North Kivu

Visitors from HQ, trainings, orienting a new colleague, meetings with partners, reports to write...work goes on! Last week I took the boat across the lake for the second time since I've been here and stayed three days in Goma to monitor a training that my local colleagues are providing to "animateurs" who will work with children in the IDP camps. The offensives in North Kivu continue (see BBC World Service or Relief Web for more details) and no one expects the fighting to end soon. Somewhere in the region of half a million people are now displaced and are moving into 20+ IDP camps scattered around North Kivu. UNHCR and other INGOs such as the Norwegian Refugee Council, World Vision, AVSI, and Save the Children are working to provide services to people in the camps - although not all camps can be safely reached due to the presence of various armed soldiers, militias, rebels, etc.


IDP camp in North Kivu

For me North Kivu and Goma itself are places of vastly conflicting feelings. There is a vicious war going on, yet Goma bears a strong resemblance to Kona, Hawaii, and the whole surrounding area is so similar to different parts of the Big Island of Hawaii, that I feel quite at home and totally foreign all at once. The presence of active volcanoes, the lava rock walls, the black sandy lanes, the lush bougainvillea, hibiscus and plumeria blossoms, the road along the water-front clogged with traffic...all these typical of both Kona and Goma. Allow peace to prevail, the rich mineral resources to be exploited in a legal manner with taxes paid and investments in the local area made, and this could be a popular international tourist destination. The actuality is rough roads, thousands of unemployed and underemployed people milling around scraping together whatever they can in order to survive; buildings destroyed by the lava flow of 2002 never rebuilt; poor water and sanitation facilities; and piles of black lava rocks left scattered throughout the center of town giving it a grim, dirty look.


Boy in an IDP camp, North Kivu


In the IDP camps people build their own rough shelters with local materials: sticks and small branches, covered with banana leaves. These small, rounded huts are then covered with the UNHCR plastic sheeting ubiquitous to this part of the world. The ground is rough with lava, I don't know what people place on the floor of their huts to protect themselves. Water and sanitation facilities are provided as quickly as possibly, depending on accessibility of the camp to aid workers. The camp I visited had a local president, a member of the displaced community, and local aid workers running the camp. I saw wood for cooking being distributed in an orderly manner. Apparently there had not yet been any food distribution, although they people had been there for about a month. There was an informal market set up on the ground near the entrance to the camp. The camp president told me that people were hungry, but also his other concern was that they could not work and thus had no income to buy units for their mobile phones - a sign of changing times and expectations!


There isn't very much for children to do. Aid agencies are setting up emergency schooling programs for those who would normally be in school. Other programs are gradually being set up to provide recreational facilities (soccer balls, various toys for different ages, trained workers, tracing agencies for lost children, etc.) and games for children.


Some children have never seen a camera before, whilst others love to ham it up in front of the lens.


I went to the camp with a group of trainees who were there to practice their games with the children. These are special games designed to encourage children to feel more self-confident, to have trust in each other, to cooperate with each other, to accept each other, to be creative, and generally to have a good time and enjoy themselves, relieving some of the stress of being displaced from their usual homes. It was great to see the kids running around laughing and dancing, and also to see mothers passing by with loads of fire-wood or water on their heads, smiling to see the kids happy. Seeing happy kids can be quite a rare event around here.

Sunday in the park in London

Regent's Park was glorious in the Sunday afternoon sun and Londoners have taken to sidewalk cafes and Sunday shopping like ants to the sugar bowl. These pleasures didn't exist in England when I was young! Mid-October and the weather here is sunny and warm enough for just a light jacket. The parks on Sunday afternoon were filled with people of all languages taking their dogs and children for a walk, the leaves are turning yellow and beginning to fall, but still plenty of green trees and colourful flowers abound.

After enjoying coffee, the Sunday papers, and the company of various scotty, dachshund, labradoodle, and other designer doggies in Regent's Park, I walked down Baker St (stopped only by eastern european tourists " excuse me, are you a local? Do you know where the Sherlock Holmes museum is?) to Oxford St, jammed with crowds of Sunday shoppers. For the first time ever (and I love this about London - there's always something new to discover) I chanced upon a crack between the shops that led to St. Christopher's Place and discovered aromatic sidewalk cafes with southern european street musicians and a relaxed mediterranean atmosphere of Sunday afternoon lingering over coffee and conversation. How England has changed!

My shopping mecca, Marks and Spencer, disappointed. In the children's section I found clothing targeted at 3 - 5 year old boys, military fatigue-style with " Little Soldier" emblazoned across the front of khaki-coloured t-shirts. I doubt the designers and marketing folks at M&S know what the life of a real " little soldier" is like...I am tempted to go and talk to them about it.

Time for a break

Those of you keeping up with the news in this part of the world will know that fighting in North Kivu has been going on for some weeks now. The effect on the local population is disastrous. One aspect among many is the forced recruitment of children, girls as well as boys, to fight and work for all sides. The article below comes from Reliefweb (www.reliefweb.int) where you can sign up for regular updates of the situation here, if interested. I also recommend an insightful analysis of the situation published by Enough (www.enoughproject.org). Bukavu itself remains calm, though many of us are involved in some way assisting relief efforts in North Kivu.

On a personal note: this Friday one of my close friends here is leaving, her mission in DR Congo at an end for the moment (one never knows what the future holds!): good luck for the next mission, Astrid! In a place like this good friends are a life & sanity saver and the departure of one leaves a gap. Fortunately I'm off to London for a week's R&R - much needed!

DRC: Thousands of youth risk forced recruitment into militia

GOMA, 8 October 2007 (IRIN) - James Mapundo, who just turned 18, speaks French, English and Swahili and would really like to go back to school to learn another language. Instead, he is stranded in an expanding camp for displaced Congolese called Bulengo, now home to 13,000 people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province.

Mapundo is one of an estimated 370,000 civilians to have fled their homes since hostilities resumed between dissident general Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the People's Defence (NCPD) and the Congolese army in December 2006.

He, like thousands of other young people, is now at risk of forcible recruitment into armed groups who control much of North Kivu.

"[The NCPD] kill people and they take the young to go into the military formations," Mapundo told IRIN. "They asked me to go in the military, but I refused."

Despite his precarious situation, Mapundo is one of the lucky ones. Many other children have not escaped armed groups, though statistics are unclear because access to most of the population is hindered by ongoing fighting.

Humanitarian workers, though, say recruitment of children into armed militias has skyrocketed since the latest bout of fighting erupted six weeks ago.

"Organisations working in child protection have noticed a dramatic increase of the recruitment of kids into armed groups," said Patrick Lavand'Homme, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Goma.

Protection workers note that other disturbing trends have emerged since the current flare-up began.

"[The militia groups] are targeting schools," said Pernille Ironside, a protection officer in Goma with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). "We have had numerous reports of secondary schools and technical schools being targeted, and children generally over the age of 15 being at greatest risk of being recruited."

Girls targeted

While the focus is often on boys who have been recruited into armed groups, the situation for girls is equally critical, protection workers say.

Girls who are abducted are forced to become "wives" to the military commanders - relegating them to the role of sex slaves.

Unlike boys, girls always remain behind the scenes in rebel camps, making it more difficult for protection workers to gain access to them.

"It's always been a grave issue," Ironside told IRIN. "The difficulty is that girls who are kidnapped by armed groups . in some cases develop a tacit acceptance of their situation. They know that were they to go back to their home community they would be stigmatised as a result of the fact that they have been raped and borne children by an opposing group."

The forced recruitment of children has struck fear into the hearts of many of the displaced who say they will not leave the camps and return home until their security can be assured.

"I have heard of a lot of children being recruited, even the little girls," said Ame Muhima, the president of a grouping of 4,000 displaced families waiting to be integrated into formal camps for the displaced outside of Goma.

