfect. So he says or explains something, I clarify and it all seems to be clear. Then 5 minutes / 1 day / 2 weeks / 1 month later I notice Benoit saying or doing something contrary to what he had previously said. Once or twice this has been due to a change of plans that I wasn’t aware of, but sometimes Benoit says that he’s never said anything different. But I distinctly remember him stating something different and then get very confused! We think that in those cases Benoit’s never *meant* anything different, but the words used to express that result in me understanding something different. We’ve also had times when we’ve meant exactly the same thing but think the other is disagreeing with us because of how we’re expressing it – fortunately we tend to discover that if we talk a bit more. Hopefully, if I get better at French we can use two languages to cross-check meanings – as opposed to having two languages to get confused in! However, it’s great example of ‘listen to what the other person is trying to say and not what they’re actually saying’. And to be patient whilst doing so!
Another thing that frustrates me slightly is the lack of authority I have. As a Project Support Officer (and as a volunteer), this year is for learning and therefore I don’t (officially) have any responsibility. Whilst I can understand that, it’s also quite annoying as sometimes it can feel like it blocks me from doing my job. For example, Benoit’s asked me to check some budget lines which involves finance in Bukavu, but they won’t respond to my requests (even if Benoit’s copied in and in agreement) because I’m not the budget holder. That stops me from getting on and checking/sorting even small issues and it has to wait for Benoit who’s busy enough already. It then feels that I’m not able to properly help Benoit and take some of the huge workload off his shoulders. We’ve discussed this particular issue, and have now hopefully come up with a process that everyone’s happy with. Another time I’ve felt limited by my lack of authority to sign off requisitions – every purchase has to be signed off (normally three times, once on the requisition, once for the cash advance and once after the expenditure) and this can only be done by Benoit. So one Saturday afternoon, Benoit’s asleep, we’ve run out of water and the Cook has come to me with a request to buy some more. I can’t sign it, I’m not going to wake up Benoit and I’m getting thirsty. So I have to give her my own money. Again, I understand the processes and the reasons for them but I find it somewhat frustrating that I can’t even give permission for someone to buy water. The funny thing is that when Benoit’s away, I’m acting-AC and suddenly my level of authority increases dramatically! However, the responsibility level does as well – as PSO I have no authority but freedom from responsibility. As AC (either to a certain level now whilst acting-AC or in the future) I’ll have freedom to do stuff but will also have the responsibility that goes with it. I remember Margaret Atwood talking about ‘freedom to and freedom from’ in her book ‘The Handmaid’s tale’ (which is one of the only books that I’ve enjoyed more after studying it) and liking the distinction. As time goes on, I think I’ll start chafing at the restrictions and be ready and wanting to take on more responsibility. However, at the moment, with my current level of experience, I think I’m happier as PSO - without the responsibility or the authority!
Things that have shocked me
This would have to be some of the attitudes of the national staff, and of the culture as a whole. How things that I see as dishonest or unbelievable are normal here. People threatening legal action in response to a standard, contractual, necessary procedure. People taking whatever opportunity they can to hold back money for themselves. People wanting to gossip, spread rumours and destroy the reputations of others. Maybe these things are endemic the world over, and I haven’t been exposed to them before on such an endemic basis. Maybe I’ve grown up in an environment where there are enough checks, balances and social norms that curtail their existence. It’s shocking, but the most shocking thing is how normal it is.
I was thinking about how the last few months have been gone, and have started writing my thoughts. Hopefully I’ll be able to continue with ‘Things that have made me laugh’, ‘Things that I’ve learned’ etc. as well!
Things that have frustrated me
Communication has been one of the most frustrating things. It’s difficult to get in touch with the other international support staff – if we both even have phone signal than one or other of us is in meetings, have other priorities or they’re busy at one of the other project sites. Then there’s misunderstandings, different agendas, different timescales, emails not being delivered properly, documents being sent late because it’s difficult to transport them and lots of other things that make life more challenging for all of us. The support staff are there to support, but it can sometimes feel that they just make things more complicated – we need to make a quick decision and they’re not available, so we either go ahead and make a decision (and then don’t benefit from their advice and/or risk annoying them) or we hold-up the project which has already been delayed from this-or-that. In return, they have responsibility to make sure that things are done properly, but project sites are late at planning, don’t inform them of things that they need to know, expect them to be at their immediate disposal and don’t allow them to fulfil their jobs properly! We’re all aware of these difficulties, and try to help each other but the demands of the work doesn’t make it any easier.
