TravelStream™ news feed for member edithka on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/edithka en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:33:07 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edithka/mngsf_2006/1184024700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edithka/mngsf_2006/1184024700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/edithka/mngsf_2006/1184024700/tpod.html Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:33:07 -0400 Sauver le monde, un rapportl à la fois! Saving the World, one report at a time!

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Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The End ...
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London, United Kingdom

It's about time!
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Paris, France

Debriefings à Paris ...
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The Field, Sudan

Je connais les noms des villages que nous avons visité pour la distribution de nourriture en tant que protection pour les semences distribuées le mois précédent : Gos Beina et Shawa Sahafa (enfin, quelque chose comme ça). Mais où trouver sur la carte ????
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El Fasher, Sudan

Visited Abu Shok and As Salam IDP camps : nutrition programme
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Nyala, Sudan

Visited: Water & Sanitation activities in Otash; Nutrition Programme in Kalma Camp
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Khartoum, Sudan

Après une longue absence, un petit blog pour souligner cette journée.
Aujourd'hui souligne mon arrivée au Soudan il y a exactement un an au Soudan.
Aujourd'hui souligne mon départ du Soudan dans exactement une semaine!

Départ le 3 juillet pour Paris pour quelques jours de debriefing (et de shopping!), puis week-end à Londres, histoire de visiter une copine de la mission Soudan et faire une "transition" entre la vie ACF et la "vraie" vie de Montréal. Arrivée à Montréal, si tout va bien, lundi le 9 juillet vers 19h30!

1 an de mission, des hauts et des bas, tous plus mémorables les uns que les autres. Des moments que j'aimerais oublier et qu'heureusement je ne pourrai jamais. Des leçons apprises à chaque jour, chaque heure. Toute une aventure, toute une expérience qui m'a donnée plus de questions que de réponses, mais la qualité vaut plus que la quantité.

Autant de gens, de visages gravés dans ma mémoire et également, l'impression que j'ai peut-être, bien malgré moi, bu l'eau du Nile. À suivre ...

Merci de m'avoir lue et soutenue: à bientôt !

Edith
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Khartoum, Sudan

WORK WHINERS

7

Canada's rank among 23 countries in a survey rating the "whininess" of workers. The French came out on top, followed by the British and Swedish, who tied for second. U.S. workers were next. FDS International Ltd. surveyed close to 14,000 workers
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Khartoum, Sudan

It's a strange feeling today. I came back from break energized, but to deny that there is this underlying fatigue would be, well, big-time denial. Strangely enough, I'm realising this during perhaps the calmest weeks I've seen on this mission. THings are winding down, for better or for worse. Most of the people I've come to be close with have now left this mission, and the ones that are left ... well the whole team, except for 4-6 people (out of 45 at the moment), will be gone by mid-July. Not to mention the fact that we were 65 before Christmas. There's a bit of a "grieving" feeling ...

I spent the first half of my mission building programmes, expanding the mission. Now we are on the exact opposite trends. Are the needs not there anymore? I would say no, on the contrary! BUT ... but - except for Darfur where only violence and access are, for now, slowing us down - needs cost money, programmes don't run themselves, and it seems it's the turning point for Sudan, as a whole. Not only is everyone else I know here - donors, NGO workers, UN staff, etc. - leaving this summer, but I think this is officially the time when donor fatigue is setting in. NGOs better grab on to as many projects as possible now, try to have the most impact now, because already next year, budgets will be winding down ... I'm trying to avoid falling into the cynical category, walking the thin line of pragmatism, but if there's another tsunami, we're totally screwed!

As a humanitarians, our goal is for people not to need us asap. Most donors have this speech where they tell us that after 5 years, it's not humanitarian anymore ... time to switch to development. I think normally, this would make sense, but this place, this Sudan, defies anything I've seen or imagined ... and I have a pretty vivid imagination. There's this entire gray area nobody's ever really paid attention to before, that's however becoming the norm. This "recovery" phase, between crisis and development, which seems so obviously crucial and tricky, which everyone just throws around when they get too frustrated ... frustration is another key thing with this in-between phase. You can justify it as humanitarian, because it's the time when tensions run high and everything could quickly go back to crisis/conflict. But then again, at that point, you've done everything you can, programmes are running pretty well and expats have decent living conditions; some may even extend their missions!