"There were 17 children who have escaped and come back to us here," Muhima said.

Protection workers say children are no longer being recruited by the Congolese army but by any one of three main militia groups operating in the region; and they face the risk of recruitment in more ways than one.

Mayi-Mayi militia groups tell children it is their responsibility to fight to protect their villages from other armed groups. Spurred by a sense of duty, children often volunteer themselves for service. Those who resist are "volunteered" by their parents.

The Forces Démocratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), an ethnic Hutu militia group with links to the perpetrators of Rwanda's 1994 genocide, employ a different tactic.

'The FDLR are known to sweep into a village and literally scoop up all of the children of a certain age and march them off into the bush," Ironside told IRIN.

If caught, children captured during the recent eruptions in violence are held in squalid prisoner-of-war (PoW) camps by the various armed groups. Forces loyal to Nkunda are widely reported to be holding underage PoWs.

Civilians caught in crossfire

Humanitarian workers hope for a cessation of hostilities but say they believe the situation in North Kivu could instead deteriorate, citing increased military activities in the region.

Resource-rich eastern Congo has long been a simmering cauldron of conflict as rag-tag militias aligned along ethnic lines fight for control of the region.

A 1998-2003 war pulled in seven neighbouring nations and cost an estimated four million lives, mostly from hunger and disease.

Humanitarian workers note that civilians, including children, bear the brunt of the fighting and will continue to do so as the conflict rages on.

Outside the Bulengo site, 13-year-old Gusanga spends his days wandering among the hastily constructed straw huts asking for someone to give him a pen.

Proud of his fluent French and Swahili, and mature beyond his years, the boy volunteers his services as a translator to visitors.

One month ago, he fled the risk of recruitment by FDLR militias in nearby Kitchanga town.

"Everyone who is 15 or older has to join them in the fighting," Gusanga told IRIN. "When I'm 15, I would prefer to be in school; but when we turn 15 then they catch us."

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

Date: 08 Oct 2007

The International Rescue Committee

Many thanks to Rick for bringing my attention to The IRC's campaign against sexual violence in DR Congo. The IRC is a respected international NGO working here in South Kivu and other areas of the DRC. Several of the IRC expatriate staff here are good friends of mine, so I have no hesitation in recommending their work and also in recommending that you, dear reader, go as soon as possible to www.ircuk.org, under the title "Stop the Violence" click on "Add Your Voice" to send a message to the EU about the violence in eastern DRC.

International Peace Day celebrations went well, although the VIPs from Kinshasa never made it - something wrong with the plane (typical!); somehow I don't think they were missed.


"Girls demand peace and say no to sexual violence!"



There was some terrific drumming and traditional dance by teenagers from a local NGO called ASO. The kids are all marginalised from society in some way, either they're former child soldiers, rape victims, orphans... they are doubly victimised, first they are raped or forced to fight or their parents are killed, and then society rejects them because of what has happened to them. Local organisations are able to help a few such children get an education and get back on their feet - but far too many kids still end up on the street.


And of course a whole contingent of riot police was needed just in case all the children decided to attack the visitors!!

No good news

Apologies if you were looking for something cheerful to read - but this issue (below) is so important, and so ignored! Will do my best to post some interesting photos soon. Next Friday, 21 September, is the International Day of Peace, and we'll be holding celebrations here with lots of visiting ambassadors and various UN VIPs.

AIDS activist accuses UN, western nations of ignoring Congo sexual abuse
By Nick Wadhams
Nairobi

The chairman of an anti-AIDS group has accused the U.N. Security Council and the West in general for ignoring what he calls a litany of horror against women in eastern Congo. For VOA, Nick Wadhams has the story from Nariobi

In a blistering statement, Stephen Lewis, a former U.N. envoy on AIDS in Africa, said sexual violence against women and girls is endemic in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where millions of people are still suffering from the aftershocks of years of civil war and unrest.

He cited thousands of rapes each month, as well as torture and killings by militias, and the miserable funding of limited health care in eastern Congo. While the crisis in Sudan's Darfur province has received attention from both the U.N. and Hollywood stars, the plight of women in eastern Congo has been largely ignored despite numerous reports, journalist accounts, and visits by diplomats.

"The entire world is preoccupied with Darfur, understandably," Lewis said. "But it must be said that between ten and twenty times of the number of people have died in the eastern Congo as have died in Darfur. There are more displaced persons in the eastern Congo than in Darfur. Darfur has been going on for four years, the eastern Congo has been ravaged for ten. And nowhere on this planet is there such a holocaust of horror visited on women and girls."

Lewis, who is Canadian, heads his own foundation which works to fight the spread of AIDS across Africa. He spoke after a trip to the region. His comments came days after the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, John Holmes, relayed similar concerns after visiting Congo.

Some analysts fear that Congo is on the brink of a new civil war. Tens of thousands of people have fled the east in recent months because of fighting between government forces and various militias that have taken shelter there.

Lewis said the ongoing violence against Congolese women, including sexual assault and murder, proves how badly the U.N. has failed to confront the country's problems. He said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon must press the International Criminal Court to declare rape a crime against humanity and indict suspected war criminals on charges of committing it.

"Neither the United Nations nor the international community has the faintest idea what to do about the catastrophe for women in the Congo," Lewis said. "Where the Congo is concerned, all the Security Council is really concerned about, as evidenced in their most recent discussions, is questions of troop numbers, arms embargoes and sanctions. Rape is not on the agenda."

Lewis argues that the world's leaders, mostly men, have applied what he called a "spectacular lack of energy" in ending the abuse of women in Congo. He suggests it is time these men turned to women to solve the problem.

Source: Voice of America (VOA)

Date: 13 Sep 2007

Where have I been all these weeks?

This is the dry season and today it’s raining. Every morning these days when I look out over the lake I can barely make out the hills on the opposite side, let alone the glorious mountains behind them. My view is shrouded in a pale grey haze.

Life in the Kivus (North and South) is only getting worse for thousands upon thousands of villagers displaced by continued conflict. People who last year voted in the first democratic elections for generations, full of hope for an easier time, are now having those hopes dashed by political and military leaders who couldn’t care less about anything other than their own access to power and resources.

The conflict here is far worse than Darfur – an estimated 4 million dead in contrast to around 200,000 in Darfur. Yet Sudan has oil – quelle surprise! So the USA is more interested in what transpires there. (I do not mean to say that the suffering of people in Darfur should be ignored or downplayed, but a bit more media attention to the conflict here would not go amiss).

Here is South Kivu villagers within 150 kilometres of Bukavu are being murdered; rape of women and, with growing frequency, children is an epidemic. Bukavu is experiencing a gradual increase of targeted killings. A few weeks ago, Serge Maheshe, the city’s best journalist – indeed, probably one of the country’s best – was assassinated. In a total and cynical travesty of justice two of Serge’s best friends are now being held in prison accused of his murder.

For the rest of us life continues and work goes ahead. We have been busy with a series of four training programs intended to improve the quality of teaching provided to children in non-formal education settings. These are children who would not otherwise receive an education either because they cannot afford regular primary school (the government does not provide free primary education), or because they dropped out of school and are now trying to catch-up. Formal primary schools restrict entry to a specific age group, so older children who missed out on primary school must find other ways to get an education. This morning we handed out certificates to 59 teachers who had just completed a one-week training program. One teacher had just given birth a few weeks before and had to bring her new-born with her. The baby slept peacefully in a cardboard box at her side during the sessions.

My own life seems like an ocean of privilege: in May I took my annual leave in Australia to visit my family. We enjoyed several festive meals celebrating my sister’s 50th birthday and my father’s 80th. Much of my time was spent in doctor’s offices getting attention paid to a knee problem and having routine check-ups. When I wasn’t chocking over the cost (prohibitive in Australia these days) I was marveling at the luxurious surroundings of doctor’s offices and the hospitals full of high-tech medical machinery. I also visited a Montessori nursery school equipped with bright toys, fish tanks, colorful books, and much more, and was close to tears when I compared it with the dirt floors and smelly dark corners available to toddlers here.