Occasionally, I have communication difficulties with Benoit, which tend to be from misunderstandings arising from language. Benoit’s very good at English (certainly better than my French!) but he’s not perfect. So he says or explains something, I clarify and it all seems to be clear. Then 5 minutes / 1 day / 2 weeks / 1 month later I notice Benoit saying or doing something contrary to what he had previously said. Once or twice this has been due to a change of plans that I wasn’t aware of, but sometimes Benoit says that he’s never said anything different. But I distinctly remember him stating something different and then get very confused! We think that in those cases Benoit’s never *meant* anything different, but the words used to express that result in me understanding something different. We’ve also had times when we’ve meant exactly the same thing but think the other is disagreeing with us because of how we’re expressing it – fortunately we tend to discover that if we talk a bit more. Hopefully, if I get better at French we can use two languages to cross-check meanings – as opposed to having two languages to get confused in! However, it’s great example of ‘listen to what the other person is trying to say and not what they’re actually saying’. And to be patient whilst doing so!
Another thing that frustrates me slightly is the lack of authority I have. As a Project Support Officer (and as a volunteer), this year is for learning and therefore I don’t (officially) have any responsibility. Whilst I can understand that, it’s also quite annoying as sometimes it can feel like it blocks me from doing my job. For example, Benoit’s asked me to check some budget lines which involves finance in Bukavu, but they won’t respond to my requests (even if Benoit’s copied in and in agreement) because I’m not the budget holder. That stops me from getting on and checking/sorting even small issues and it has to wait for Benoit who’s busy enough already. It then feels that I’m not able to properly help Benoit and take some of the huge workload off his shoulders. We’ve discussed this particular issue, and have now hopefully come up with a process that everyone’s happy with. Another time I’ve felt limited by my lack of authority to sign off requisitions – every purchase has to be signed off (normally three times, once on the requisition, once for the cash advance and once after the expenditure) and this can only be done by Benoit. So one Saturday afternoon, Benoit’s asleep, we’ve run out of water and the Cook has come to me with a request to buy some more. I can’t sign it, I’m not going to wake up Benoit and I’m getting thirsty. So I have to give her my own money. Again, I understand the processes and the reasons for them but I find it somewhat frustrating that I can’t even give permission for someone to buy water. The funny thing is that when Benoit’s away, I’m acting-AC and suddenly my level of authority increases dramatically! However, the responsibility level does as well – as PSO I have no authority but freedom from responsibility. As AC (either to a certain level now whilst acting-AC or in the future) I’ll have freedom to do stuff but will also have the responsibility that goes with it. I remember Margaret Atwood talking about ‘freedom to and freedom from’ in her book ‘The Handmaid’s tale’ (which is one of the only books that I’ve enjoyed more after studying it) and liking the distinction. As time goes on, I think I’ll start chafing at the restrictions and be ready and wanting to take on more responsibility. However, at the moment, with my current level of experience, I think I’m happier as PSO - without the responsibility or the authority!
Things that have shocked me
This would have to be some of the attitudes of the national staff, and of the culture as a whole. How things that I see as dishonest or unbelievable are normal here. People threatening legal action in response to a standard, contractual, necessary procedure. People taking whatever opportunity they can to hold back money for themselves. People wanting to gossip, spread rumours and destroy the reputations of others. Maybe these things are endemic the world over, and I haven’t been exposed to them before on such an endemic basis. Maybe I’ve grown up in an environment where there are enough checks, balances and social norms that curtail their existence. It’s shocking, but the most shocking thing is how normal it is.
