The main mode of moving product around Aweil

Just thought that I would like to show you what I do most of the day.

The Trains transporting 2300 independently displaced persons from the north arrived in Aweil today. These people fled this area during the war, and are now returning home after 10 to 20 years away.

The train tracks were built during the war to move war material from the north to the south, however there use has a more peaceful purpose these days.

As I was sitting there watching the trains unload, these little darlings were watching me.

Canadian Cat

World meet Razzi, when compared to the African Cats, well actually there is no comparing, Razzi, by shear body mass out does them all.

Cats of the world unite

You've all met AC before, he looks alot better than he did in this picture; but when compared to Razzi......well I'll let the pictures tell the story.

The Camp here in Aweil is much larger than the one in Yei, I would say double the size.

Those are mango trees. They were planted by the British in the 1960's

This is the perimeter road, I walk it at night, and then run it in the morning when the tempatures are much cooler.

That blue building on the left is a church. Although most of the Southerns speak Arabic, they practice Christianity

This is my new container, much like the one I had in Yei, just older

I was on my daily walk around the camp, when I came across one of thses fellas. I was told that there are three of them in camp, and that they are quite tame.

The return of the lost box

Another beautiful day here in Aweil, I woke up at around 6:45, had some breakfast, went to work at around 7:30, checked my e mails, then began my day. When I was redeployed I had to ship some of my personal affects. The items were loaded onto the UN aircraft in Juba, which travel  to Rumbeck, and finally to the Northern hub of Wau. Somewhere in between Juba and Rumbeck, they managed to loose one of my boxes. It was not a huge deal, just had some of my rice, spagitti sauce, cleaning materials, and other stuff, that was on the 12th of this month. Well today, I was informed that the missing box has been located, they found it in Rumbeck ??? so I should be getting it on Tuesdays flight. It is the little things that make the biggest differences in the daily routine of a UN police officer. As the rainy season comes to an end, the daily temperatures are starting to rise, today's high will get to around 34, while next week is looking like the 40s. This job is very similar to the one I had before, the only difference is that I am responsibly for all UN police activities in the state of Northern Bahr El Ghazal. I have 26 UNPOL officers from country's such as India, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Gambia, Zambia, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, and the Ukraine. Much like the officers in Yei, I am lucky to have a great core team in the state HQ, we have excellent communication, and lots of great work is being done. They still say that the Canadians have the heaviest accent of the bunch, I wasn't aware that I even had one, hum. My daily routine is routine, all but one of the UNPOLs live off the camp. They do that to save money, but on the flip side, since they do not have any air conditioning, they have the highest case load of malaria. At night I will either run or walk 6kms then off to the container for some supper and a movie on the laptop. Some of the movies I really recommend are: Hot Tub Time machine, Band of Brothers, Commando, well you get my drift, I could not imagine doing a mission without a laptop and movies.

Well first I have to apologize for my tardiness, the last few weeks have been interesting.  When I got back from my trip home, I applied for a open position in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, as a deputy state adviser, I know it sounds impressive, and it is, but it means in the office dealing with all the state related police issues. Well I got the job and the pay raise that goes with it........wait.........there is no pay raise, it's still 136 per day, everyday.
So I packed my stuff, and prepared to move from Yei to Aweil, with stops in Juba and Wau. Well here I am in Aweil, which used to be a team site, now it is the state HQ for CSB Aweil and CSB Gok Machar. The team site is nice, there are a couple of hundred Mango trees, that were planted by the British in the early 60s, and have they grown, and they are a godsend from the repressive heat that is the most consistent factor here. The dogs, all they do is fight, and bark and yelp, enough to drive a person crazy, but nobody wants to remove them, I'm told that they keep the snakes away; that is good enough for me.  i am down to 80 days or so from the 365, and the talk amonst the contingent members is centered around the last cto, and of course checkout. The UN has put a restriction on CTO over christmas so many of the people will no doubt spend it at their respective team sites. I on the other hand am planning my last trip, which will take place from the 5th of December to the 21st. I am going back to CapeTown, it should be quite interesting, as it will be summmer in December. There are some other things that I am working on, I am trying to get the most out of my last couple of months here in the mission. I have taken some pictures of the teamsite, and will post them when the internet will allow me to do so. Until next time