Only a few weeks after, at the end of June, I was in Amsterdam for a week of work-related meetings at our head office. Meeting up with our Dutch colleagues and others from field offices in Colombia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda, Afghanistan, and Israel/Palestine was invigorating and useful. I’m very grateful that our organization gives us the opportunity to do this every year. Needing urgent dental work I also hopped over to London for a few days. I was in London when an attempt was made to blow up a car outside a popular night club; taking the underground and walking along crowded Oxford Street (especially being at Oxford Circus for some reason) made me nervous. I feel safer here in Bukavu! I was fortunate enough to avoid the worst problems at Heathrow; my luggage stayed with me and my flights all arrived on time. I was especially happy to see a couple of old friends, talk to a couple more on the phone, and also enjoyed a pub lunch with my cousin in Highgate – not far from the cemetery where Marx is buried, and a walk up the hill from a stone commemorating Dick Whittington and his famous cat, which may mean nothing to you but all English school children (at least in my day!) know the story of the young Dick Whittington who went on to become Mayor of London three times over.

We endured a week of rain and cold weather in Amsterdam, but the skies brightened while I was in London (in spite of catastrophic flooding elsewhere), allowing me to walk around and enjoy St James’ Park, Green Park, Trafalgar Square, and the view from the bridge that crosses the Thames between Charing Cross and the Royal Festival Hall, near the Eye. London at it’s best.

The boring bits

Just in case you think I'm always dashing off on exciting adventures, I should report that yesterday morning (Saturday!) I spent a solid three hours in the office filing papers, while my local colleagues took a much-needed computer class in the room next door. When I first began here a year ago I inherited a cupboard jammed full with a mess of papers, the result of a hasty evacution in mid-2004, followed by two years of management by people who didn't pay much attention to minor administrative details such as filing documents. I've been gradually sorting through all these papers (truly, an enormous pile!) piece by piece during the past year. Yesterday I finally sorted, trashed, and filed the last remaining pile. A whole new section of desk has now opened up. Being in the sorting mood, I then went home and spent an hour or so sorting out papers there! My one adventure this weekend: driving to the office this morning (Sunday) the roads were quite deserted so I took the opportunity to speed up the rocky, gouged track in third gear, bouncing from side to side all the way. And some people have to go to special tracks and rent all-terrain tricycles to have that much fun!

Blogging en Afrique!

When I have the time, I really enjoy reading blogs by other people working in Africa. I've added a few of them to my Links list (right hand side of the screen). A terrifically well written and amusing article on mobile phones in this part of the world can be found at Reality Check. The author, Barry, is a colleague who does consulting work for War Child Canada. On the Kivu Express, written by my friend Pierre who just arrived here from Montreal a couple of weeks ago, you'll find an interesting and informative description of Bukavu - there are more photos, too! Two of my favourite blogs are Breaking Hearts in the Heart of Darkness and Conrad's Ex-Girlfriend, both written by a young American woman who manages to be very funny when writing about all the craziness that goes on out here. Happy reading!

Easter Weekend

Finally I made it across the lake by boat to Goma! I've been wanting to make this trip for a while, and it was worth the wait. We had perfect weather both on the trip out on Saturday and for the return on Monday morning. Below are a few of the photos that I took along the way.

Just a reminder - Bukavu and Goma sit on opposite ends of Lake Kivu, the sixth largest lake in Africa. The lake also forms the border between large sections of Rwanda and the DR Congo. The scenery all along the lake is spectacular: islands, traditional life-styles, fishing boats, hills and mountains...


We travelled by modern, speedy, 20-seater motor boat. It was a three-hour trip each way. Others on the lake travel at a slower pace. When I saw this large boat full of passengers I couldn't figure out the means of propulsion. I assume the occupants are from the island of Ijwi - a large island that sits in the middle of the lake, closer to Bukavu than Goma.


Here we are, speeding towards Goma, with the Nyirangogo volcano in the background. The volcano erupted in early 2002 causing a humanitarian emergency in Goma, which had already seen far more than it's share of refugees following the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda.


The streets of Goma are still filled with scattered lava rocks which flowed through the town, burning buildings, down to the lake. The place is a mess! While there is plenty of cash circulating around town, thanks to all the mining activities - with some fabulous houses as evidence - no taxes are paid and no money goes into public services. The hospital is one I'd definitely rather not end up in; there is little infrastructure; intermittent electricity; no street lights, and sticky water pumped up from the lake. Even so, in places I was reminded strongly of the Kona side of the Big Island of Hawaii thanks to all the bouganvillea, lava rock walls, cinder tracks between houses in the back lanes, and the hot sun.


On the way back we saw plenty more fishing boats, like this pirogue near Bukavu:


And here we are approaching Bukavu once again - the calm waters protected by the surrounding islands, unlike Goma where the lake is almost like the sea.


While I've been uploading these photos I was also checking the web for more information about the volcano. It appears that I'm not the only one who isn't sure about the spelling: I found items under both "Nyirangogo" and "Nyiragongo". Wikipedia has interesting details for anyone who's interested in more information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Nyiragongo

Dowry in Rwanda
I didn't get time to post earlier, but towards the end of March I went up to Kigali by car (a five hour drive each way) to attend the dowry ceremony of two friends in Rwanda. We were, again, blessed with gorgeous weather, and I thoroughly enjoyed the drive each way through the green hills and the Nyungwe forest - thankfully in an office vehicle as we were also picking up visitors from our HQ. Dowry in Rwanda is paid by the man to his prospective bride's family. Many women see it as an indication of their value to society and have no interest in changing this element of their culture. Traditionally the dowry is paid in cows, though nowadays for people living in the city cash is more useful. When a cow is given, the first calf born would traditionally be given back to the young married couple. I attended a dowry ceremony a while back where a young cow was indeed presented at the ceremony.

The ceremony usually lasts several hours and takes place at the home of the woman's family. Each side is represented by older male relatives. The young man arrives, accompanied by a supportive group of friends and relatives. The older men do the negotiating. It's somewhat like a set theatre piece, where everyone knows the outcome, but they still go through their roles. Generally the man's side requests the woman's hand in marriage; the first reply is why this one? Maybe you've made a mistake? She has sisters who are still unmarried...after an appropriate response, the next problem is that she isn't available, she's gone off to Paris to visit an uncle, to Brussels for studies, or something similar. After further discussions, some other member of the woman's family may say something complimentary about the young man to show that he's acceptable; others may object; in the end another person will say they've just had news that the woman has arrived at the airport...(she's waiting in the house all the while). Once they've finally agreed to accept the young man, the male representatives will go off "to inspect the cows" (usually a quick walk around the block!); and finally the young woman appears, accompanied by female family members and traditional dancers.


A final word before I dash out the door for dinner with friends: thank you to Elisa, and everyone else who posts comments! It's great to hear from people, and your comments really encourage me to post more often! Ciao for now!

At the speed of years

Today marks my official one year anniversary with War Child Holland, and about three weeks from now is the one year mark of my arrival in DR Congo. During my first couple of months here I couldn't wait to leave; now I've just signed the contract for my second year without a second thought. A young French woman, recently arrived to work with one of the big international NGOs, lasted about three weeks. Apparently the last straw was a trip to Kinshasa where she got stuck at the airport due to the fighting in the city that killed an estimated 600 people. That would probably do it for me to! I have no intention to go to Kin (as the city is known here), and fortunately don't see any reason why I would need to. There is no support here in Bukavu for the former vice-president at the root of the problems, so life here remains calm, relatively speaking - and it's all relative. This morning we have the usual problems - a couple of visiting colleagues stuck at the Rwanda border over a visa issue; another colleague called in to the local national security office (a very scary place) for questioning (he's just reappeared at our office, I'm happy to say). And it's only Saturday morning! But I do wish the French woman had stuck it out long enough to find out it's not really that bad. The most vivid image in my mind from the past few weeks is of a motorcycle-taxi driver in town. With passenger perched behind, dark glasses on his face, his head was adorned with a set of clean white fluffy rabbit ears, the large perky kind with the pink satin lining that a young girl might wear to a costume party. That really was my laugh for the day. Sorry no photo, but you'll just have to imagine this oh-so-cool young lad on the motorbike with his fluffy white rabbit ears!

