Fraser's blog

I don't normally go to church, even for Easter... but today I went along with some colleagues to an open air service at a project for street children - all in Kirundi and lots of singing! Very different.

The music sounded something like this.

As I was tired, I decided not to stay up to talk on skype to anyone, nor to sort all the photos that I had taken last week on a field visit to Kinyinya and Ruyigi, nor even to update my blog which I have not done for a while. So, after a brief bit of reading I turned off the light and went to sleep just before 10pm...

...Only to woken up at 11 by what is definitely the heaviest attack on the town since I've been here. While I'm getting better at judging the sounds of AK47's (several kilometres away? a brief exchange of fire? maybe just a jumpy guard firing at a shadow) I'm no expert in heavier weaponry: I think these were mortars... I think they were quite close.

So pulling on clothes I head for our "security corridor" (which is just a corridor) and confer by radio with HoM and the radio operator. I'm the only one at the house tonight, Shelina's in the field and Roberta's on holiday in Turin. During lulls in the shelling it is tempting to peak out to try and gauge what is going on, but since it is my job to brief every arriving expat, that's not an option. It is amazing how the mind interprets sounds - the mutterings of our guards, who have no doubt heard far worst and are probably watching the tracer fire in the distance nonchalantly, the dripping of a tap in the garden etc.

Anyway, an hour has passed and there has been only the briefest of volleys of rifle in the last half an hour, I'm thinking it might be time for bed. Good night!

I took a quick flit up to our new project earlier this week – not planned, but I had a few hours spare and we were sending a pickup with some fuel (they started a project… and didn’t even think to take enough fuel for their generator, let alone the vehicles!!!!) The project is in a very pretty hilly location – in fact this morning they decided to name it Bellevue Base – I suppose it is an improvement on “Papa 22” Coming back down the twisty RN1, I took the following picture of the top end of Lake Tanganyika. Ok, it wasn’t sunset, as we have to be back in town by 16.00. Photoshop’s a useful thing.

Living in Bujumbura is not like being in the field. We have hot showers, internet access, mobile phones. We have a large choice of restaurants (including a very authentic indian) and bars (including the famous Cercle Nautique). I've been going to the gym several times each week (15 mins on an exercise bike at over 25 deg C and 80% humidity is hard going, but the view out the window towards the lake and the Congolese hills in the distance beats New Generation in Bristol.) And at a party last night even had cans of Boddingtons! (That was the second party of the evening... the first at ACF was "bring a bottle").

However, the downside of being in the capital is that you don't get the contact with the people you are here to help. This also haves an effect on our national staff - for those in the capital it is just a job and the commitment beyond the call of duty is just not there. As LogCo the idea is that I spend about 30% of my time in the field, but so far I'm not managing it as there is far too much to do in the capital. I was hoping to get out to our Kinyinya project in the week after next, but even that looks ambitious, given the amount of commitments the management team have to attend to at the moment.

Some people have asked about contact addresses. Well, as always email is the simplest format - I'm checking my normal email addresses every day. For envelopes, you can mail me directly. However, the customs do like to try and extract taxes for anything coming in to the country, so best not to send parcels. I'm not sure about the reliablility of direct post either, but the address is:

Fraser Stephens - MSF Holland
BP 2120
Bujumbura - Burundi

Alternatively you can send stuff via Amsterdam, where it will be hand carried by the next expat coming out with space. Last year this method was just as fast (or slow) as direct post and more reliable:

Fraser Stephens - c/o MSF-H BURUNDI
Plantage Middenlaan 14.
P.O. BOX 10014
1001 EA AMSTERDAM - NETHERLANDS

I also have a mobile phone (00 257 94 86 28) and there is a landline in the house (00 257 24 46 95). Bear in mind that we tend to go to bed early (9:30pm is normal!) and we are 2 hours ahead of GMT. I've called several people using Skype - if you hear a long delay on picking up the phone, it might be me!

Part of the team are away, so I've finally had the house to myself and been able to experiment with Skype (www.skype.com... check it out). Even with the rather flakey internet connections we have, it sort of works. If you get a telephone call from some country code you don't recognise, and the first 4 seconds you don't hear anyone... it might be me. The sound quality is not perfect, but then it is 20 times cheaper than phoning directly, so we have plenty of time to say things twice!

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!