Well its been 9 months to the day that I departed Calgary, I can tell you all that the time has gone by very quickly. I just returned from a quick 2 week trip home, it was nice to sleep in my own bed, drive my car on roads that don't shake your fillings loose, and eat something other than chicken and rice. I think that much has happened. The UN has decided to turn Yei into a long range patrol base, this means that officers will have to travel 3 hours from Juba to deliver much needed advise and training to the SSPS, on a part time basis. I don't understand how 10 unpol officers operating 7 days a week, and just keeping up can be replaced by a few unpol officers on a part time basis. Welcome to the UN.
Some other news that was interesting was that I had to compete for my current position as team site leader, because the old mission (UNMIS) has been replaced with the new mission (UNMISS) all the key positions were up for grab. It was the same old process, submit your package, conduct an interview and wait, when I was on CTO I was informed that I was successful. However, when I returned from my trip home, I spent a couple of days in Juba, when I was informed that a new position Deputy state adviser had become available, so once again I applied, but this time since I was already in Juba the board conducted a interview to ascertain my abilities to fulfill this important position. I felt that I had a good interview, and I should hear something very soon. There are 10 states in Southern Sudan, and each state has 2 key positions, a state adviser, which is a full time UN position filled by a UN civilian, and a deputy state adviser, who is the highest ranking police officer in that state, and that was the position I was applying for. If I am successful, I will be moving north to Aweil located in the State of Northern Bahr El Ghazal, so stay tuned for any updates. The weather, well when your a few degrees off the equator, it doesn't change much. The rainy season is starting to come to an end, and as the sun moves from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere the daily temperatures are slowly increasing. Thats it from Yei for now.

On Friday August 5 2011, I had a very important meeting with the new South Sudanese Police Commissioner at his office in Yei. We discussed a positive working relationship based on trust and open dialogue, something that has been missing with previous team leaders. We established a schedule of mandated tasks that will allow the SSPS  to develop its capacity to provide security, through establishing a more positive, and proactive relationship with the community's they serve.

The South Sudanese Police Have a number of uniform, I think they call this urban camo, they also have a green uniform that most of the street level officers wear.

Please forgive this picture, this is the police officer whose responsibility it is to provide protection to the Police commissioner, I tried to rotate this counter clock wise, but was met by resistance by the dreaded server goblins

We are returning to Yei from a patrol to Juba, the first and third vehicles are the military observers, who offered themselves to be our escorts. The trip took 3.5 hours one way, this was a great opportunity to go to the big UN base for some shopping and great food.

The above picture, we stopped outside a small village to stretch our legs, and these 2 adorable Sudanese children came down to investigate us.

In the morning I open my door, and these 2 creatures are there waiting, the orange one is AC (African cat) who has become rather PHAT.

This is looking across to my container , the rains have transferred this place into a little bit of paradise.

A true UN assembly of people, from left to right, 3 Indians, German, Polish, 2 Norwegians and security officer from Trinidad.

This picture was taken travelling north in the town of Yei

This picture was taken travelling north west, note the truck with all the water cans tied to the tarp

As you can see, the roads, well they could use some work, there are no traffic rules, its my belief that the larger your vehicle, the more right aways you will get.

The new mission (UNMISS)

Happy civic day, I guess that I have to apologize for my lack of desire to add to my blog.
July has been an interesting month to say the least. My team site here in Yei, was staffed with 26 police officers, over the past 3 weeks all but 3 of them have either been repatriated home, or sent to a new team site. They say that change is good for you, and I would agree with that, last week I received 5 new police officers with vigor to get on with the job, which I couldn't say about the some of the officers that were transferred out of here. The mission has changed from UNMIS (mission in Sudan) to UNMISS (mission in southern Sudan) along with that came the liquidation phase of the old mission. That consisted of the movement of personnel and materials from the northern team sites and Khartoum to the new mission HQ in Juba. Yei is now classified as a county support base, the staffing levels have been reduced to 10 police advisers from the 26 that I enjoyed for the past 6 months. along with that comes the challenges of providing the best mandated services to the SSPS, with the 10 officers. The head of mission stated in a interview the other day that the new mission will be up and running by December............just in time for me to Check out.
On a personal side I have been good, although lately I have been feeling quite tired, but no malaria and no other medical issues [:) knock on wood. I am planning on taking my next CTO in September, I think by then I will truly appreciate a break from the daily routine that consumes all of us here in South Sudan.
I talk to my beautiful wife a couple of times a week, who keeps me in the loop of the going ons of Shawville. My son aj is applying to get on the Job in Calgary, and has his interview on August 2, I would say good luck, however luck has nothing to do with it, he has been preparing for this career his whole life, and I know in my heart that he would be an excellent addition to the Calgary Police Service. I think that it would be nice to have my son on the job, it would give me somebody to harass on a daily basis.
I understand that it is policy for IPOB Peace operations branch to have Canadians posted in pairs to the team sites. My partner Brian has been repatriated back to Canada after 7 months of honourable service, I wish him and his family all the best. I hope that they see fit to leave me here for the rest of my mission, I came here to immerse myself in foreign cultures, in a sense to escape from the Canadian way for a year. So far it has worked out very well, the other day I was on a patrol to Juba with a Kenyan, Sudanese, Norwegian, Nepalese, sierra leonnese, and a Peruvian. Last night I was having a drink with a Russian, Norwegian, and a security officer from Trinidad, so for those of you looking for a break from the Canadian way of life, this is the mission for you.
Signing off from Yei

