Lessons learned - last post for now

It's been a while since I returned home, and I have had some time to think about a few of the things I learned while in southern Sudan and South Sudan, in no particular order:

• First off, those of us living in modern nations with a working infrastructure simply don't get how well off we actually are. This applies for such things as roads, sanitation, healthcare, schools, security (police and military) and so on and so forth.
• Speaking of roads; I will never say that Norwegians roads are bad ever again - there is something about getting stuck in bottomless mud on the "highway" in the middle of the biggest town in the area that drives home that fact. I will point out that Norwegians roads could certainly be better - we could afford that with all the money we are pumping out of the sea.
• The Norwegian Military takes - overall - very good care of us while we're abroad, and the gear we have with us will cover pretty much any eventuality. Much of the gear I brought with me came home unused, some never made it down to Sudan. Compared to my friends from other nations, we're EXTREMELY well equipped - everything from socks and underwear to Class IV vests* and satellite phones.
• Being away from home for so long is harder on the ones left at home - if you're out on duty you're busy, while they have plenty of time to think (and twice the workload to deal with at home too).
• Arabic is very difficult to pick up if all your previous experiences are various Germanic languages.At the same time, stating that you're fluent in two (Norwegian and English), can understand and read two more (Danish and Swedish) as well as making heads and tails of one more if it's written down and I have time (German) looks pretty impressive on the UN CV...
• Getting used to being home again takes longer than it took getting used to being away. Strange, but true.
• Some people are on UN missions because of the pay check, some are not. Properly motivated and guided both can do excellent work.
• The major challenge is the cultural difference - not between yourself and the locals, but between yourself and other UN personnel. In all fairness they told us this before we deployed, but it has to be experienced to drive the lesson home.

In retrospect, was it worth it? Yes... and how. It's been a long year, but a good one. Difficult at times, but rewarding. Lonely, but with many new friends. Slow at times, but passed quickly.

The Norwegian Defence Medal for International Operations

The UNMIS medal

And with that I'll close this blog for now - if I do go on a new mission I will revive it. If anyone have any questions, comments or remarks, leave a comment and I'll do my best to reply.

Thank you for reading!

*) To put our vests into perspective; the other officers opted to use the UN provided vests, which in theory is Class III. However, materials degrade over time, and personally I would not trust my life to the UN vests if there is a Norwegian vest areound. If the option is to do with no vest, then I would use the UN vest.

Home at last

It was a very long trip home...

We travelled as a group of six Norwegians, which was nice since I had someone to talk to along the way. Getting to Juba Airport around 1400 local time (1300 Norwegian time), we got through the check-in and security check with no hassle - travelling in uniform does have it's benefits. Then we had to hang around in the departure hall until well past five in the afternoon, being warm and sweaty. For some reason that was beyond the grasp of any of us, our little group was split up on two different flights leaving with fifteen minutes between us. We found it strange, and even more so when we realised that both flights had enough free seats to fit the whole group twice over.

Our first jump brought us to Addis Ababa, where we had some food before going through yet another security check. Our next flight was to take off at 2300 local time (2200 Norwegian time), and once aboard we realised just how little the UN must have paid for our tickets - if we had been further back in the cabin we would been riding in the galley... and as I'm sure most know; being in the back means more noise, more traffic in the aisle and less rest. Between take off and landing I got less than half an hour of napping, but I did get to watch a couple of movies and read a fair bit.

Landing in Frankfurt, we had time for a cup of coffee and a bite before boarding the last flight - again I was in the back, with my back against the galley wall. The nice thing was that I got a row all to myself, so I could relax and read some more while listening to music. It ended up being the most relaxing part of the jorney home to be honest...

We touched down at Oslo Airport about a quarter to ten in the morning, but our epic travels were far from done... we were picked up at the airport and taken to a nearby military base for our medical debrief and the handing out of medals. Since I've been extremely lucky (and also quite careful while in Sudan) I got a clean bill of health - at least until the results of the blood work comes in. They fed us too; slices of wholegrain bread with stuff on them, just the thing I've been missing the last year (the only bread I could find in Sudan was white bread).

After pinning a medal on us they drove us back to the airport; some of us had a flight to catch to get all the way home, some of us had made other arrangements. I finally walked through my door around 1800 on Thursday, home at last...

Farewell dinner

Over the months I've been here I've taken part in my fair share of farewell dinners - and today I was the guest of honor at the one held for my Norwegian colleague and myself. Lots of people showing up, from all the pillars in the Team Site (MLO, UNPOL, BanBat, Civil Affairs, CITS and so on) as well as a few guys from various NGOs I've been rubbing shoulders with the last year.

