Hello Abeche, Chad

Here I am, sitting on the chair of the chief of a UN office in Abeche. I did not forget yet all the emotional moments I faced when saying good bye to my dear Yemeni colleagues. They were really nice and sympathetic when 2 days before my departure they organised my ultimate farewell party in the main hotel of Sana'a. I also got a beautiful silver jambaya from the Minister of Social Affairs on the day of my departure. It is true that I will enjoy any future visit to Yemen, especially if my son settles there for an other couple of years.

Settling in Abeche is very easy because there is not that much to do. You arrive with your small luggages (not more than 15kg in total!) and you choose a bedroom in the guesthouse: Ten rooms where #1 is the biggest and where I will stay from the time the Protection officer will leave it (end of June). You have the choice between 4 bathrooms outside the main building. The lounge includes a satellite TV that has mainly French channels and a dinning table where all guests meet during meal time... Each room has a bed, a table and a cupboard. The kitchen is equipped with a stove, a big freezer and a refrigerator, enough for all the drinks we need when we come back for lunch or dinner. The cleaner of the guesthouse is also available for laundry and food is prepared by a cook who is paid on a daily basis by the guests. It is amazing to discover that despite the remoteness of Abeche tomatoes, lettuce, advocado, cumcumber and other types of vegetables are available, as well as freshwater fish: not to mention beef, mutton, chicken and pigeons! There are two different beers produced in Chad: Gala and Castel. Each of them has its own fan when I cannot honestly make a difference between them!

Within 48 hours I find myself completely overwhelmed by the challenges in the humanitarian sphere as well as in the management of the office that I am expected to lead: not enough latrines in sites of IDPs, not enough teachers for refugees or IDPs, sexual violence with impunity because the armed forces are frequently involved, nutrition situation not properly assessed, outbreak of diarrhea and hepatitis E, conflict/competition between humanitarian actors, unpredictability of the movements of IDPs (do they want now to go back to their villages because it rains and they want to cultivate? in that case do they expect security to be provided by government? what are the plans to support their return?)... In house I am confronted with the indifference of the Ndjamena main office on the equipment made or not made available to this field office, missions gone with car without codan radio or thuraya satphone, bureaucratic procedures preventing from paying on the spot the repair of a flat tyre, unexplained breakdown of the guesthouse generator (a "new" one installed 16 days ago...), a security company that wants to take over our security system before being formally notified by the main office... Need to fill the gap when international professionals rotate for their R&R (rest & recuperation) outside the country.

I am sleeping without airconditonning: it is warm and not hot. The average temperature in the night is around 31-32 dg Celsius. I go to bed around 2330 after a god shower and wake up between 530 and 600: small laundry, breakfast (cereals in mango juice)... I drive my colleagues to the office at 700 every morning, take them back for lunch between 1300 and 1400, and end of afternoon around 1830-1900. We are expected to drive in convoys after 2000 and should not be found outside the guesthouse after 2200. In fact the main risk is not any rebellion or army faction, it is mainly criminality. In a recent incident a colleague lost his gardener who tried to resist to a armed robbery.

I plan to fly soon to Iriba: That will be an opportunity to also talk about the Goz Beida and Farchana areas. For the moment I enjoy the chocolate brought by colleagues back from R&R and my evening lettuce salad that is helping me to stay fit for the job!

Farewell party (parties!)

Et voila, je suis a une semaine de mon depart du Yemen. Les diners se succedent et ne se ressemblent pas. Une soiree avec des femmes yemenites plus liberales que les autres: elles sont generalement plus relax, plus enclines a la fete et au discours libre, souvent divorcees et chefs de famille. Malheureusement elles fument et khatent a mort! La discussion est toujours tres intellectuelle, avant-guardiste, feministe. J'aime ca, dans un pays qui n'y est pas predispose! Une soiree avec les collegues internationaux qui n'arrivent pas a parler d'autre chose que du boulot... La fille du patron en etudes au Canada arrive au milieu de la soiree; un petit mot gentil du patron qui est content de sa Grande Maison; de la musique de Madagascar en toile de fond... J'ai failli m'etouffer avec une crevette un peu trop seche car j'ai le nez qui coule et respire seulement avec la bouche...

Ce midi une collegue yemenite a fait preparer un dejeuner dans la cour du bureau: une viande extraordinaire, et un dessert typiquement yemenite (qu'ils servent en entree d'habitude!): une sorte de galette des rois avec plein de miel dessus. Ce soir ce sera avec des amis francais: On verra comment cela se passera. Je ne suis pas tres loquace avec eux. Je reussis a garder mon poids moyen malgre tous ces repas succulents. Jeudi 14 ce sera a la maison. On a invite une soixantaine de personnes: il y aura a boire (tout ce qui est imaginable!) et a manger; j'espere qu'il ne pleuvra pas car le bar sera dehors. Vendredi ce sera chez un couple franco-malagasy. Samedi ce sera la grande fete du bureau au Movenpick: Nous serons 4 a quitter le bureau dans les semaines qui viennent. Puis le lendemain ce sera chez un collegue soudanais... et ce sera la fin car j'ai decide de n'accepter aucune invitation a partir du 18 juin.

Plein d'idees me passent par la tete car je ne sais pas encore comment je vais effectivement vivre sans ma meilleure moitie: ma question est surtout comment va-t-elle vivre? et les garcons? L'un au Canada, l'autre au Yemen... je ne m'inquiete pas pour moi car je serai heureux entre le stress, ma salle de gym, mon internet, mon guest house et sa tele satellite, mes virees a Goz beida et Iriba, la vie avec les autres humanitaires (engueulades et autres choses plus sympa), mes visites a Addis, etc... ca va etre vachement excitant!