The singing of O Canada

Medal and certificate presentation

Most of the Canadian contingent, including the Canadian ambassador from Khartoum

Team Site Yei

This is what the locals made up for the Canada Day party

I have no idea who this is, My job was to hand out all the Canadian flags

Party on

The party was a blast, there was around 70 UN staff members who attended

On July 1 2011, most of the Canadian contingent travelled to Juba to receive our United Nations Sudan Medal

Uncertain Times

Well here I am sitting in my office, the first day summer, well maybe in Canada, but here in South Sudan, there are 2 seasons, dry and wet.
 It is an anxious time right now, July 9 will be Independence day for the South. The UN in New York had deemed this to be the end of mission for UNMIS. What does this mean to me, and the other 10 Canadians that are currently serving in UNMIS.  Well on July 10, will be the start of a new mission UNMISS United Nations Mission in Southern Sudan, all I know for sure, there are rumours that suggest that the police strength will be cut in half, as well it is unknown if any of the Canadians will be invited to participate in the new mission.
What I do know is that all of our CTO (time off) that was scheduled past July 9, has been cancelled, and any accumulated CTO cannot be transferred to the new mission.
We were told that all of the police contributing countries had a very important meeting in New York Yesterday to discuss the new mission, so we'll wait and see.
All this information and rumours have added to the challenges that I face as the team site leader, I find myself putting out fires, and calming the troops, who put too much truth to the rumours. I find myself saying "it is what it is" lets stay focused, lets support each other, and when I hear something that is factual, I will let you know.
I think this is exciting, from what I have heard about the new mission, its going to be leaner and meaner, focusing on training, pushing the SSPS to new levels of operational and adminastrative abilities.
So we wait, all of us, for the impending decisions from New York, that will leave some folks realing with relief, while other with dismay.

Sailing is in the blood, just not mine

Well today is a very special day for my brother David and the rest of the crew of the Tripp Tease. At 10:30am, pacific time, the Tripp Tease will begin the Van Isle 360 sailing race. The race begins in Nanaimo, and travels 580 nm around Vancouver Island. There will be overnight stops in French Creek, Comox, Campbell River, Deepwater Bay, Hadwicke Island, Telegraph Cove, Port Hardy, Winter Habour, Ucluelet, Victoria, and on June 19 the race will finish in Nanaimo. The boat is a 1992 Tripp 40, and is skippered by Don Gillingham. You can follow the race if you go to the Van Isle 360 web site, where satellite tracking will allow us to follow the Tripp Tease, as she navigates Vancouver Island. Good luck bro, were all pulling for you.

I understand that southern Alberta is being pounded with rain, here in Yei, the rains come like clock work, between 1300 and 1600. The transformation is unbelievable, from January till now, the entire team site has come alive with all sorts of new bugs, frogs, snakes, the trees are in full bloom, and the roads are a disaster. If you think the deerfoot is bad, come on over here, and you will have a new appreciation for the roads back home.

These little buggers swarmed our camp the other night. They are like a flying ant, they fly around for a couple of hours, then there wings fall off.  The next morning I was walking into the office, and I saw all our cleaning ladies kneeling on the grass, me being the good ol Canadian asked "what are you ladies doing" picking up these bugs, they said, I said Ok, why. Well what they do is collect all the live ones, put them into a frying pan with some salt and lunch is served. I think I will stick with my Kirkland signature canned chicken and rice, thank you very much.

When I arrived in January, there was nothing to do but sit in your container and watch movies. Since then we have opened the blue social club, equipped a gym, and skillfully acquired this foos ball table. The foos ball table is a hit, with all the nationalities

L-R, Lal, me ,Mayhesh, Brian, and Shamblu. These Napalese unpol officers mission came to an end, and it was time to say goodbye.

Farewell to my friends from Nepal

When I was deployed on my other missions, we were always deployed as a regiment, so 6 months later we all went home. Here in Sudan, officers are comming and going at a rate of around 3 or 4 every few months, so when it's time for someone to leave, we always make sure to have a farewell party.

Brian, Dan and me in Juba April 2011

Hout Bay

Family pic after the 4 hour climb to the top of Table Mountain

AHH South African wine is so fine

Table Cloth

Rest break while climbing Table Mountain

Ladys and gentlemen.....His Royalness The King of Buger.