More Dakar Photos: Tabaski Sheep

Tabaski is the Senegalese name of a traditional Islamic holiday which celebrates the time when Abraham (Ibrahim) was going to sacrifice his son, but then God told him to kill a sheep (or a goat?) instead. The date for this holiday changes each year; it was most recently celebrated on 31st December. In Dakar everyone buys a sheep to kill and eat on the day. In the weeks leading up to Tabaski the suburbs of Dakar were filled with sheep for sale; on one outing we were caught in a huge traffic jam and surrounded by sheep! Here are a few photos of some of the sheep - they are much larger and tougher looking than the sheep usually seen in places like England or Australia.

These past few weeks have flown by so fast I hadn't even realised it was so long since I'd posted anything on the blog. During this time I was acting Head of Mission for a couple of weeks while my line manager was away, I moved into a new house and am still getting it organised the way I want it, I took in two cats that my friends at IRC didn't want, and my new housemate arrived. At work we've been busy holding meetings with our potential partners for the coming two years, and I designed a needs assessment form to assess their non-formal education programs.

It is inspirational meeting with potential partners. They are local people who work incredibly hard for little or no pay, to help children the rest of society doesn't care about. They work in cramped offices often without basic needs such as a clean toilet, electric light, or a computer on which to write the project proposals and reports that we request from them. The children are former child-soldiers (both boys and girls), orphans, girls who have been raped and thus shunned by their families, children who have been accused of witchcraft (often just a ploy by a step-parent to get rid of an unwanted child), street children who left their families due to maltreatment or simple poverty....and there is so much poverty here, due to years of war and rampant corruption.

Yesterday I visited one center which provides literacy classes to youth, and a catch-up program where the primary school curriculum can be completed in three years. The classrooms are constructed out of pieces of wood and plastic sheeting from Unicef, the windows and doors are just blank spaces, and the floors are mud. However, they had constructed brick and cement toilets which are actually a rarity here at most centers I visit.

All of this is in enormous contrast to the protected and privileged peninsula where I live in a large, comfortable, two-storey house providing tranquil views of Lake Kivu and the mountain range beyond, and set in a spacious garden full of tropical flowers. We are pampered by an excellent housekeeper who cooks delicious food - all of it cooked from scratch using loads of fresh local fruit and vegetables. I feel rather sorry for the majority of Westerners who survive on tasteless processed products.

It was bright and sunny when I left the house this morning to come to the office. Since then we've had yet another tropical downpour and my walk home is going to be very muddy indeed!

More Scenes from the Dakar Suburbs

Sweeping the street in the early morning, with the Atlantic Ocean in the background - this was on the main road running south from Dakar.


I took this photo of the old colonial building, and only later noticed the man with the missing hand. In all the countries where I've been in Africa I frequently see disabled people - many of whom have been maimed in war, crippled from polio, or who are born with deformities that in the West would be quickly put right soon after birth, but here people are too poor or there are no surgeons available.


Here's a street stall: note the Christmas tinsel!

Sunday, Sunday!
Today started out overcast and cool, and gradually the clouds got darker and darker and it eventually poured down for an hour or so. But by early afternoon it all cleared up and the sun popped out from behind the clouds, so I walked over to the office, marvelling at how quickly the sun was drying up all the puddles.

Some of my friends occasionally query how I spend my days at work. Sometimes I do too! Another week has gone by, and what did I achieve? With the start of the new year we are in the process of selecting partners to work with over the next couple of years. This has involved several visits to eleven different partner-NGOs (local non-government organisations working with children) gathering information about how they work and what they do that will help us select the best partners for our work. The visits are carried out by our local staff, although I sometimes do go out on field visits with them. Otherwise I'm in the office planning the overall work, reading their reports, making sure they keep on track with their work plans, and doing other desk work such as writing sections of our annual report, preparing monitoring and evaluation plans, thinking up ways to improve our work, record keeping and so on. It's amazing just how much time the planning takes - but good planning is enormously important, and saves time in the end.

For the next couple of weeks I'll also be busy managing the day-to-day activities of the office as a whole, since I'm acting head of mission while the real Head of Mission is away on leave. A couple of the logistical items to deal with are preparing the new house that I'll be moving into next weekend (we have a new international expat staff member arriving, and I'll be sharing the new house with him, leaving our Head of Mission some privacy in his own place); and making arrangements for the return of a former vehicle from Uganda. We use Toyata Land Cruisers - not the same as the fancy SUV's you see on the road in the US - specially adapted for field work in really rough places. When our office here was closed down temporarily in June 2004 following a military attack on the city, the cars were sent up to the Uganda program office. We are now retrieving one of them, and it will be driven from Uganda to the border with Rwanda, where two of our logistics team will meet it, and drive it back down here.

And now I'm heading back home, as some friends are coming over for Sunday afternoon "tea" and a chat. Will post more Senegal photos next week!


Fortunately it's still possible to get a really good cup of coffee in Dakar, in spite of all the advertising for Nescafe. But on the street guys are making a living selling shots of Nescafe in tiny plastic cups.

More photos from Senegal
Here are a couple more photos - no time to post more today!

Scenes from the Suburbs
The following photographs were taken while driving out of Dakar towards the Bandia National Park, or driving back from Lac Rose, about 35 km from the city centre.



This type of bus is known as a "car rapide" and is usually anything but, as it stops all the time to pick up more passengers!


Yummy french baguettes available everywhere!

Travels in Africa: my return trip from Dakar, Senegal to Bukavu, DR Congo

This is how it should have gone: arrive at Dakar airport at approximately 14:00h, in plenty of time to check in for 16:40h flight. Take Kenya Airways flight KQ 513 from Dakar to Nairobi, arriving Nairobi at 05:40h on Saturday morning. Leave Nairobi at 08:00h and arrive in Kigali, Rwanda at 08:25h (Rwanda is one hour behind Kenya), in plenty of time to take the 11:30h flight down to Cyangugu, where the office car would pick me up at 12:05h and take me across the border – allowing me a comfortable day and a half to recover from the trip and get my head together in time to arrive at the office refreshed at 08:00h on Monday morning.

No such luck! This is what actually happened:
Arrived at Dakar airport in 45 minutes, at 13:30, because there was less traffic than expected. Hadn’t had time to think about lunch. On checking-in found that flight was delayed until 21:30. Had already given away remaining CFA (west-African currency) so had no cash to buy food or even think about returning to town; Kenya Airways did not provide any refreshments for waiting passengers. Seats in the departure lounge were metal, and very uncomfortable. The flight finally commenced boarding at around 22:30 and we were airborne by 23:30. Seats were unassigned (after all the effort I had made to ensure I got an aisle seat close to the front!). We were served an indifferent meal at midnight. Wanted to sleep, but after 45 minutes the plane landed in Bamako (Mali), where it stayed for another 45 minutes, lights full on, systems revving noisily – impossible to sleep. At 09:00 Senegal time, midday in Kenya, we landed in Nairobi, without the benefit of breakfast, which had been cancelled for some obscure reason related to the previous delays. I had missed my connection to Kigali, and also the further connection to Cyangugu.

