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.