A Strange Parable, A Strange Parallel

I asked a friend of mine hear who grew up in Nyala all his life, and has clearly suffered from not just the conflict but also the inherent economic hardships, what he thought of UNAMID and the NGOs operating here.

He said “it’s great”. Full stop. To contexualize this, many people I’ve hung out with in my life use the phrase “it’s great” generally when talking about the brighter longer lasting lightbulb, or maybe a really good poop. This is a guy that described some of the more horrific things that have taken place in this part of Sudan since 2003 as “it is not good”. For him to use the phrase “it’s great” when describing the presence of UNAMID and various NGOs had a gravity equal to a black hole named “holy shit”.

To play devils advocate, I asked if he thought the NGOs (ICRC, WFP, etc) were only here because they’re funding by governments and institutions that are interested in the oil. He said “maybe, and that’s some that people from Khartoum try to convince us”.

“The arabs come here and put guns to our heads, and then tell us not to trust the hewagis because they’re only really here for oil and to convert us to Christianity”.

“Who are we to trust? Let me tell you a story…”

And so the parable begins…

“A man comes and shoots your child. He then puts a gun to your head and takes your money. Then someone comes and says I want to help you, and gives you food. Then the man that killed your child comes back and says ‘don’t trust that person’. Who are we to trust? The man that put a gun to your head, or the man that tries to help. You trust the man that tries to help”.

Hard to argue with that logic. I then went on to talk to him about his perspective of the SLA, JEM, and the fuckload of other groups operating in the 3 provinces. Again, another guy saying he’s as frustrated with the rebels as with the government. “All things are created by god. It is not OK for anyone to kill anything created by god.” Talk about an unwavering moral compass. “Just will come in this life, or in doomsday. Either way, we hope for peace.” This made me recall a few conversations I had in Myanmar.

I’m not sure if I could ever have that attitude towards the situation if I was resident here all my life. A friend and teacher of mine frequently uses the phrase “Nemo me impune lacessit”, which translates to “no one attacks me with impunity”. Sympathizing with the situation here I find myself gravitating towards that philosophy as opposed to the magnanimity that this wonderful Sudanese shows. I suppose there’s a bit of poetry when you see someone substitute the trigger for tolerance; I just hope it’s pragmatic.

Preconceptions

Now that I’m two weeks on the job in Darfur I’ve come to do some reflecting on all the preconceptions here. It’s always funny to me in retrospect to see how people build up the stupidest ideas of reality, how that can affect how one might act when that reality is finally introduced to them.

I suppose I could start with myself. When I was first flying into Khartoum from Dubai I had it in my mind that it was going to be a complete clusterfuck. They’re going to reject my visa because the name was spelled wrong. They’re going to find something in my bag that they’ll call contraband and summarily incarcerate me. Some dumbfuck jihadi would smell an American in the breeze and choose me to make their next idiotic PR message.

Of course, it wasn’t quite like that. I did of course get hassled at the airport, but I’m a hiwaji, that’s to be expected. But then Gamal, our “facilitator” showed up and everyone just left me alone. Sudanese are just as annoyed with jihadis as I am, and unless I try to make myself a mark, there’s not much more to worry about than in any other big city.

So then I got it in my head that when I land on the ground in Darfur, that’s when the shit will really hit the fan. Elites there for obvious reasons have a grudge against Americans, and they’ll chuck my ass on the spot. Didn’t happen. There was certainly animosity on the spot, but after speaking Arabic and talking about Barak Obama it was nuts how fast the frowns got turned up side down.

I thought that every Arab in Darfur was going to be aligned with the interests of the north, and every black was going to be in some way supporting the rebels. Of course, that’s a bunch of bullshit too. From the small amount of discussions I’ve had thus far, people are just sick of both of them. The people here are frustrated that they aren’t fairly represented in the government, and just want a proportionate share of the oil weath in the form of basic infrastructure investment.

Of course, there’s been a shit load of preconceptions about me. Amazingly, I don’t poop money. Amazingly, I’m not a zionist. Amazingly, I didn’t advise George Bush on his policies towards Sudan or Iraq or Afghanistan. Amazingly, I do make an attempt at speaking Arabic. Amazingly, I’m not an asshole (or so I think at least).

I guess it’s a surprise that I do care about UNAMIDs operations, and give a shit that they’re supplied properly. I guess it’s a surprise that it’s nice when the contingents get off their ass and supply security when we do those re-supplies. Amazingly, the muzungo does speak Kinyarwandan

All these preconceptions remind me what my boss said to me when he was interviewing me. One of the most important things to have in this job is a sense of humor. Sometimes you just gotta giggle and say “damn, that’s stupid”, about myself included.

How does one communicate the situation in Darfur?

Since arriving in Khartoum it’s been interesting to see UNAMIDs ops in Khartoum and hearing about how things are going in Darfur.  I’ve talked to a few different people from a few different backgrounds, and it’s been disillusioning to hear their perspective on some of the on-the-ground realities of the region.

Consumption of mass-media leads one to believe that the situation in Darfur is a genocide perpetrated by an evil government catalyzed by god-knows what (globalization, reaction to a perceived insurgency, global warming, ethnic hatred, pan-Arab nationalism, all of the above?).  Rebel groups (SLA, JEM, etc) are perceived to be freedom-fighters doing the right thing by fighting the government and the janjaweed in defense of those civilians who cannot defend themselves.  This isn’t even inherently wrong.

What’s been interesting to hear about is how it’s fucked up on all sides.  I’m not in a position to go into any detail.  Though what I will say is this:  Warlords.  Mafia.  Cartels.  Nepotism.  Betrayals.  Laziness.  The is a pervasive sense of righteousness everywhere, but it’s only used to describe people, groups, and institutions counterfactually.  The true tragedy of this social situation is the necessary confluence of variables that we’d describe as righteous progress consisting of leadership, resources, and personnel hasn’t converged yet, and based on the conversations I’ve had thus far, it doesn’t appear to be on the horizon.

