Tuesday, June 10, 2008

volleyball and monkeys

So, I played volleyball with a monkey yesterday. Apparently the people at WFP got a new pet monkey while I was gone.

This isn’t the first WFP monkey. The first monkey was eaten by a pack of wild dogs in Geneina. Apparently (I’m told) the monkey was a chain smoking alcoholic who thought it was a dog. One day it got out of the compound and tried to play with a group of stray dogs in the neighborhood, who realized that the monkey was not a dog and it was torn to pieces.

So now they have a new monkey, and apparently it likes to play games and does not like to be left out. I was tossing the volleyball around with a guy from Medair when suddenly the monkey started climbing up my leg trying to grab at the ball. Now, I am not a big fan of monkeys. Monkeys are dirty, unpredictable and can be fairly violent if provoked. I prefer to steer clear of them in general, and now one was crawling up my leg.

Of course, I was distracted and therefore let the ball drop to the ground. The monkey then jumped from my leg to the ground and ran off with the ball. It didn’t go far though and we were able to resume our game, but I will be sure to keep a watchful eye on the monkey the next time I seem him.

Coming home from volleyball in our little Tico I saw several trucks coming toward me with their hazard lights on. They were full of armed men, I would guess that in total there was at least 100 people. As we approached them, I just kept thinking “Stop, pull over” but I couldn’t express myself in Arabic (I must add this phrase to my study list!). A friend in a marked UN car stopped to watch them pass me by to make sure that I was ok, which made me feel better (though if they HAD chosen at any particular time to be aggressive, I don’t know what he would have done). Anyway, just the usual ride home, right?

Sunday, June 08, 2008

darfur materialism

Coffee, miraculous coffee!! My coffee has finally, FINALLY arrived from Khartoum. I had left a box of things (mostly food, coffee, books and other comfort items) in the office in Khartoum to be forwarded to me via cargo on a WFP flight. Anyway, after a few weeks of waiting I got these items today.

Now I have never considered myself to be a very materialistic person, but it is amazing how a few more possessions has cheered me up significantly. Sure, I am living in the midst of a humanitarian crisis…but that doesn’t mean that I can’t have coffee! I imagine my co-workers will also appreciate this newly arrived item, as it might make me a little more perky in the office in the morning.

In addition to my coffee, I have brought a Starbucks mug that a friend gave me as well. She bought a thermos that can be “personalized” and put a bunch of pictures of us and inspirational messages on it. Anyway I use it now everyday and think of her. However, these types of personalized mugs are unheard of in Sudan and seeing my image on the cup prompted one of my logisticians to say, “Leslie, that woman on your cup bears a great resemblance to you!”, to which I responded, “The woman on the cup is me.” They really laughed about that one.

Currently, everyone is out of the office except me. All of my bosses are either 1) out of the country on r&r or 2) in Khartoum for meetings related to our next OFDA proposal. This has left me to be in charge for about a week or so…and I feel like I have no idea what I am doing. This is a very common feeling I have here, trying to adjust to the fact that I am way out of my comfort zone. You also learn really quickly that it is so much easier to be critical of managers when you are not the one who is managing.  I imagine that is a lesson that will continue to come around to me.