At Nairobi airport there’s a woefully under-staffed service desk where people go to check in for their next flight if they’re in transit, or to sort out messes like mine (and almost everyone else on my flight). I spent over three hours at the service desk, waiting for someone to figure out which flight they would put me on to get to Kigali, and what to do about the fact that the Sunday flight to Cyangugu had been cancelled and there wouldn’t be another one until Tuesday. Having enjoyed one small meal in the previous 24 hours, and a mere three or four hours sleep (no Maggie Thatcher, me!), I was expecting to keel over at any minute. Some intelligent person decided they’d best put me up in a hotel overnight and send me on my way to Kigali the following day. Once that was decided, I then had to go through immigration (Kenya Airways paid the $20 transit visa fee and I breezed through), and make my way downstairs to the airline’s hotel accommodation desk and wait in line again. When the young woman asked for my boarding pass for the following day’s flight (required before a hotel room voucher could be issued), which I didn’t have, and then told me I needed to go back upstairs, through immigration to the departure concourse, to the service desk to get one, I knew that I’d reached my limit of physical and mental endurance. “I haven’t eaten anything for over twelve hours, I’ve had only three hours sleep, and I think I’m going to faint” I told the woman in desperation. Fortunately she was sympathetic and there wasn’t a crowd waiting for assistance, so she told me to sit down, conjured up a box of hot, juicy chicken, grabbed my ticket, and went off to do battle at the service desk far more efficiently than I could have done. About half an hour later, boarding pass and hotel voucher in hand, I went out to board the hotel bus. I was more tired than ever, and when I discovered an empty bus that was not going to move until it was full (about two hours away), I burst into tears from sheer exhaustion. Once again I was rescued by a sympathetic person - this time the bus driver, who went off to make whatever arrangements he needed to make, and then returned to drive me, the sole passenger on the bus, to the hotel on the highway halfway between the city and the airport. On the way the driver did his best to cheer me up by pointing out the giraffe family in the park outside the airport, and I cheered up thinking how wonderful it was to see giraffes and to be in Kenya, where everything was looking unusually green after all the rain, and knowing I’d soon be in the luxurious Panari hotel and could order a pot of good Kenyan tea, which I knew would automatically be served with milk, unlike in Senegal where milk is an unusual request.

Soon after 16:00 (four hours after landing!) I was settled into an eighth floor room with extensive views towards Nairobi city center in one direction, and flat parkland in the other, running a hot bath, enjoying the tea, and grateful that I’d put a change of underwear and clean shirt in my carry-on back-pack, as my suitcase was still at the airport. At 07:00 the next morning a mini-bus picked up me, and a small group of other passengers, to take us back to the airport. The place was jam-packed with people of all colors and nationalities waiting in lines all over the place. Fortunately I didn’t need to check in again, so stood in the immigration line, which moved with unexpected efficiency. The same efficiency was not in evidence back at the service desk, where I’d been told to go and collect my $100 compensation from Kenya Airways to help me get from Kigali to Cyangugu (not enough to cover the actual cost, as it turned out), and where the long line promised another three-hour wait and the certainty of another missed flight. So I went right to the front of the line and asked, as loudly as I could, for the duty manager, and asked him for the money I was owed for my delayed and cancelled flights. For anyone who knows me, you’ll know that I never jump queues, but at that point if I’d stood in line again I really would have missed my flight to Kigali, and not having any cash on me I really had no other option. After another half-hour or so of waiting, someone from the finance office finally showed up to give me a crisp $100 bill and a waiver form to sign – no getting any further compensation out of them! After a quick stop at the duty free shop (where they take credit cards) to pick up chocolates, Kenyan macadamia nuts, and the latest Alice Walker and Scot Turow novels, I headed for gate 4 from where the Kigali flight always leaves. Expecting to come across at least one person I knew, I was not disappointed. As I walked slowly through the departure lounge looking around at the mix of faces, someone called out my name – my boss’s partner. And I was lucky, because she knew it would cost me more than $100 to go by taxi down to Cyangugu, and she gave me another crisp $100 bill before we landed in Kigali.

As soon as I was through immigration I switched on my mobile and called Ezra, the most reliable Kigali taxi driver I know. My luck was in, and he was available for the long drive. He was there at the curbside within 10 minutes and we headed into town, first to change those crisp bills into Rwandan francs, and then to fill up on gas. It was close to a year since I’d made that drive from Kigali down to Butare and I enjoyed it as always. Rwanda’s rolling hills were greener than ever after a strong rainy season – unlike the same time last year – and the familiar countryside was restful on the eyes. After a couple of hours we arrived in Butare, my old “ home town”, and stopped at the Ibis Hotel for lunch and to hand over gifts sent from Rwandans in Senegal to a friend in Butare. Christopher, who works with IRC in Bukavu, found me there at the Ibis. He’d also come down from Kigali by taxi, and was waiting for the IRC car to meet him in Butare and then take him the next 3-hour segment of the drive. He invited me to join him, so I told the happy Ezra he could head off back to Kigali. And then Christopher and I waited, and waited. Turned out the IRC car had left Bukavu a couple of hours later than it should have, and also had a flat tire on the way. It finally showed up at 16:00 – by which time we knew there was no way we would reach Cyangugu in time to make it across the border which closes every day at 17:00. That would be my third night on the journey since leaving Dakar. We made a brief stop in Gikongoro to get the tire fixed, enough time for me to call my Dutch friend Doutsen who came to chat for ten minutes before we set off for the drive through Nyungwe forest. Towards the end of the drive the mist moved in, it grew dark, and the way to Cyangugu seemed longer than ever. Eventually we got there, and drove up to the entrance of the Peace Guest House (run by the Anglican church in Rwanda). Dinner, an omelet for me, fish brochette for Christopher, took the usual hour or so to arrive, and I was instantly missing the excellent fast “fast” food available all over Dakar. My bed for the night felt cold and damp compared to the comfortably cool, dry nights in Dakar. We skipped breakfast in the morning, had no trouble crossing the border – no bribes requested, nobody checked our health documents, nobody asked to look through our luggage – and I arrived at my office by 09:20 Monday morning, just about two days later and much more tired than planned!

Baobab Trees in Senegal

One thing I loved in Senegal are the baobab trees. This one is at the entrance to Bandia National Park, near Dakar.


This baobab is estimated to be around 800 years old, and was used as a cemetary: the bodies of "griots" were "buried" in crevices within the tree.


Here's a young visitor looking at the old bones inside the baobab.


The baobab fruit produce a delicious juice.


Giraffe and a baobab: for some reason I thought that giraffes were only found in eastern and southern Africa. I was wrong! This is in Bandia National Park, near Dakar.

Back in Bukavu

Yes, I'm back in Bukavu (DR Congo). Have lots to write about regarding my vacation in Senegal, but last night got distracted by the new TV in our house, with around 50 digital stations including 3 BBC stations!! Of course, most of them are pretty bad, and I expect the novelty of TV will soon wear off.

With regards to more serious topics, today I read the following item which was on Relief Web, and comes from the international NGO Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF - aka Doctors Without Borders):

MSF issues 'Top Ten' most underreported humanitarian stories of 2006

The ten countries and contexts highlighted by MSF accounted for just 7.2 minutes of the 14,512 minutes on the three major U.S. television networks' nightly newscasts for 2006

MSF and MSF Podcasts: New York - The staggering human toll taken by tuberculosis (TB) and malnutrition as well as the devastation caused by wars in the Central African Republic (CAR), Sri Lanka and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are among the "Top Ten" Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories of 2006, according to the year-end list released today by the international humanitarian medical aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

The ninth annual list also highlights the lack of media attention paid to the plight of people affected by the consequences of conflict in Haiti, Somalia, Colombia, Chechnya and central India.

"Many conflicts worldwide are profoundly affecting millions of people, yet they are almost completely invisible," said MSF (USA) Executive Director Nicolas de Torrente. "Haiti, for example, is just 50 miles from the United States and the plight of the population enduring relentless violence in its volatile capital Port-au-Prince received only half a minute of network coverage in an entire year."

