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
