First time around...

So it has been almost 2 weeks since I left and I have made it back in one piece from my first visit to the "field". I didn't make it to Sherkole this time but to Assosa which is a larger town close to Sherkole, population about 50k, few paved roads, prone to electricity and water shortages and about 90 km from the Sudanese border.

Arrived there on Sunday last week, the plane ride was about 3 hrs long and I met a very friendly English guy, Ken, who works on a bamboo forest management project. From the air and at this time of the year you would swear it impossible for there to be a bamboo forest anywhere near or around Assosa but there is one. Apparently they are planning to build the world 5^th largest pulp mill in Assosa, with the sole customer being China! I asked about the bleaching and I was told it would all be environmentally friendly chemicals... let's hope!

As we arrived we dropped out stuff in the IRC guest house and then went straight into the newest hotel. Had lunch... I took only some rice, and then headed back to the guest house. The training started on Monday morning. It was an interesting experience. I was attending a Training of Trainers on Facilitation and Civic Education. Participants, apart from one of the facilitators and I, were only men. All Sudanese refugees living in Sherkole, either Civic Ed facilitators or Information disseminators (they are suppose to go around the camp and ask people what they know about the situation in the region they are intending on returning to in Sudan and either complete, update and or correct it). I was told that for some of them they had been former combatants...

The aim was to provide them with skills in facilitation of civil education sessions, as the returning refugees need to become aware of their duties and responsibilities in a Sudan working on the consolidation of a peace agreement (North and South only, the West -Darfur- and the East are not quite being tackled by this programme). There are so many concepts that they need to learn before they can even pass them on... One of the problems with democracy is procedure. What happens when you have not been involved in the idealisation of a concept (participatory democracy/good governance)? You don't own it.

Try to apply it: what you get is a democracy à la carte where people change the recipe and alter some of the defining characteristics of the concept because they conflict with current practices... so already democracy is far from perfect add to it unorthodox practices...

Sometime around Monday afternoon, after lunch (which for me was more of the same rice as the day before - the meat is very grossly chopped and not very enticing to the eyes or nose) I eat sometime that disagreed with me, cramps and spasms followed during the following days. As a result I decided against eating anything else for the rest of my stay, LOL just to be on the safe side. I think I will bring some dry lentils and powder spices, maybe some soups and grains ... the food is just too meaty and fatty and not balanced and since I don't have to stick to that diet I don't see why I should adopt it... perhaps I might try some dishes later on but I think that I rather try local food in Addis rather than in the middle of nowhere, where there is not always water and where hygiene is different from what I am used to, specially when it comes to fresh vegetables.

The training went fine, though they could certainly use some more follow-up and further training. They were all very friendly... I think I will probably see most of them again when I return to the camp although I still don't know whether I will be staying there or in Assosa (visiting the camp a few times a week). I think considering circumstances, cultural and social contexts being friendly is a good thing, but I still think at times maintaining some distance is a good way to avoid misunderstandings due to ambiguous understandings... I can deal with some ambiguity but at this point I think I have enough challenges on my plate to last me a while to add socio-cultural particularities as a variable.

Aside from that, the other inconvenience I encountered... is I lost my camera. I don't know if I dropped it or misplaced it (and then it disappeared)... so I ordered a new one to be delivered to my little brother in Paris and he can bring it when he and Eline (his fiancée) arrive in a couple of weeks... I think I should hang it or permanently attach it to myself I better not lose this one!

So after four days, of 2 where without water (so NO SHOWER) the check in and the airport... all done manually, even the baggage inspection, went fine! I met another very pleasant South African-Belgian- English guy on the ride back, Olivier, luckily he is talkative and friendly :) A water and sanitation engineer intern working with the IRC as well at least for a couple more weeks...

Internships/volunteering... the new cheap HIGHLY SKILLED labour...

Anyways, my stomach is doing better after three days of "forced self imposed fasting" I was craving Mexican food but settled for pizza! My pants are growing around me... and my belts aren't going to hold them in place for much longer... and I who thought I had enough "reserves" hahaha...

Back in the office... still don't know exactly what it is I am supposed to be doing... maybe by the end of the day!

En stor björn kram från Addis