I don’t see much of this communicated in popular media.  I suppose the story of “it’s all fucked” just doesn’t reverberate well among most demographics.

I’d write more, but I’m continuously getting distracted because the very pist off sheikh whose sermon being blasted through the loudspeaker at the mosque four blocks to the south is sporadically using the word “A-MERRY-KAY”, with a spirit matched only be Keith Olbermann’s special comment.  Oh Tom Ashbrook, and you and Jack come here and figure out a way to properly communicate the situation in Darfur.

What’s the car tomb?

 

I landed in Khartoum last night around 20:00, with an overly anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I went through about five different genres of music to pump me up for the adventure of going through an immigration dept. that hates Americans, including Rock, Classic Rock, Electronic, Soundtracks, and Metallica (of course is it’s own genre).  I recited the litany against fear, distracted myself with books, and made my peace with everything that I can’t control.  Boy it’s funny how much you work these things up inside your head.

 

I got off the plane, fear just went away.  Spoke Arabic with immigration the best I could, which even made one cat laugh.  I ended up getting ripped off on my visa for $15 bucks more than I should of paid, but that’s life over here.  Gamal, our handler here, showed up after that and was able to escort me past security which saved me having to dump my backpack out into the middle of the floor and explain what esbit cubes are.

 

I arrived at the HQ for Supreme’s ops in Sudan, and met by future boss’s boss Neil Skeet, the guy that interviewed me a couple weeks back.  He’s from Australia, really cool guy.  Has no inhibitions to tell things like he says it, and if he got a buck for every time he said the words fuck, shit, or cunt he could pay of the US national debt.  He was in the Australian Army and spent quite a bit of time in Afghanistan both in that capacity and through Supreme.  It’s amazing to see what he’s done with the aviation div that I work for, and it’s really exciting to see where it’s headed.

 

I’ll be leading ops in Nyala handling inbound shipments from Dubai and arranging for distributions to various UNAMID camps.  Supreme has ops in Ivory Coast, Liberia, and is looking at getting setup in the DRC.  

 

Today I got situated with the UN, and am now an official intl. contractor for UNAMID.  Got a cell phone and 3G internet modem sorted out, and tomorrow being Friday I essentially have a day off.  On Sunday Neil and I are flying out to El Fasher to see ops there for a few days, then it’s off to Nyala to start transitioning me in.

 

I met a guy last night from Supreme’s MSD who has been running aviation in Nyala since my incumbents departure.  Can’t tell why, but based on the way he talked about it it looks to be a job that can burn someone out pretty quick.  I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

 

Thus far though, I’m loving it.  The work itself doesn’t seem any more complex than what I did in The Gambia – just requires developing good relationships with stakeholders and elites, staying frosty, and only worrying about shit I can control.  It’s like that old phrase goes: If God gives you lemons, then you find a new God.

I packed my bags pre-flight; zero hour – 3:30 pm

I took off from MSP about god knows how many hours ago. Stopped in Chicago, then a pit stop in DC, then a awesome 14 hour ride to Dubai where I had two seats to myself by the window.

I landed, and after a couple hiccups with customs about my CR123 batteries which they though were explosives, I checked into the Metropolitan Hotel Dariea. I couldn’t help but wondering if Supreme put me up in this joint because there was an Irish bar on the lobby, but sure as shit, there was.

I got a lot of weird looks when I walked in; not too many white folks in this place. But within a few minutes I met a guy named Jim from Edenburough Scotland. We had a few Guinness and Jameson, and I signed up for pool doing what I do.

I played against this cool cat from Iran named Ali, who has a sister in Boston. He was wicked good at pool, but I managed to hit a 1 rail on the 8 ball and took down the game. Lost the next one getting only one ball down, but that’s how good these fellas are. I got to speak Swahili with this chick from Nairobi and all in all, had a great first day in Dubai.

If I were to ever want a great night to have in Dubai before going to Nyala, this would be it. I hope ever day for the next year has this much dynamic quality.

Life is good.

A Mobilization List

What do you bring when you go to work in Darfur for a year?

I’m Leaving On A Jet Plane, Don’t Know When I’ll Be Back Again…

24 hours ago I received notification from the HR manager at the Supreme Group, after a series of medical exams and pre-requisite checks on my qualifications, that I’d be receiving an offer to be an Aviation Field Manager working in their Sudan theatre.  

Field Managers for Supreme work in various airfields coordinating logistics.  On a daily basis, I’ll receive flight schedules and cargo manifests and oversee operations to make sure that things happen in a timely and properly manner.  In Sudan, I’ll likely be working in the capitols of the three provincial areas of Darfur: El Fasher, Nyala, and El Geneina.  From what I understand about the ops at the moment, UNAMID is the biggest (only) customer of Supreme in Sudan which means that I’ll likely be playing a role in food and medicine distribution to UN personnel, IDPs, refugees, etc.  

My mobilization date is tentatively 9-Nov, about 6 days from now.  This job has been in the works for some time yet, but to no surprise it’s not until now that the reality is sicking in.  I’ve worked in developing parts of the world before, some of them violent, but working in Sudan full-time will certainly be a step up from that, and of course a bit of a career change from my work at UW-Madison.  The contract is for 12 months, and I intend on working the job until its finished or I no longer feel I have the physical and mental faculty to continue with it (a question I’ll periodically ask myself about every 5 years or so).

They’ll be a get together for anyone in the Madison area this coming Friday.  It’d be great to see anyone before I take off, and of course all things being equal is a good opportunity to sit down and have a Guinness.  Facebook Event for Party