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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Here’s some of the advice I’ve gotten thus far:

• Don’t worry about it; just make sure you can run fast and bring a lot of cash.
• Bring two of everything; and two is one and three is two.
• Bring things to entertain yourself; it can be boring at times.
• Bring anything you can’t readily find in the field (and in Darfur, that’s not a lot).
• Bring a small day pack and a backpack; if you’re bringing more than that, you’re bringing too much.

Some of that advice is contradictory, and clearly it came from a number of different people.  In my searching, I’ve only found one other blog out there that gives advice on what to pack when working in the sandbox, and none of them were geared to civilian contractors (maybe this might be of some use to someone?).  Nevertheless, with that in mind this is what I came up with:

Luggage:

Technology

• Dell Latitude D630 ATG – this is one of the few semi-rugged notebook computers that’s affordable, rugged, AND can run OS X.  I got a hell of a deal on it by way of slickdeals.net and couponmountain.com, which got me a u/p for for the contractor view of the Dell Factory Outlet, then a 15% off coupon on top of that.  Got the entire rig with a 3 year complete care warranty for $1100; not bad.  I did a dual boot setup on this with 20GB for WinXP, and 90 for Mac OSX.  I setup VMWare Fusion to boot the WinXP partition, giving me full functionality for every need I’d have over there.  Supreme is supplying me with a HP laptop, but I wanted something that would allow me to keep work separate, and bring with me when I’m vacation. Like any electronics that you bring overseas, I got a spare battery, A/C adapter, optical drive, and hard drive.  The hard drive I got twice as big and cloned over the contents of my production drive, plus setup another partition as a Time Machine backup.  If my prod. hdd goes, I can just swap this one in the cage and be back online within 5 min.  Same for the rest of the parts.  The paranoid part of me wants to bring a spare LCD, but that’s one of the reason I’ve had to pack three times to get it so all the stuff I’m bringing over only takes up 2/3rds of each bag.
• iRex Iliad Book Edition (Used) – there’s a lot of eBook readers out there, and the Sony Reader I’d maintain is the best bang for the buck.  However, I got an iLiad for $410 on eBay.  On Semester at Sea, I brought 50lbs worth of books to last me 6 months; it only last 3, and was a complete waste in terms of lugging around a bunch of books.  The iLiad is not even a pound, and has over a 1000 books on it (thanks to CRP ^_^).  If you’re looking for entertainment to last you a year or more, this would be it.  Of course, if it breaks, I’m dead in the water.
• iPod Nano 4GB Silver 3rd Gen – enough space to bring Metallica, Pearl Jam, and Audioslave to wake you up in the morning and kicking ass all day, but small enough in profile where it can stay hidden.  It’s solid state, don’t need to worry about bumps and bruises.
• Garmin GPSMap 60CSx – high sensitivity GPS with compass, barometer, altimeter, etc.  It takes AA batteries, so you don’t need to worry about re-charging it.  Buy a copy of MacGPS Pro and use any maps of the region you can get.  UNSUDANIG has 8GB of PDF maps I’ve been able to calibrate and translate over waypoints, roads, etc to make sure I know where I’m going, and where I shouldn’t be.
• Phone?  I’m being issued a Nokia by Supreme.  I’m pretty sure it’s a GSM & Sat phone, but since I’ve heard the Sudanese government frowns upon the use of Sat phones, I’m not sure.

Survival & Defense

• SureFire E2DL x2 – this is a two-stage (10 Lumens and piss-your-pants blinding 120 lumens) flashlight powered off CR123s.  Both ends have bezeled edges, which you can file down to have a little more effect in WGHHB.  The low-light stage you can run for hours and hours off a couple CR123s, which makes it a good and small reading light at night.  I recommend spare bulbs, and the red and blue filters to not-be-seen when appropriate.
• Leatherman Surge x2 – this is one of the best multi-tools I’ve ever seen.  They sell a bit set with it that’s helpful when working on electronics. 
• Kershaw Storm x2 – the whole knife vs. collapsable baton debate is something I’ve always waffled on.  If you’re in a hand-to-hand situation, it’s nice to take someone out without drawing blood.  However, knives a little more so than batons have plausible deniability in the customs scene in that you can write it off as a need in first-response med.  When it came to working in Sudan, the way I see it is that if I hit the point that I’m pulling a baton or a knife, I don’t give a shit – either way the asshole is going down.Kershaw makes good knives, and they sell at a reasonable price (surprisingly cheap at Walmart of all places).   Their storm series is a folding 3.5″ blade (legal in US), which ambidextrous thumb studs. It’s thin in profile, and you can wear it on the inside of your pants at your waist and it’s practically invisible, but always close by.  Working on airfields I’m not to worried about having to draw this ever; but my time in the DRC taught me that sometimes the shit just springs on you without you seeing the precipitates.   BTW; bring knife sharpeners; Walmart or Farm&Fleet sell ‘em for $3.
   