We held the dinner in the Blue, and he food - prepared by the cleaning staff, hijacked for the day - was plenty and tasty. After the food it was time for the speeches... and if half of what was said should be believed my Norwegian friend and myself have singlehandedly made the Team Site a better place.

I got mixed feelings about going home. On hand it's like "home, hell yeah!"... on the other hand I'm leaving behind people I've worked closely with for the last year. And while it has been times I've been wondering how people can be so incredible dense and/or stupid, for the most part we been able to put our cultural differences aside and work as a well functioning team. As people are fond to say when we have been welcoming new coworkers to Yei; we're more than a team, we're a family in Yei. And this have been made even clearer with the people who gotten redeployed to Yei from other Team Sites after July 9th - the stories they tell shows us just how lucky we been down here. Apart from an incident which took place two months before I arrived, there has been no fighting and very little argument between UNMOs - but if the stories are to be believed that is not too uncommon in other Team Sites (after all, it only takes two to fight and ruin the mood of the entire team).

I think one of the reasons why Yei have worked so well is that it's always been a small Team Site - the smallest in South Sudan - and that the officers stationed here have realized that they cannot afford to act like idiots if the team is to function. With the new, leaner mission all the Team Sites will be homes of small Teams. Hopefully the experience we have had in Yei will become common on all the sites in the future.

Farewell party for UNPOL

Four of our UNPOL friends are leaving us - read: are being repatriated - on Friday. Sadly, among them is one of my good Canadian friends. So yesterday evening the UNPOLs threw a farewell party for them, and even if most people left as soon as the free food and drinks were gone, the two Canadians and I ended up hanging out in the Blue until almost midnight... basically just shooting the shit, having a few beers and complaining about the way we are moving from one mission (UNMIS) to the next (UNMISS).

Also yesterday, five of my UNMOs got their marching orders for Friday as well. One of them - the other Norwegian - got the message that he should stay in the Team Site anyway less than five minutes later, and the rest we will probably be able to put off until Monday. That would be good; not only will people have more time to pack and transfer responsibilities, but if four UNMOs and four UNPOLs with all their belongings were to cram themselves into one helicopter... overload for sure.

Last SDP - the movie

It is a long one, so grab a coffee.

We have a resolution!

The United Nations Security Council passed the resolution for creating the United Nations Mission in South Sudan today... effective from tomorrow.

So yes, we have a new mission! I'll post a link to the UNSC Resolution once I manage to load the UN website, in the meantime y'all can look here:

http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/unsc_resolutions11.htm

Last Short Duration Patrol before separation

With the separation coming up on us, and as such today was the very last Short Duration Patrol conducted by Yei Team Site as part of the CPA monitoring. A pretty routine patrol, with a less than routine detour to do a tiny bit of mountaineering on an hill I've been eyeballing since I passed it the first time in November last year.

Wonderful view from the top, and good exercise as well. We got some good pictures from the summit and from down on the slope. The hills and mountains in the area is made up of course grained intrusive, felsic, ingeous rock.... also known as granite. This fits my previous theory that the hills around in Eastern Equatoria are old magma pipes, with the rest of the volcano worn away by weathering over the aeons.

We also made a little detour for the language assistant to buy goats; they were half the prize of the going rate in Yei.

Lots of photos today - I was dual-wielding cameras today, so they are both from the regular compact camera and the video camera.

 The JMT and various local authorities.

 One of my Nepalese friends eyeballing the hill we're about to climb.

 Nice looking hill from this angle.

 Near the summit.

 King of the world!

 I headed down before the two others, to get some decent shots.

 Erratic blocks, fractured of the main body of the hill due to weathering.

 More hills in the distance.

 And even more hills - clearly this area had a lot of volcanic activities back in the day.

 One Nepalese and one Russian on the summit.

 Strangest passenger I've ever driven around down here in South Sudan.

 Definitely a billy goat... but then most goats for sale is, since a nanny goat will make more goats.

The next batch of photos is from the video camera:

 Driving through downtown Yei.

 The bridge over Yei River.

 For being the rainy season, roads were pretty dusty.

 The sides of the road is much greener than they were at the height of the dry season. That said, here isn't really that much difference between the two seasons around Yei.

 My Russian friend engaged the kids playing football while the Language Assistant was haggling over the goat.

 Speaking of goats...

 As mentioned, nanny goats makes more goats.

 Everything has to be documented... even the act of documenting.