Monday, 12 July 2010
Flight Farce
I have to say, I’m quite amazed that I’m even on R&R at all – we’ve had so many issues with flights this week! It wasn’t until Friday morning that it was confirmed that I was actually able to leave Kindu – about 2 hours before I took the plane. Please see below for a long and detailed explanation about why – seeing how much time it took us to sort out, and how it amused me, I’ll write it in full…. Doesn’t mean you have to read it though.
Normally, we fly on UNHAS and there aren’t any issues at all. They fly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between Bukavu, Goma and Kindu, and it’s fairly fixed which direction they go on which day. They may leave a few hours earlier or later each time, but that’s not normally a problem. Last week, because of the 50th celebrations, they weren’t flying at all. We had staff due to come back from their leave (national staff who come from other parts of the country receive entitlement to return home), so that was delayed until the Monday of the next week. Then it turned out that UNHAS weren’t flying on Monday. So we sent our two staff by boat up to Goma (UNHAS fly Goma-Kindu-Bukavu on Wednesdays), but then late on Tues eve we find out they’re not flying then either. The plane had to go to Entebbe for repairs, and until they received authorisation from the Government that it was skyworthy they wouldn’t be flying – no indication of when that might be.
This causes us a few problems. Apart from our two staff stuck now in Goma (which we’re paying their accommodation each night), I’m due to go on leave on Friday, we’ve been trying to get a staff member whose contract is finished on a plane home to Goma (again since independence celebrations), we’ve got 3 new staff who are supposed to be joining us and our HR officer is supposed to be going to Bukavu for briefing
So we start looking at options. CAA is a more expensive commercial airline, they’ve been approved by the UK as a second resort to UNHAS though we have to get permission from the Programme Director before we use them. Busy Bee is an airline, which another British NGO charter on a biweekly basis between the more remote villages, Kindu and Goma. However, permission to use them also has to come from the UK. So we contact our Acting PD, who contacts UK, who came back to us with permission to use both CAA and Busy Bee the next day. Was very impressed with their response actually – I thought it might take longer.
So on Thurs we try and work out what we want to do, which was a nightmare of communication. Our logistician was out in the field trying to set up a sub-base. The main Bukavu logistician who would normally deal with flights was in the process of travelling up to Goma. The other Bukavu logistics person who was covering was inaccessible for most of the day. The other NGO office we needed to ask was in Goma, which then involved the logistician from our Goma base. The HR officer in Bukavu was also involved, and was trying to find out information for my flights on to Uganda despite not knowing if I would be able to leave Kindu or whether it would be Bukavu or Goma I’d fly to. Our storekeeper was also involved in trying to find the schedule from CAA here in Kindu. Benoit was the person who had to make the decisions on all of this. He also ended up having to co-ordinate it, made more difficult by the fact that the phone network was pretty bad. About 4pm on Thurs afternoon we discover that the NGO in Goma was saying that they didn’t have spaces/it wasn’t possible to go with Busy Bee, and that CAA were saying that they were only flying Kindu-Bukavu as opposed to their normal route of Kinshasa-Kindu-Bukavu-Goma-Kindu-Kinshasa. And it’s over double the price of UNHAS. That wasn’t good for much of anything, and we were thinking that it didn’t look like anyone was flying on the Friday when we thought we’d check with a UN friend of ours who works at the airport who told us UNHAS was back up and running! Then we heard from another person that it wasn’t running… and then by another person that it was… Then confirmed that it was. Fantastic! OK, we’d had all that running round after the other airlines for nothing, but it solved all our problems.
Except it didn’t.
When one of the logisticians (what’s the collective term for a group of logisticians I wonder? A load? A bevy? A fleet?) then tried to book our tickets, they were told that the organisation was suspended due to non-payment.
WHAT?! That couldn’t be right… They sent through the email that confirmed that as of today, we were banned people from UNHAS flights due to the non-payment of a ridiculously large figure which is equivalent to about a year’s worth of flying. Obviously, the Bukavu office immediately started looking into this and scanning and sending the payment confirmations to show that we have paid – it’s looking like there was a miscommunication between the Bukavu and Kinshasa UN offices which should be sorted out shortly.