According to Andrew Tyndall, publisher of the online media-tracking journal The Tyndall Report, the ten countries and contexts highlighted by MSF accounted for just 7.2 minutes of the 14,512 minutes on the three major U.S. television networks' nightly newscasts for 2006. Treating malnutrition, TB, and Chechnya were mentioned, but only briefly in other stories. Five of the countries highlighted by MSF were never mentioned at all.

The 2006 "Top 10" list also focused on the devastation caused by TB and malnutrition.

The frightening situation of worldwide TB became even worse in 2006 with the detection of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB), a strain that is resistant to both first-line antibiotics and to two classes of second-line drugs. At the same time, none of the TB drugs currently in development, however promising, will be able to drastically improve TB treatment in the near future.

"TB destroys millions of lives around the world every year, but we're not seeing the necessary urgency to tackle the disease," said Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer, director of MSF's Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines.

Hope is on the horizon, though, for malnutrition, with new strategies based on outpatient treatment that relies on ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF), like Plumpy'nut, showing tremendous promise. Unfortunately, these strategies are not implemented as widely as they could be.

"Acute malnutrition contributes to the deaths of millions of children every year," said de Torrente. "New strategies in treatment of moderate and severe acute malnutrition have helped MSF treat more than 150,000 children in Niger over the past two years. Millions more children throughout the world could benefit if such strategies were more widely implemented."

While the conflicts in the Darfur region of Sudan and in eastern Chad garnered significant media attention in 2006, the steady focus did not translate into improved conditions for people caught up in the conflict.

"Even though there was more reporting about Darfur than about other crises, the situation continued to deteriorate to the point where MSF and other aid groups had to scale back their programs," said de Torrente. "We know that media coverage does not generate improvements on its own. However, it is often a precondition for increased assistance and political attention. There is perhaps nothing worse than being completely neglected and forgotten."

You can find details of these 10 under-reported stories (including one on the war in DR Congo) at the MSF web site: http://www.msf.org/

I realize that my photos are scarcely representative of life in Dakar. That's because it's just not a great idea to take my camera out onto the street as long as I'm walking around on my own. I'm planning on taking a day-trip outside of town on Friday with a group, and hope to take photos then.

Today I discovered the French Cultural Center - definitely a great place to hang out for a few hours, a quiet garden oasis in the middle of the chaotic city. It has a large garden-courtyard area, a lovely dark pink two-storey building with wrought-iron balcony and shuttered windows, various artistic pursuits going on, a small open-air amphitheatre, and a relaxed restaurant/cafe with great food. I sat there for several hours enjoying a seafood salad, tea, ice cream cake, and a Robert Goddard mystery novel.

Man's robe: detail

Dakar sky line at dusk, with minaret.

Dakar: birds at dusk. In the foreground is the top of the Hotel de Ville (town hall); just beyond, a ship in the port of Dakar.

Violence Against Girls in Africa

I just came across this information last night on an e-mail list I subscribe to. I've read quite a lot about violence against women in Africa, but some of these statistics were still able to shock me. The web site, for those interested, is:
http://www.comminit.com/africa/strategicthinking/st2006/thinking-1900.html

Born to High Risk: Violence Against Girls in Africa
David Mugawe, Antoinette Powell
African Child Policy Forum
2006
Executive Summary
Each year as many as 40 million children under 15 years old experience some form of violence. Many of them are girls and many live in Africa. For example, a study by The African Child Policy Forum in Ethiopia found that every girl interview had experienced some form of violence at one time or another and that more than 90 per cent of girls questioned in Uganda had experienced some form of sexual abuse. Girls throughout Africa experience physical, psychological and sexual violence in many forms and in various settings: in conflict and crisis situations; where they work or are trafficked to work; and even in the very places they should feel safest - at school, and in their homes and communities.

Although the international community now acknowledges the severity of the problem of violence against children and, to some extent the urgency with which it must be addressed, the particular vulnerability of girls to violence, and the social context that places African girls at risk, remains largely ignored.

The African Child Policy Forum believes that the issue can no longer remain hidden; that action should - and indeed must - be taken to address the abuses African girls face. This report, along with the Second International Policy Conference on the African Child on May 11 and 12, 2006, aims to enrich work on violence against children in Africa and to provide a framework for action.

Born to High Risk: Violence Against Girls in Africa synthesises information from three sources:
Existing literature on gender-based violence and violence against children.
Five thematic studies on violence against girls in specific settings that The African Child Policy Forum carried out in collaboration with the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children; the International Committee of the Red Cross; the International Labour Organization; the Uganda Child Rights NGO Network; and UNAIDS.
Retrospective surveys of the of girls' experiences of violence in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
It provides strong foundations for future action by exploring the concept of violence and identifying what makes African girls especially vulnerable to various forms of violence.

The purpose of this report is not to judge who has failed in their duty to protect girls. It is a call for action from the girls themselves, whose voices - usually so seldom heard - reverberate throughout the study.

Girls in crisis situations such as conflicts and after natural disasters are targets of violence. For example, it is estimated that between 250,000 and 500,000 Rwandan women and girls were raped during the country's 1994 genocide. Across Africa - from Uganda to Liberia to Angola - girls as young as 12 have been abducted during conflicts and forced to fight, work as servants or become sexual slaves for combatants. Girls in refugee camps face similarly challenging conditions with high levels of violence. Teenagers from a refugee camp in Liberia explain that the people who should be working to protect them abuse their trust by forcing them to exchange sex for food.

But it would be a mistake to assume that girls face abuse only in such exceptional circumstances. Violence is widespread in the homes and communities of African girls:
31 per cent of girls questioned in a survey in Uganda had experienced sexual abuse.
A survey in Ethiopia found that one quarter of rape cases were perpetrated by a male relative.
In some regions of Nigeria, girls marry on average just after their 11th birthday.
Around 130 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation, most of whom live in Africa.
Schoolgirls face violence in their classrooms and on their way to school; according to The African Child Policy Forum's retrospective survey, female teachers (16 per cent) were the main perpetrators of physical maltreatment on girls in Kenya; around 50 per cent of Malawian schoolgirls report that they have been sexually touched against their will. Although male peers are responsible for much of the sexual abuse that takes place in school, teachers carry out an alarmingly high proportion of the abuses: a national survey in South Africa found that 32 per cent of reported child rapes were carried out by teachers. Further:
A survey in Ethiopia by The African Child Policy Forum found that 72 per cent of children had been slapped when at school.
67 per cent of schoolgirls surveyed in Botswana had been sexually harassed by their teachers.
A 2005 survey in Cameroon found that 16 per cent of secondary students had been sexually abused.
Cutting across girls' experiences of violence is the lack of support they receive from their families and communities. The harm that is inflicted by the violent act is compounded by the lack of a forum for women and girls to share experiences and views - with each other, and with men and boys.

The impact of violence against girls is immense for both individual girls and for society. Girls experience health and behavioural problems and may go on to perpetuate a cycle of abuse. We should end violence against girls for their sake and to protect their most basic human rights, but also because the cost to society will be vast if we do not. The services needed when girls experience violence - including healthcare, and police and social services - are expensive and probably far more so than preventative measures.

Violence infringes fundamental human rights. It is unacceptable. We must speak out against violence against children; we should confront attitudes that tolerate it; we can no longer conceal its existence. It is inexcusable that one in every two girls in Mali and Ethiopia will marry before their 18th birthday; that thousands of girls are abducted to serve as soldiers, domestic servants and sexual slaves in Uganda; schoolgirls in The Democratic Republic of Congo are forced to trade sex for grades; and 6,000 girls will be genitally mutilated today. These are our children. They are our responsibility.