 Just a bit of mountaineering.

 View from near the top.

 Another view from near the top

 Yet another view from same spot.

 Again...

 Last one, I promise.

 A huge pile of huge boulders.

 A Russian on the summit.

The next batch is from the regular camera again - it should be possible to stitch these together into a panorama view of the area around the little hilltop.

The actual making of said panorama is left as an exercise for the reader - I'll make one once I'm home and have access to proper photo editing software.

Confidential Reports

Just realised that i forgot to make a blog post yesterday... I have been busy.

I've been asked by Sector to start preparing the Confidential Reports (aka Work Efficiency Reports) on everybody on the team. If it's one thing I've always have had difficulty with it is to tell people just how much they fail in various fields... it could be my cultural background, but I tend to judge the efficiency and professionalism of my fellow team members as if they were all Norwegian officers - and while most measure up, there is a couple of guys on my team who don't quite get there in one field or another.

The trouble is writing their CR so that they both get the point and is happy that I made it... not easy. Oh well, part of the job.

Life and death in the UN

Just as I got ready to leave the office and have dinner, having missed lunch since I ended up talking to the BanBat Commander, a phone call came through...

Special flight coming in. Okay... unusual, but it's happened before.

Six pax*, one corpse. Wait, what?

Corpse, as in dead person. Whoa... that's definitely unusual.

A bit more probing revealed that the UN was transporting the mortal remains of a UN National Staff who had been working in Juba home to his family in Yei so they could have a proper funeral, which would be the right thing to do. A little bit of brainstorming and a talk to the UNMOs who were still in the Team Site and it was clear that dinner was once again on the back burner... We didn't know who the man was, didn't even knew his name**. Didn't matter, he was a colleague, and we were going to be there when he came to our Team Site and show the last respect. Least thing we could do, really.

Long story short; when the helicopter had landed and the coffin - draped in the UN flag - was carried to the waiting car, it was with a honour guard made up of officers from four different continents in hurriedly shined up uniforms and blue berets pulled from the bottom drawer standing to attention... The family didn't say much - only natural considering the circumstance - but the looks we got spoke volumes.

Most of us were fairly muted after the family had left and we walked off the helipad; we all know that death is a natural part of life, but still it isn't something we see on a daily basis in our corner of the world. Makes you ponder...

*) PAX is the common abbreviation for passengers.
**) Still don't.

Just another Sunday with no new info

It's now one day less until the 9th, and we know just as much as we did yesterday about the future. We got even more rumours than yesterday though, and it's getting hard to distinguish between:

1. Things people have heard that is likely to be true.
2. Things people have heard that might be true.
3. Things people have heard from someone who wishes it was true...

It is enough to make you want to scream, even more so when people who ought to know better chooses to listen to and spread around (3), because it sounds better. It might be my western cultural background, it might be my cynicism but I don't trust anything that hasn't come down from up high - and then only if it's stamped and countersigned. Others are more trusting, and thus likely to be disappointed when the rumours don't hold water.

It is getting increasingly challenging to keep my team working smoothly together. Tempers are shorter and people who normally is the best of friends are getting snappy at each other. Hopefully tomorrows impromptu birthday party* will help something - I was hoping to keep it on the quiet side, but I see how a decent blow-out can help people relax and reconcile so I'm turning it into a bit more of an event. Tomorrow I have to head down to the supermarkets and pick up chips and snacks - I have no idea how many people who will show up (I've also invited a number of the NGOs in Yei), so I better err on the generous side of things.

*) Mine, if it wasn't clear. I'm getting old...

It's only one week...

...until South Sudan is going to declare independence and become the newest nation state in the world.

At the same time, that means it's only one week until UNMIS comes to an official end (even if liquidation will take quite a few weeks) and we still don't know if there is going to be a follow up mission in South Sudan (most likely will be - if the Security Council can get together and vote on it) and who will be transfered from UNMIS to UNMISS. We do know that there is going to be a new mission just for Abyei, most likely some of us Norewegians will end up there - we already have two guys there who knows the lay of the land.

Oh well. Still seven days to find out what is going to happen. The only thing we have enough of is rumours.

ALO training

Today was a busy day in it's own way... we had a group of instructors come from Juba to conduct a class on the finer issues of being an Air Liaison Officer (same class I had up in Khartoum back in the end of October last year). Off course it was only after they had arrived - and hour late - that we realized that no one in Juba had given any thoughts to the fact that having lunch in Yei isn't as easy as it is in Team Sites with a cafeteria... so both the instructors and the Russian aircrew that flew them here was pretty much left floating.

