THE BLUE

Before I was deployed to the Sudan, one of the things I was looking forward to was the after hours socializing, you know people from different countries telling their stories.  When I got to the team site here in Yei, I was shocked to find out that 20 of the 24 unpols live outside the camp, so there was no socializing what so ever. Well, let me tell you, we started a wellness/welfare committee, and went to work finishing the BLUE. The committee is made up from representatives from unpol (police)unmo(military) and National Staff (locals) money was raised, the building was painted, shelves were built, and on Saturday April 2 2011, we have invited all the ngo's (non-government organizations) to a social event. We have plans to move the TV and sat dish, so when Chelsea is playing, I can get yelled at by the 1 million Manchester fans that make up the majority of Yei.  Cody, you would be in your glory here, if you wore that black man u shirt you have, you would be a legend. As you can see we didn't paint the upper beams, we are planning on pinning all the flags of all the nations that are represented here in Yei, last count there was around 20. When all the flags are up, I'll make sure I post a picture. Next Monday I fly out to Khartoum for our Canadian Contingent meeting, it's been 3 months since I saw my brothers and sisters, I'm really looking forward to it. On the April 13, I will be departing Yei for Cape Town to meet up with my family for my first CTO, can't wait I NEED A BREAK....

I wanted to challenge myself, I want to take this team site to a place it hasn't been before, I want to challenge the unpol officers to do the same.  This is why I competed for this position.

Recently we said good bye to our team site leader, Bahair Singh, who's tour of duty had come to an end. This is 16 of the 24 UNPOLS that are posted to Yei. The position of team leader is now vacant, however I have put my name forward as a possible replacement.

On Patrol with my good friend Mizan, from Bangladesh

This picture is dedicated to my son Jesse, I know what you are thinking son, The bridge was to narrow for the land cruisers to cross, so I made the decision to cross via the river. Today it started to rain, so in a couple of days I will be heading out to do more patrolling like this. Somebody has to do it in the name of peace.

Most of the roads that we patrol, we have to share with transport trucks like this one. As you can see, the score is Sudan roads 1, Transport trucks 0

Indians Gone Wild

Our communications section is operated by the Indian Army. On March 20 2011, I was part of the Celebration of Colour. It was hilarious, they were gunned at 10:00 in the morning, as you can see from these pictures, as I was on my way to conduct some training, when I was bush whacked; the food was excellent, the music was loud, and the company was second to none.

This is (ac) African Cat, that has adopted me as her owner, the local staff say that it is good luck if a cat picks you to be it's master. I guess we'll see how that folk tale pans out.

The Resovoir Dogs, Sudan style
L-R
SSPS officer, Brian, and UNPOL from Nepal

This is my partner in crime, note Mrs. Carmichael Brian is doing his laundry

A little UN humor, this is a box of condoms that someone put into our bathroom. A funny side note, I saw this same box inside a 300 degree sea cotainer, that was leaking from a rain storm, and here it sits, on top of the hot water tank; things that make you go hmmm.

Can you say wow, I was walking to the airfield for my daily run, and I heard some thunder, looked up and took this picture.

During a visit to the border town of Kaya, we came across a structure fire that destroyed a couple of local business. We are in the process of providing some basic fire training to the local police,so that when something like this fire happens there is somebody there to take the lead in organizing a responce. Community policing is an important function that we are pushing the local police to embrace.

A little girl with 20 lb container of water on her head, they have to walk 5 to 10 km to fetch water. One of my objectives is to ensure that the UNOPS is aware of the need for more bore holes to be drilled, to lessen the distance that the women/children have to walk everyday to fetch water.

On Sunday March 6, I travelled to the town of Tore, to colocate with the South Sudanese Police officers that work and live at that post. The roads, well this picture is one of the holes that we travelled through to get back from Tore. The trip to Tore is 80km, however 25 of those km are on roads like the picture above. I cant wait to do this trip in my new 2009 Toyota landcruiser, that I signed for days before, during the rainy season.

One night I walked out of my container and took this shot of the full moon over the erie tree

March is a birthday month back home

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish a large part of my family a happy birthday.

1. My father in law John
2. My sister Kristen, who turns 35 on the 9th of March
3. My son Jesse who turns 26 on the 16th of March
4. My son Cody who turns 20 on the 18th of March
5. My lovely wife Cheryl who turns _?_ on the 26th of March

I'm thinking of you all