Benoit and I had a good laugh about the fact that news of us being banned people had come through on the same day as all the rest of the flight debacle, adding the pinnacle to what had already been a farce. However, as the timing of my leave is quite important in how it ties in with other events, Benoit rang a couple of people he knows and somehow managed to get me a seat on the chartered flight with the other NGO – one of the advantages of being an international staff member as I don’t think they would have said yes for a national staff member. It wasn’t completely confirmed until Saturday morning, so I had to ask HR in Bukavu to hold off booking my flights to Entebbe until then. It amuses me to think how far in advance people book and plan holidays to Africa – whilst I book my flights the day before!
There was even a struggle getting to the airport. Unfortunately, one of our staff members stuck in Goma is our driver. Normally, we have two drivers but the second hasn’t yet been recruited, as we have to wait for the Fleet Manager to visit and do driving tests with them. We have one casual who is authorised to drive, but he was taking Benoit to Kalima to set up our sub-base (Benoit’s trip had already been delayed because of lack of driver). Our logistician, the other person who can drive, was also at the sub-base. So how was I to get to the airport? In the end, it was arranged for one of the pastors that we know to come and pick me up. He then had to leave, and I was left to wait for the other NGO people to arrive. I almost missed them as well – they had gone straight through to the runway, and it was fortunate that one of their guys came to find me, took my bag, whisked me through the registration, and 5 minutes later we were in the air. Quickest check-in ever!!!
The inside of the Busy Bee plan. Pretty much the same as UNHAS except it's blue and got pictures of bees everywhere.
Landing at Goma. Always fun to fly low over the high streets.
Was up at 5.30am today, to cross the border to Rwanda and drive to Kigali to take the flight to Entebbe. I’d planned to ring a couple of people from Kigali to confirm my Uganda plans, but unfortunately there’s no signal on my DRC mobile and my UK number costs £1.25 a minute to even receive calls. Whilst there was wireless internet, this doesn’t replace being able to talk to people directly, which resulted in some confusion and uncertainty. That is really my fault for not clarifying things when I had the opportunity to, but all’s well that ends well and here I am sitting in a luxurious resort! All the rest of the staff are still stuck but I’ll be glad that I managed to get out. It was very much of a ‘Oh what a circus, oh what a show’ and a complete farce though!
Normally, we fly on UNHAS and there aren’t any issues at all. They fly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between Bukavu, Goma and Kindu, and it’s fairly fixed which direction they go on which day. They may leave a few hours earlier or later each time, but that’s not normally a problem. Last week, because of the 50th celebrations, they weren’t flying at all. We had staff due to come back from their leave (national staff who come from other parts of the country receive entitlement to return home), so that was delayed until the Monday of the next week. Then it turned out that UNHAS weren’t flying on Monday. So we sent our two staff by boat up to Goma (UNHAS fly Goma-Kindu-Bukavu on Wednesdays), but then late on Tues eve we find out they’re not flying then either. The plane had to go to Entebbe for repairs, and until they received authorisation from the Government that it was skyworthy they wouldn’t be flying – no indication of when that might be.
This causes us a few problems. Apart from our two staff stuck now in Goma (which we’re paying their accommodation each night), I’m due to go on leave on Friday, we’ve been trying to get a staff member whose contract is finished on a plane home to Goma (again since independence celebrations), we’ve got 3 new staff who are supposed to be joining us and our HR officer is supposed to be going to Bukavu for briefing
So we start looking at options. CAA is a more expensive commercial airline, they’ve been approved by the UK as a second resort to UNHAS though we have to get permission from the Programme Director before we use them. Busy Bee is an airline, which another British NGO charter on a biweekly basis between the more remote villages, Kindu and Goma. However, permission to use them also has to come from the UK. So we contact our Acting PD, who contacts UK, who came back to us with permission to use both CAA and Busy Bee the next day. Was very impressed with their response actually – I thought it might take longer.