And so we call upon governments and civil society to act decisively and promptly. Every one of us must commit time and resources to ending the gross injustices that will continue to take place in every country across Africa until we raise our voices to end them. On this basis, we suggest the following actions as a way forward in addressing violence against girls in Africa:
Girls must be legally protected from violence. Governments should draw up national policies to protect girls and give them free and fair access to legal redress.
Education is fundamental to creating a non-violent society. Families, communities, national and international policy-makers, and those responsible for implementing policy at country-level can play an essential role in initiatives to raise awareness of the devastating impact of gender-based violence. Support groups enabling girls, women and men to speak out about violence in their communities and abuse they have themselves experienced can help to break the cycle of violence.
Lessons must be drawn from the successes of practical programmes that provide assistance to girls who have experienced violence. These can provide valuable insights for implementing similar support mechanisms across Africa.
Where member nations of the African Union have not yet ratified or implemented the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child or the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women they should do so as a matter of urgency.
Comprehensive information is needed if governments and civil society organisations are to implement informed, effective programmes to address gender-based violence. Governments and civil society organisations must actively engage in collecting statistical data on gender-based violence and reviewing its structural causes.
Policies and strategies will remain ineffective if resources are not allocated to implement initiatives to combat violence against girls. Governments and the international community must demonstrate their commitment to ending violence against children by mobilising resources to meet programmatic and policy needs.
Increasingly, children are perpetrating violence against children. And so it is vital to involve children as part of any solution to address violence against girls.


Click here to read the full document.



Contact:
The African Child Policy Forum
P.O. Box 1179
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251-11-5528407/09/10
Fax: +251-11-5513420
info@africanchildforum.org
African Child Policy Forum Website

Source: Youth InfoNet August 27 2006

Things I like about Dakar:

The weather at this time of year is perfect: warm and cloudless during the day, cooling down pleasantly in the evenings; great food: I’m addicted to the Lebanese charwarma – thin pitta bread filled with lamb, tomatoes, onion, flat parsley, tahini, spicy mustard, and a few small fried potatoes, all of which I wash down with fresh-squeezed orange juice; French bakeries with crusty brown bread and yummy pastries; the men and women walking the streets with fabulously flowing damask robes in spotless glowing whites, purples, emeralds, pinks, atop stiletto heels or pointy flat slippers on the men; even though the streets are full of noise, traffic, bustle, and hustlers everywhere, a quiet spot from which to gaze at the surprisingly calm Atlantic is never more than a ten minutes’ walk in any of three directions; two really good book shops; all the different types of people to be found here: Africans from different countries; north Africans; Mediterraneans (mostly of Lebanese descent); Europeans – which allows me to walk around without hassle as long as I make an effort not to look like a tourist; friendly people – especially the Lebanese business owners and the ticket clerk at the museum; the sound of the call to prayer from the mosques (and the fact that it’s not too loud so I can sleep through the early morning call); and back again to food – fast food places where the food is both fast and very tasty, and plenty of places where I can get good prepared food to take back to my room thus avoiding eating alone in expensive restaurants. I expect I’ve forgotten a few things, but you can add some more if you’ve ever been here!

Reporting from Dakar, Senegal

I'm here in disguise. After a pleasant session at a salon de coiffure owned by a local Lebanese brother and sister couple, my hair is a shade darker than the original version, and I now pass for a local as I walk around the streets of Dakar. This is a great help, as I don't get hassled by the hundreds - if not thousands - of young men on the streets selling everything from sunglasses to synthetic miniature Christmas trees.

I didn't think that anywhere in Africa could be poorer than eastern Congo, and maybe Senegal isn't actually any poorer; but the street children I've seen here are younger than anywhere else I've ever seen, and the number of people who appear to be living on the street is not only far higher but of a far greater age range than anywhere else I've been. It's possible that all the people I see sitting on the street aren't actually living on the street...but I don't see any other immediate explanation for their presence.

On the other hand, Dakar has a great deal going for it, if you have some money to enjoy what is on offer. There are real shops, selling quality goods, a large supermarket with shelves of delicious, and pricey, imported French cheeses and a myriad of other delicacies; a superb French bakery full of dark chocolate gateaux and almond croissants and crusty baguettes; two excellent bookshops; hotels by the ocean...

On any given day there are about 8 children in the Bukavu central prison, all boys. A news video on the MONUC (UN mission in DR Congo) web site shows an activity that we held there to dramatize the rights of children. Go to www.monuc.org then click on Videos, and then on ONU Raportages 9 to watch the video. It's 19 minutes long, and our segment is preceded by segments on the Congo elections and on HIV/AIDS awareness raising. It's only worth taking a look if you have high speed internet access.

This event was held on 20th November, International Day for Children's Rights. On the same day we also held an introductory workshop on children's rights for 50 marginalised teenagers from across town. It was quite a demanding session, getting the kids - many of whom have very little education - to sit down in groups and work on questions and issues relating to their rights. However they enjoyed the opportunity, and it was great to do direct work with them - generally our work involves training the teachers and care-givers who work with the children.

Am I here?

There are two levels of problems with the internet connection here. One is at the office level - this is about to improve, at last! The second problem is the satellite connection. Since there are no landline telephones, and no cables (neighboring Rwanda has just installed broadband cable along all the main roads - I'm very jealous!), we must rely on satellite. And when it rains, that link goes down. We are now in the rainy season and it rains day and night! The connection comes and goes, so even as I write, I'm not sure when this will get posted.

Water woes.

I thought I'd write a word or two about water. In Africa, it seems, there's either too much of it or too little. And here in Bukavu we manage to have both problems at the same time. It is raining, and this week mudslides in town brought down a few houses and killed several children. Mud is every where. I pick my way carefully through the puddles and squelch along the slippery tracks that serve as roads, even in the best part of town. Four-wheel drive vehicles with heavy duty tyres slip and slide up and down the hillside neighbourhoods. Mud here is especially viscous. As is the water in my shower. A few weeks back I noticed that my hands felt sticky after washing; I've never come across sticky water before. Apparently it's the lake water. Generally our water comes from the river Rusizi that feeds into Lake Kivu, but sometimes they switch the supply over to the lake. I haven't figured out yet why we have water problems when there's so much rain. In the office we often don't have any water at all, or only on the ground floor as the pressure isn't sufficient for it to come up to the first floor where our offices are. At home there's frequently not enough pressure to supply water in the mornings, but it will come back in the evenings. A few days ago all the water was cut off for about three days, without notice - so we didn't have any stored. Fortunately the climate is relatively cool, so three days without a shower was manageable. I did enjoy a good hot shower when the water came back on!

Really, really bad internet connection!

Our internet connection is getting worse and worse. At the moment I cannot send any messages with attachments, and just sending a regular message can take up to 15 minutes if it goes at all. Will not even attempt to post any more photos until this problem has cleared up! We are also moving office in the coming week, which means that we'll be without any internet at all for a few days.

Election campaigns are on again here - the second round presidential election will be held on October 29th, along with (I think) legislative elections. Or maybe it's provincial representatives....

Gorilla Photos!

Internet access is still poor, but I'm going to see if I can get at least one or two photos up today. The park where I went to see the gorillas is called Kahuzi-Biega, and if you Google it, you'll find out more information.


Male Silverback Gorilla; photo by Carol Dehasse

A Spot of Malaria

Little Miss "I never get malaria" finally came down with malaria... though it really wasn't bad, and after 3 days off work I'm back at my desk again. However internet access has still not improved.

For those of you with broadband access, go to www.warchild.nl and then below the peace signs click on the phrase: "Bekijk hier de live-uitzending von 21 september" and then you'll see a 45 minute video of our International Day of Peace event here in Congo. Enjoy!! (Hurry - I'm not sure that it'll be up on the site for much longer!)