Thankfully though, we are blessed with a very nice company from BanBat in Yei... so after a quick talk to their officers, and a enough time for them to actually prepare food, our guests (and myself) were treated to a wonderful Bangladeshi lunch. Both the instructors and the aircrew are to their hearts content, as did I. I just can't say how grateful I am to BanBat for helping out on such short notice - we're really lucky to be in this team site with such good fellows.

In other, unrelated news, I found something interesting in the shop today:

 Jus4ever - just as I was running out of orange drink powder too. 

 "Approved colourants and flavorings"... probably best not to ask.

Four exiting flavourings... looking forward to trying this tomorrow!

The downfalls of leadership

I have identified a major downside to being the Team Site Leader; when the various Gs (G1, G2, G3 and so on) are well trained, reasonable competent and on the ball at all times... well, there isn't a lot for me to do other than to smile, nod and tell them to carry on.

Not that I'm really complaining, since I got my hands full with the fallout from the uncertainty of whats going to happen after July 9th...

Uncertainties

We live in interesting times indeed... if by "interesting" you mean "don't have a clue as to what will happen".

July 9th is coming ever closer, and with it comes the end of UNMIS (most likely), the beginning of UNMISS (quite probable) and a major reduction in the number of military personnel serving with the UN in Sudan (almost certainly). What we do know for sure is that nothing is decided yet - but current plans calls for going from almost six hundred Military Observers to less than two hundred Military Liaison Officers... and we don't even know what a MLO is supposed to do. As it looks right now, it's an UNMO with a new name and less backup - among other things, the Force Protection will be centralized and then deployed on an "as needed" basis. A persistent rumour is that the name have changed so a number of nationalities can be quietly cut from the mission, but I'm not so sure that is what's been going on... it's just as likely that the name have changed because the job description is going to change too... moving away from pure observation tasks.

In light of this uncertainty all leave planned for after July 9th is still cancelled, and we been asked to inquire with our UNMOs of Captain and lower rank if they might be interested in transferring to UNAMID (ie: Dafur) or if they want to be repatriated to their home nation. And to top of the uncertainties and - I do believe - piss people off, a persistent rumour is making the rounds saying that since we will be in a new mission after July 9th, all our earned CTO and AL days will be lost and we will have to start earning them again... at a rate of 1.2 days CTO per week and 2.5 days AL per month. In other words, we'll lose all our earned leave and I wont have enough days to go home on leave until my end of mission. We're not to pleased about that.... understatement of the year.

Another uncertainty that have been bothering me since the beginning of April have evaporated... long story short, the Norwegian Armed Forces are reorganizing (again - we been at it since I joined up in '93) and my old position have been reorganized away from the beginning of August... leaving me with a job (being a military officer is a life choice, really) but no work. Today I got the happy news that they have found a slot for me in the new organization, and I get to stay at "my" airbase! Talk about a load of my shoulders.

End/start of an era

Today the outgoing Team Site Leader left Yei; today I took over as Team Site Leader in Yei...

 Pretty much ALL the UNMOs in the team - the only people missing is the three people currently on leave.

A good friend and me / outgoing and incoming TSL.

Goodbye friend

Tonight was the farewell party of our Team Site Leader - Thursday morning he'll catch the helicopter out of Yei, and in a little less than two weeks time he'll be home with his wife and kid. It's funny how you can both be happy and sad at the same time... Happy, because he gets to go home and be with people who are important again; I know how much he has missed them. Sad because, well, it's not every day you say farewell to a friend without knowing when you'll see him again - if ever.

We had a good party though with fifty or sixty guests, plenty of food, free drinks and music. I was asked to act as the MC, a job I admittedly winged but got praise for anyway. But then I have some experience in how things should be done, and more than a little experience in speaking to a captive audience. A very different audience, and on a very different subject than I usually do back home, but the principle is the same; know what you want to say and simply plunge ahead.

The party broke up by itself around half past then - tomorrow is after all a workday, and Sector don't really accept a party the night before as an excuse not to show up to work...

 Plenty of food - so much we're having leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

 It's not often the local staff comes to the farewell parties - they did tonight though.

 People enjoying themselves, eating yummy goat.

International and national staff, all together. 

 And yes, free drinks too.

 From left; Civil Affairs, outgoing TSL, UN Security and our Chief Mechanic.

 After the food and speeches; games and dancing!

 Africans like to dance... while I have a sense of rhythm not unlike a derailed train.

As far as I can tell everyone was enjoying themselves!