Juba, it's not the end of the world....
... but you can see it from here. This has been a favorite saying in these parts for the last few months. But it seems the distance to the edge is slowly increasing. There is a tremendous increase in construction activity. Recently they have started renovating the roads in Juba town. The road from HQ to the airfield that used to be a lunar landscape is now as smooth as a football pitch. The problem is that it's a sloped gravel road. New gulleys will appear after a few heavy rain showers and we'll be back to step 1 in a few weeks. Improving the infrastructure also brings about other issues. Studies have shown there is a direct link between potholes and schizophrenia.With the most effective method of speed control gone there is an increase of Michael Schumacher wannabees. There has been a dramatic rise in the number of serious road accidents. Last night one of the military observers got run over by a car while exiting a local restaurant. Hit and run. The man suffered serious injuries but is in a stable condition. Local police are investigating the incident.
This weekend the Puma crew organised a BBQ at the aircrew accomodations. Because they hadn't been been flying for a while they killed the time by making their accomodations more hospitable. An old wheel, some stones, a bag of cement, a piece of canvas, some tin cans, light fittings... et voila, "party" time. For those who don't know, we consider a social gathering of more than 4 persons a party. The event was intended to be a small birthday and going away party for about 16 people but before the BBQ was good and hot there were about 40 present. Party crashing is a favorite pastime here. AMZAR Camp was kind enough to provide us with the necessary ingredients. The rest was left up to the French flight engineers whose culinary skills exceed their mechanical skills. Fabulous pizza, tappenade and homemade paté. The kitchen manager of AMZAR was also invited and he was undoubtebly impressed because AMZAR now decided to have a BBQ every other week
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This weekend the Puma crew organised a BBQ at the aircrew accomodations. Because they hadn't been been flying for a while they killed the time by making their accomodations more hospitable. An old wheel, some stones, a bag of cement, a piece of canvas, some tin cans, light fittings... et voila, "party" time. For those who don't know, we consider a social gathering of more than 4 persons a party. The event was intended to be a small birthday and going away party for about 16 people but before the BBQ was good and hot there were about 40 present. Party crashing is a favorite pastime here. AMZAR Camp was kind enough to provide us with the necessary ingredients. The rest was left up to the French flight engineers whose culinary skills exceed their mechanical skills. Fabulous pizza, tappenade and homemade paté. The kitchen manager of AMZAR was also invited and he was undoubtebly impressed because AMZAR now decided to have a BBQ every other week
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posted by Jan at Wednesday, July 12, 2006
3 Comments:
Hoi Jan!
succes nog even daar voor de laatste weken! Hou je haaks!
Dennis.
Hi, it was quite a pleasure to stumble across your blog today. My husband arrived in Khartoum this morning to begin his own tour as an UNMO (sans luggage ... welcome to the third world /sarcasm)In any event I found it very enlightening to read a little about what conditions he may be facing when he goes out into the field. I do not know where he will end up but rumour had it before he left that it would be in the South so who knows your paths may even cross before you return home. In any event stay safe and thanks for sharing your experiences.
hoi papa kijk is op www.freewebs.com/brenair
dat is mijn site groetjes brennain
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