• CamelBaks x4 –  Being in the sandbox water is everything.  I recommend bringing spare parts for them, plus a cleaning kit.  I’ll only ever be carrying one at a time, but in a WGHHB situation I can fill up the other three and toss ‘em in my bag if I have to E&E on foot.
• SteriPEN Journey – this is a water purification system that works by way of UV light.  It only works on pre-filtered water, but you can just use a bandana or a coffee filter for that.  It runs on CR123s, and will do a liter of water in 90 seconds.  I’ve never tried this in the field before, and it has mixed results online.  But it’s better than lugging around a pump.
• Nalgene Bottles – it doesn’t have to be special, just something that will let you carry around a liter of water.  REI sells form fitting belts that will let you attach the bottles to anything by way of a carabiner.
• Iodine Tablets –  I used these in The Gambia before I just said fuck it and went through a week of diarrhea and adjusted to it.  They taste like shit.  But if the water is bad, and SteriPen isn’t working, it’s a small size backup.
• .9 Liter Titanium Pot –  cooking water, cooking food, etc.  Small, lightweight, etc.
• Esbit Stove & Extra Fuel Cubes – it’s a smokeless odorless fuel that can be lit just by looking at it funny.  It will burn under rain, and boil a liter of water in 8 minutes (one fuel cube will burn for 13).  The titanium pot fits perfectly on top of the stove, and the stove will collapse and fit inside the pot along with extra fuel, fire steel, and waterproof matches.
• Sweedish Firesteel – will throw more sparks than a chick flick with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.  
• Waterproof Matches – just in case.
• Emergency Bivey –  can retain enough heat to keep you through a Sahara night, and you can flip it over and reflect enough heat to cool you during the day.  The benefit, or problem depending on the context, is that during the day it looks like a giant mirror.  Whatever.  Adventure Medical went to the trouble of writing survival instructions, like how to make a solar still, on the material to make sure you have some direction while you’re trying to stay frosty.
• Survival Blanket – smaller ver. of the bivey, fits in the palm of your hand, and can act as shelter or another blanket for a friend.
• Other Misc Supplies: Silicon glue for repairing seams or closing wounds, compact rolls of duct tape, whistle, compass with highly reflective mirror, and bunjee cords.

All of this survival and defense gear I’ve been able to pack down to a pretty small size.  Filling the nalgene bottles up, making the most out of wasted space in packaging, etc.  I’m keeping most of this in the side pockets of my backpack, and there’s still room for filled Camelbaks and Nalgenes.  WGHHB?  That’s my B.O.B.

Medical

• Comprehensive First-Aid Kit – this is designed to deal with a group of up to 14 people on a trip for up to 28 days; much more than any probable WGHHB situation I’d find myself in.  I’ve augmented this with heavy duty shears, CELOX blood coagulants, 8×4′ burn sheets, Electrolyte packets, and Excedrin.  This is a pretty big pack, and I just keep it in my backpack as part of the B.O.B.
• UltraLite Med Kit w/ Wound Closure Kit – you can fit the closure kit inside the med kit, and it’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.  This is a great first response kit to keep inside the day pack (my sling bag) to just deal with day to day stuff.  Can resupply from the Comprehensive kit.
• Doxycycline - good ol’ anti-malarial meds.
• Cipro – the best anti-biotic that your doc will give to you in copious amounts.  Good for everything from bacterial infections to nasty tummy aches.  Only to be taken after Peptol.  BTW; pack peptol and immodium.
• Excedrin – …yeah…
• Nodoz – …yeah…
• Multivitamins – …yeah…

Clothing

• 5.11 Taclite Pro Pants x2 – Rip stop nylon; pockets in all the right places.  Moisture wicking.  Lightweight.  
• 5.11 Advance Boot – Moisture wicking boots; really durable, but comfortable enough to run in.  It’s got a side-zipper, which is nice because they’re fast to get on and off which happens a lot working in an Islamic country, or most of the rest of the world for that matter.
• Moisture Wicking Shirts – Under Amour makes good stuff, but for some reason Under Armour pisses me off.  In any case; lightweight shirts that absorb sweat are going being that they’ll be  lots of sweating one’s ass off under the Saharan sun.
• 1 Dress shirt – because inexorably a situation calls up that requires one.
• 1 Hoodie, Black – “because the desert gets cold at night during the winter.”  I wonder if the guy that told me that ever experienced a Wisconsin winter
• The other usual stuff: boxers, socks.  I’ve learned not to bring too much, and sometimes just to let shit air clean.  

All in all, this fills up about 2/3rds of each bag that I got.  Initally when I was planning for this move I was chasing mice in my head, thinking I should bring a tent, sleeping bag, collapsable shovel, blah blah blah.  I’m working on an airfield.  There’s a DHL plane that lands in Nyala twice a week.  There’s markets in Khartoum.  The list above is in essence the stuff that should be quality that can’t be picked up in the field, or things that I’d just like to have being that I’m living there for a year, and feel better having.

I know there’s guys that bring a number of different bags, and some guys that go with just a small backpack.  I think this is a good list that accomplishes the following:

• Gives me the gear I need to have in a B.O.B. that will allow me to survive in a E&E situation where I’m on foot and need to get to friendly territory.
• Gives me entertainment to keep me busy for a year.
• Gives me the technology to bring quality to my job.
• Gives me the stuff to be comfortable and healthy, and STAY THAT WAY!

I know I’ll be in this line of work for awhile (unless for whatever reason I colossally suck at it), so I’ll be interested in seeing how this evolves over time.  I know that I’ve had a history of overpacking, and I’ve packed less for this move than I did for Semester at Sea.  At least it’s a step in the right direction.  

If you got feedback, lemme hear it.

-B

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