So on Thurs we try and work out what we want to do, which was a nightmare of communication. Our logistician was out in the field trying to set up a sub-base. The main Bukavu logistician who would normally deal with flights was in the process of travelling up to Goma. The other Bukavu logistics person who was covering was inaccessible for most of the day. The other NGO office we needed to ask was in Goma, which then involved the logistician from our Goma base. The HR officer in Bukavu was also involved, and was trying to find out information for my flights on to Uganda despite not knowing if I would be able to leave Kindu or whether it would be Bukavu or Goma I’d fly to. Our storekeeper was also involved in trying to find the schedule from CAA here in Kindu. Benoit was the person who had to make the decisions on all of this. He also ended up having to co-ordinate it, made more difficult by the fact that the phone network was pretty bad. About 4pm on Thurs afternoon we discover that the NGO in Goma was saying that they didn’t have spaces/it wasn’t possible to go with Busy Bee, and that CAA were saying that they were only flying Kindu-Bukavu as opposed to their normal route of Kinshasa-Kindu-Bukavu-Goma-Kindu-Kinshasa. And it’s over double the price of UNHAS. That wasn’t good for much of anything, and we were thinking that it didn’t look like anyone was flying on the Friday when we thought we’d check with a UN friend of ours who works at the airport who told us UNHAS was back up and running! Then we heard from another person that it wasn’t running… and then by another person that it was… Then confirmed that it was. Fantastic! OK, we’d had all that running round after the other airlines for nothing, but it solved all our problems.
Except it didn’t.
When one of the logisticians (what’s the collective term for a group of logisticians I wonder? A load? A bevy? A fleet?) then tried to book our tickets, they were told that the organisation was suspended due to non-payment.
WHAT?! That couldn’t be right… They sent through the email that confirmed that as of today, we were banned people from UNHAS flights due to the non-payment of a ridiculously large figure which is equivalent to about a year’s worth of flying. Obviously, the Bukavu office immediately started looking into this and scanning and sending the payment confirmations to show that we have paid – it’s looking like there was a miscommunication between the Bukavu and Kinshasa UN offices which should be sorted out shortly.
Benoit and I had a good laugh about the fact that news of us being banned people had come through on the same day as all the rest of the flight debacle, adding the pinnacle to what had already been a farce. However, as the timing of my leave is quite important in how it ties in with other events, Benoit rang a couple of people he knows and somehow managed to get me a seat on the chartered flight with the other NGO – one of the advantages of being an international staff member as I don’t think they would have said yes for a national staff member. It wasn’t completely confirmed until Saturday morning, so I had to ask HR in Bukavu to hold off booking my flights to Entebbe until then. It amuses me to think how far in advance people book and plan holidays to Africa – whilst I book my flights the day before!
There was even a struggle getting to the airport. Unfortunately, one of our staff members stuck in Goma is our driver. Normally, we have two drivers but the second hasn’t yet been recruited, as we have to wait for the Fleet Manager to visit and do driving tests with them. We have one casual who is authorised to drive, but he was taking Benoit to Kalima to set up our sub-base (Benoit’s trip had already been delayed because of lack of driver). Our logistician, the other person who can drive, was also at the sub-base. So how was I to get to the airport? In the end, it was arranged for one of the pastors that we know to come and pick me up. He then had to leave, and I was left to wait for the other NGO people to arrive. I almost missed them as well – they had gone straight through to the runway, and it was fortunate that one of their guys came to find me, took my bag, whisked me through the registration, and 5 minutes later we were in the air. Quickest check-in ever!!!
The inside of the Busy Bee plan. Pretty much the same as UNHAS except it's blue and got pictures of bees everywhere.
Landing at Goma. Always fun to fly low over the high streets.Was up at 5.30am today, to cross the border to Rwanda and drive to Kigali to take the flight to Entebbe. I’d planned to ring a couple of people from Kigali to confirm my Uganda plans, but unfortunately there’s no signal on my DRC mobile and my UK number costs £1.25 a minute to even receive calls. Whilst there was wireless internet, this doesn’t replace being able to talk to people directly, which resulted in some confusion and uncertainty. That is really my fault for not clarifying things when I had the opportunity to, but all’s well that ends well and here I am sitting in a luxurious resort! All the rest of the staff are still stuck but I’ll be glad that I managed to get out. It was very much of a ‘Oh what a circus, oh what a show’ and a complete farce though!
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