21 September International Day of Peace


Photo: Wim Mulder

Chinese, Pakistani, and Uraguayan blue berets mixed with Congolese children to create the international peace symbol here the day before yesterday. First the symbol was created by the children alone (see above photo), and then the blue berets joined in later. The live images were sent via satellite to Holland where they were broadcast on a giant screen at the beach near The Hague where Dutch children were also making a peace sign. The event was also seen live on the internet at www.warchild.nl and clips were also shown on the Dutch TV news during the day. At the time of writing some photos from here can be seen on the web site, and I'm hoping that the film clip will soon be added, for those of you who have highspeed access! The site changes daily.

The event here was the result of several weeks of planning by our dynamic Head of Mission (Ramin Shahzamani) and plenty of hard work on the part of our local team. In addition to the peace symbol the children also performed sketches, poems, music, dances, and sang a special 'peace song'. Most applause, however, went to an impromptu kung fu demonstration by the Chinese engineer unit!

When I get more internet access I have a lot more photos to be posted. Check this site often!

Elle est courageuse!

I’ve come into the office on Sunday morning to use the internet. We actually have electricity, but our ISP guys are obviously still in bed and haven’t bothered to turn on their equipment yet. Since there are no functioning banks here, the guys who provide the internet connection (by satellite, I presume, as there are no telephone landlines) also provide banking services. And since they’re Indian, they also supply the Indian Air Force (who are in charge of the small MONUC airbase an hour’s drive out of town) with spices. We were at the IAF base last week in order to interview the MONUC commander, who happens to be Dutch (we’re a Dutch NGO), as he was passing through. The Indians have developed a small haven of beauty and order amidst the general chaos; their camp is immaculate, with flowers everywhere, neatly bordered footpaths between the tents, a large well-tended vegetable garden, a fountain providing a gentle shower that sparkles in the sunlight as it waters the tiny lawn outside the tent that serves as their officers’ club. Even a separate, sign posted, and spotless toilet with imported toilet paper for women visitors to the camp – what a miracle! (I have photographs of what is meant to pass for toilets at a local school that I shall post to the site whenever I get around to it).

Hmmm, I meant to write about something completely different – how did I get on to toilets?!! As I was saying… the internet is down, so I’m writing this on the computer with the hope that I can post it onto the blog today, because my own computer still doesn’t have any internet access at all, so once the week begins it’s difficult for me to get access.

On my last post I mentioned the discussion sessions that we’re holding with teachers, to encourage them to find their own solutions to problems with the children. Many of the problems are fairly ordinary – the kind of problems with children’s behavior that teachers everywhere come across. When they began talking about problems with aggressive youngsters who are bullying others I wanted to tell them (but didn’t) about some of the schools in the US where metal detectors have been installed to catch the kids with guns and knives. Sometimes a ‘problem’ isn’t a problem, like the teacher who asked how to stop a pupil writing with his left hand. I was surprised (to say the least) that some teachers here still believe that left-handedness is something bad that can be corrected and they try to force the child to change. Some problems are caused by the general circumstances that make me want to give up in frustration at the seeming impossibility of changing things: many children go to school on an empty stomach, without even having had a glass of water or anything to eat the night before, so they fall asleep in class. Teachers want to know how to deal with the sleepy children. How can a child who hasn’t eaten stay awake or even concentrate in school? Many people are so poor that they may not even eat once a day. Another young adolescent boy often begins crying during class. Apparently he had witnessed the rape of his mother. Sexual violence against women and even very young girls here is epidemic and has contributed to the general breakdown of society, as many husbands and families will reject a wife or daughter who has been raped, such is the stigma attached to it.

All kinds of physical and mental disabilities are also common. One 17-year old girl we met at a school last week had no hands, only something that resembled a finger at the end of her wrist that enabled her to write, and no legs below her knees. She still manages to walk, somehow, and came into the room where we were holding our discussion session to meet us and proffered a stumpy arm to shake. I admired her tenacity in coming to school under such difficult circumstances – the other children are so distracted by her presence they don’t pay attention in class – and after she left the room I could only say “elle est courageuse!”

Technical Difficulties!

This is my first chance on line since last Saturday. Our internet access is experiencing technical problems. Hard to tell how long it will take to get fixed. If anyone needs to contact me urgently (or even not urgently), please call!
Otherwise all is well here, and work proceeds apace, with visitors from our Amsterdam HQ this week. They brought lots of wonderful rye bread, cheese and chocolate, so were welcomed with open arms!! They are here to film children making a peace sign in celebration of International Peace Day on 21st September. This will be broadcast in The Hague at the same time that children there will be making a peace sign. In other work, our team members have begun discussion sessions with teachers from our partner institutions, during which they discuss children's psycho-social issues and show the teachers that they often have the answers to the problems themselves. This is proving extremely interesting and rewarding.

End of dry season close at hand?

The dry season is being used as an excuse for quite a few things these days: no power, for a start, and when there's no power that means no internet connection. We get internet via satellite (there are no telephone landlines here) and for some reason it doesn't work when there's no power, so our internet connection has been especially bad this past week.

And no water, of course! Water is mainly off during the day time, so I take my shower at night, and everyone fills up buckets and basins at night in order to have some during the day. Not having enough buckets at the office has led to a slightly desperate feeling, as both drinking water and water for flushing toilets has been close to running out. Finally, our logistics guy went out and bought 20 plastic jerry cans today. Doubtless heavy rain will fall tonight and for the next 9 months!

The other dry season effect is the dust. If I sit outside on the deck, my papers will be covered in a fine layer of dust within about five minutes. Everything, inside and outside, has to be wiped down daily. And walking along the roads is particularly unpleasant as passing cars throw up thick clouds of fine dirt that I cannot help but breathe in. After a day in the field my hair is thick with dust, nostrils and ears grimy, and every crease of skin brown with dust.

If I ever get around to figuring out how to properly post connections to other blogs in the side bar, one of the first to go up will be: "Breaking Hearts in the Heart of Darkness" (http://sarahinthejungle.blogspot.com/). I'm sad to say that the writer has just left Congo. However, her blog is still there, and well worth reading. I hasten to point out that her situation out in the "bush" was far, far more difficult than my relatively cosy lifestyle here in town.

Yes, I'm still thinking about those gorilla photos! Am still unpacking and getting my stuff sorted out at the new house.

Out of the office and into a home!

After four months of living in the office, we finally moved into a real house today. On a hillside overlooking Lake Kivu, we have lovely sunset views from our back deck, and a garden plenty big enough (on a steep slope!) for growing some veggies.

I know I promised gorilla photos.....!!

Events in Kinshasa

For anyone wondering if events in Kinshasa are having an effect on life in Bukavu, the answer is ‘no’. Life goes on as usual here, and last night I was out having dinner with friends at Gerda’s Place (a review of which appeared on this site a few months back). Kinshasa is about as far from here as New York is from LA; different climate, different people, different language. For more information about Kinshasa events, take a look at the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5272300.stm

Back in Bukavu
Yes, I'm back in Bukavu! Had a great time in Gulu, Kitgum, and then Kampala. Enjoyed meeting our teams from all three northern Uganda locations: Gulu, Kitgum, and Lira. Hello to everyone up there! It was interesting to see how the scenery changes as one drives from the north back down to the south. In the north (Kitgum is not far from the border with southern Sudan) people mostly still live in traditional round huts built from mud and thatch. The countryside is generally flat, with some startling outcrops of rocks that reminded me of Australia's northern territory. As you go south, the land becomes more fertile and greener, and banana trees - absent in the north - begin to take over. Getting closer to Kampala it is obvious from the houses and the cars on the road that the south is much better off. It almost seems like a different country.

Today I visited the gorillas here in Congo. Will write about that tomorrow - for now I'm exhausted!


Here I am, outside our Gulu office.

Children from the Obung Lee Primary School Peace Club in Kitgum, northern Uganda.