First week in Burundi
It’s been hectic, so lots to relate. To bring everyone up to date I’ll just do things chronologically. In fact I should include the previous week too: The moment this journey started was at 7 am in Wales, saying goodbye to my girlfriend and her children and driving off to London though the tears and rain. How can you explain to a 3 and 4 year old that you are going to be away for nine months? How can you justify leaving such a loving environment and heading to darkest Africa? I have no idea.
The next couple of days were a whirlwind – briefing at the London office, dentist, dinner with friends, visiting my elderly grandmother in hospital – both knowing that the odds are stacked against us meeting again in this life. Then another tearful departure at LHR and off to AMS. Despite being utterly tired I managed to squeeze in dinner with Udo and Tamara in Utrecht before two full days of briefings at the Amsterdam office. Finally on Friday evening I caught the overnight plane to NBO.
Fortunately I only had a 6 hour transfer, saving the need to go into Nairobi, so settled down in the Java House near gate 14 and dozed and chatted to a cargo pilot who was heading to pick up a charter in ABJ who used to fly the WFP twin otter that we us to ferry expats to and from two of the projects in Burundi. And so finally at about mid-day Saturday I flew over lake Victoria (an almost clear day and an almost empty 737, so great views out both sides) before dropping into BJM. Being a small airport you get to walk across the apron, admiring the pair of elderly DC3’s, the moss-covered Caravelle and the imposing An124 unloading UN vehicles. You can also meet and chat to your friends waiting in departures - in this case Shelina, who I worked with in C?d’Ivoire, and will be working with again when she’s back from a two week holiday.
It’s a short drive from the airport into Bujumbura and to Amstel Base (the office). Buj is nestled on the small bit of flat land between lake Tanganyika and the mountains. Our houses are only 5 mins drive away in the foothills. It’s green and unmistakably African, with clapped-out cars mixed with Landcruisers from every NGO, no street lighting, giant potholes, compounds surrounded by high fences, children who wave and so on.
My handover briefing started more or less immediately and has hardly stopped. Luis has only been here for three months, and therefore did not have the time or mandate to change anything major – but being very experienced, has lots of advise to pass on. On Tuesday we headed up to Ruyigi, our most-established project. I’ll skip over the details, and maybe come back to them in a later post. Ruyigi is town in the south-east of the country, and at 1700m altitude has a most pleasantly cool atmosphere – an evening at 15 deg C feels great after the heat of the day. The project supports the local hospital and various health centres. I felt very at home – compared to the daunting supply & HRM tasks that await me back in the capital, this is all stuff that I’ve faced before in Danan?
Then on Thursday we headed back. The roads are good, but the mountainous terrain means twisting roads with crawling trucks, so the journey that is no more that 150km takes over 4 hours. During the middle of the day the routes out of Bujumbura are safe, but after 5pm there are still ambushes, particularly in Bujumbura Rural (the province around the capital) – the only place the FNL (the rebel group which has not joined the cease-fire) are still active.
I still have four days before Luis flies to rejoin his wife and 11 month old daughter, and then the batten is passed and the 45 tonne cargo, the 12 month medical order, the complete lack of proper reporting and stock takes in the field, the need to reform the drivers working practices, the battle to get logistic staff to take responsibility of their duties.... they all become my problems! I’m sure I’ll tell you about some of them (although I have to be careful... with internet access there is always a chance they’ll read about it here... I’d better remember to not use names to protect the guilty
So here I am. I still don’t know why I left Wales - I might have just made a huge mistake. But apart from that, I’m in another amazing place and have huge challenge ahead. I’ll keep you posted!
The next couple of days were a whirlwind – briefing at the London office, dentist, dinner with friends, visiting my elderly grandmother in hospital – both knowing that the odds are stacked against us meeting again in this life. Then another tearful departure at LHR and off to AMS. Despite being utterly tired I managed to squeeze in dinner with Udo and Tamara in Utrecht before two full days of briefings at the Amsterdam office. Finally on Friday evening I caught the overnight plane to NBO.
Fortunately I only had a 6 hour transfer, saving the need to go into Nairobi, so settled down in the Java House near gate 14 and dozed and chatted to a cargo pilot who was heading to pick up a charter in ABJ who used to fly the WFP twin otter that we us to ferry expats to and from two of the projects in Burundi. And so finally at about mid-day Saturday I flew over lake Victoria (an almost clear day and an almost empty 737, so great views out both sides) before dropping into BJM. Being a small airport you get to walk across the apron, admiring the pair of elderly DC3’s, the moss-covered Caravelle and the imposing An124 unloading UN vehicles. You can also meet and chat to your friends waiting in departures - in this case Shelina, who I worked with in C?d’Ivoire, and will be working with again when she’s back from a two week holiday.
It’s a short drive from the airport into Bujumbura and to Amstel Base (the office). Buj is nestled on the small bit of flat land between lake Tanganyika and the mountains. Our houses are only 5 mins drive away in the foothills. It’s green and unmistakably African, with clapped-out cars mixed with Landcruisers from every NGO, no street lighting, giant potholes, compounds surrounded by high fences, children who wave and so on.
My handover briefing started more or less immediately and has hardly stopped. Luis has only been here for three months, and therefore did not have the time or mandate to change anything major – but being very experienced, has lots of advise to pass on. On Tuesday we headed up to Ruyigi, our most-established project. I’ll skip over the details, and maybe come back to them in a later post. Ruyigi is town in the south-east of the country, and at 1700m altitude has a most pleasantly cool atmosphere – an evening at 15 deg C feels great after the heat of the day. The project supports the local hospital and various health centres. I felt very at home – compared to the daunting supply & HRM tasks that await me back in the capital, this is all stuff that I’ve faced before in Danan?
Then on Thursday we headed back. The roads are good, but the mountainous terrain means twisting roads with crawling trucks, so the journey that is no more that 150km takes over 4 hours. During the middle of the day the routes out of Bujumbura are safe, but after 5pm there are still ambushes, particularly in Bujumbura Rural (the province around the capital) – the only place the FNL (the rebel group which has not joined the cease-fire) are still active.
I still have four days before Luis flies to rejoin his wife and 11 month old daughter, and then the batten is passed and the 45 tonne cargo, the 12 month medical order, the complete lack of proper reporting and stock takes in the field, the need to reform the drivers working practices, the battle to get logistic staff to take responsibility of their duties.... they all become my problems! I’m sure I’ll tell you about some of them (although I have to be careful... with internet access there is always a chance they’ll read about it here... I’d better remember to not use names to protect the guilty
So here I am. I still don’t know why I left Wales - I might have just made a huge mistake. But apart from that, I’m in another amazing place and have huge challenge ahead. I’ll keep you posted!
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