If you're smart or have enough time on your hands, you can plan this out and have a half-decent exit strategy. If you're not or are overworked or have pressures to expand or maybe are too close to see the big picture, then you take a beating. Today we took a beating. Yet another project not financed and a big "remise en question" cannot be denied. Not to mention another base to close. I have to say I've been at the forefront on this project and I seriously do not understand the reasoning ... it's really easy to make it personnal as well : we all worked friggin' hard on this and there's no dialogue available. I'm taking it personal, I feel like I've let some people down (maybe that's why I'm writing in English tonite), but at the same time ... I am baffled!

NGO stands for Non Governmental Organisation. Right now, our projects are financed by, well, various countries ! They're all nice people and it would be bad if they didn't put money into development and humanitarian programmes ... but it really makes you wonder what we could achieve if we had total control over our finances (like very few organisations). Like I said: frustration!

So, for better or for worse, in 2 months, we'll have a bunch of new people who will have to deal with this frustration, those governments and those needs. I'm pretty sure a lot of knowledge and wisdom will be lost - and they'll probably think we were crazy to make some of the decisions we did, like I thought when I arrived - but I hope that the energy and fresh perspective will make up for it. And I hope we actually got most of it right ... right?

Then there's the fact that we do some kick ass work here, even if it's not perfect and it's never enough ... you take a stroll in a Therapeutic Feeding Centre, even if there's not that many kids, and you just get it that it's better to be here than not at all. That's probably my queue to show you the "before and after" pictures of little black kids and tell you how you can donate generously ...

In any case, it's not my intention to moralise, just to share thoughts and "insight". Like I said, we do kick ass work, but we're not gonna put an end to the conflict, we're just keeping people alive, while the "international community" that finances our projects is "trying" to solve this politically. Can there ever be peace in Sudan? Will the people of Darfur be left to live in harmony? There's that line between cynical and pragmatic again? I just hope that if funding is winding down, it's because gvts are confident they can end this conflict : do they have an ace up their sleeves that I'm not aware? Or does Sudan?

Well, in exactly 2 months, my mission is over. I'll be the wiser for it and I really do still believe in this work, in this humanitarian community ... I hope Sudan will get another batch of creative and devoted people to make the best out of the winding resources and help the people of Sudan, perhaps even, somehow, contribute to the end of the conflict and usher in a new, brighter, era. Insha' allah.

And I would like to say a big thank you to all those I've come to meet on this mission ... it's never black and white, it's always very intense, but honestly, I feel blessed to have been here with you. We'll meet again, the better for having on this mission.

Until then, take care everyone!

Edith ... ready to wrap it up!

www.actioncontrelafaim.org
www.actioncontrelafaim.ca
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Khartoum, Sudan

De retour à Khartoum après 10 journées magnifiques à Paris. Il faisait bon vivre, avec des températures au-delà de 25C, les boutiques pleines de belles choses (surtout les chaussures argentées), le bon vin, la bonne bouffe et l'excellente compagnie... que demander de mieux?

C'est maintenant, de retour au bureau, que je vois dans quel piteux état j'étais depuis un peu plus d'un mois ... je me suis impliquée à fond dans cette mission, mais voilà, j'ai découvert et puis (un peu trop) repoussé mes limites. Je regarde tout le chemin fait depuis mon arrivée au Soudan ... je n'aurais même pas pu imaginer faire une mission si remplie, si impliquée dans tout ce qui me passionne (ou presque...) dans un contexte aussi fascinant. Mais maintenant détendue, après avoir pris du recul et profité un peu de la vie, je me rends compte à quel point j'ai appris et comment j'en suis un peu venu au bout de ce que je peux apprendre avec ce poste. C'est pourquoi j'ai enfin pû accepter de quitter le Soudan après un an de mission. Ma date de fin de mission est donc le 2 juillet, officiellement, de retour à Montréal vers le 10 ... définitivement là le 12!

En attendant, j'ai beaucoup de travail, mais je dois avouer qu'avec le nouveau CdM ultra compétent, je n'ai pas beaucoup de choses passionantes à faire. J'espère donc, en 80 quelques jours, compléter les dossiers, retourner sur le terrain et enfin voir toutes les bases, finir la mission en beauté.

Et après? Du repos, Montréal, les amis, la famille ... j'en dirais plus que je mentirais ... planifier annulerait tout le côté repos!

À court terme: visite à Bentiu la semaine prochaine (insha' allah), des rapports, des rapports, des rapports; le moi de mai à Khartoum (sauf peut-être...) et juin en bouclage de boucles!

Et dans tout ça, j'espère réussir à rester aussi zen que je le suis après ce merveilleux break parisien ... quoique c'est moins facile sans chocolatines et cie...
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