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At the Souq

More reflections on Hunger..

In Nepal and Cambodia the children were so small. Super cute, but small. Ask them their age and it is astounding. The Khmer girl in the photo below was 16. She sold us our bread every day. I used to play with her like a child. When I found out how old she was, that she had never been to school, that she worked every day of her life, I just felt sad every time I saw her.

You see, they don't get enough nutrition for their little bones to grow to their potential. You can read more here and here. But that is not the only thing that does not grow, lowered mental development in children is another effect of hunger and poor nutrition. Not only were they born in some of the hardest places on the planet, but they are mentally and physically behind as well. What hope do they have? If a country's future rides on the shoulders of the next generation, what happens if half of that generation don't get enough to eat? (click here for a photo Essay). What will that future look like I wonder?

The young western Nepalese man holding his daughter below (her hair is bleached of colour due to malnutrition) had just answered our drought survey questions. We had just asked him when his rice-stocks were going to run out. His reply was two weeks. When we then asked what he was planning on doing after that his response was simply "I do not know".

WFP = We Feed People

I do not often write about my work.  Mainly due to the extremely sensitive nature of the country I am based in and the situation for foreigners working here. And many people who ask me what I do seem to have difficulty in understanding how I could enjoy this kind of work- surely its just a case of Logistics? It is, but it is also much more. And the more is the part I enjoy. Food is the most powerful thing on the planet. It controls our every move. There is oil spilling from the soils of this big, wide land, there are Sudanese millionaires scattered around the globe.  And yet, food is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.

And of course, food is politics. Who has it, who does not, who promises how much of it to who, and what conditions it is ‘donated’ with. Most of all, I think food is injustice. Every 5 seconds a child dies of hunger, somewhere in the world. 18,000 children dead from hunger every single day.  Money, violence, insecurity and politics are part of this seemingly simple task of giving food to those without. Along with nutrition and health and water and education and access and sustainable livelihoods. Its complicated. The concept begins and ends with saving lives but there's so much in between. I learn something new every day..

Walking Home

I took this shot walking home from work the other week. The weather is changing in Sudan. Winter is approaching. Soon the days will be under 40 degrees and the sun will set by 6pm. Seasonality is so important I think. It makes me feel the tangible nature of time and think about what I have achieved so far and where I am going next.

How does the weather in your part of the world these days make you feel? 

A new decade

I always tend to be a bit overly contemplative and reflective on Birthdays. This year more so for me I think. For a few reasons. My location for one. Living in one of the poorest places on earth, scarred by fighting has adjusted my perspective, on my own life and on the core human nature that shapes and binds us all.

Also, this year I am alone. I think of all the people and animals who have touched my life over 30 years and wish I could have handpicked my top 50 and had them all around me yesterday. But instead I was alone with my oldest and longest companion. But we get along pretty well these days.

Past birthdays were also in my thoughts - especially the joy of the previous two years, which were magical times in my life, surrounded by beautiful people in the place where I feel the most like myself - the Mountains. 2008 was spiritual, with two kindred spirits by my side and a pot of good tea brewing. 2007 was crisp Himalayan winds brushing my face and five wonderful people overflowing with laughter. I miss those days.. But perhaps we can't have a magical birthday every year, or the magic would become unrecognizable. So maybe I have some more magic headed my way in the years to come. Where will I be next year I wonder?

Dali Gompa, Darjeeling, India

10th November, 2008

Ulleri, Annapurna region, Nepal

10th November, 2007

Willoughby and Ripley

Not the least hard thing to bear when they go from us, these quiet friends, is that they carry away with them so many years of our own lives.

- John Galsworthy

Laziz!

Laziz means delicious and its a good word for the food in Darfur.

Fatour (a big lunch eaten around 11am) can be simple (Fhoul (beans, oil, vegies) and flat bread) or slightly more extravagant (such as below). Assida is common (in the middle of the table), with a doughy consistency, is made from the staple Sorghum and is covered in a bean sauce usually. Cheeses are good, oil is plentiful and, as in every African country, meat is king.

There is no such thing as individual plates in this country, sharing is caring. Like many wonderful cultures, Sudanese food is eaten only with the right hand (thumb and first two fingers only) and its a rather messy afair. But after becoming an expert at dal bhat over the past 2 years, I have impressed the locals with my abilities. Dig in.

School Days...

Breakfast in a girls school in El Fasher, Northern Darfur.
Food supplied by WFP = Lentils, CSB (above), Oil & Sugar.

I recently watched Van Diemens Land.

It was quite confronting and a little disturbing and definitely thought provoking for me.

It made me think a lot about Tasmania and Australia.. about how wild and rugged a landscape it really is. And I would say, along with Alaska and Antarctica, it is one of the only truly 'wild' places left on the planet. Even here, sitting in Darfur, I know I could ride a camel north for a few days and be in the middle of the Libyan Desert and I would still find people and huts and traders and life. I would still find away to survive (excluding rebel bullets of course). All across the extremity of the Himalaya it was the same as well. There were people absolutely Everywhere. They were poor people. But they were living people.

But there is a reason why Australia is the most urbanised country on the planet. We have to live in the coastal cities because it is near impossible to live anywhere else on that wide and mysterious continent. Or perhaps it is that we realise the power she yields over us and we are frightened to be alone with her so we cling to each other and the light of the ocean and its life giving rains over our heads.

The men in the film say "Hunger is a strange Silence". The food in Australia certainly is hard to get a hold of. Especially in the denseness of the Tasmanian ancient forests, where even few Indigenous groups lived before Europeans arrived with their shipload of diseases and wiped them all out. Although the blokes in this film seem to find their way around Hunger...

I will always know the Australian wilderness as beautiful and unique. But it is also dangerous, isolated, frightening, dark, unforgiving, lost and alone...all at once. And this movie really captures that I thought. The lighting and camera work are excellent. As is the Gaelic voice-over. Sends a shiver down your spine.

But I do not think I will ever watch it a second time.

Anyone seen it?

Felt like a change..

I am about to reach the halfway point of my time in Sudan

and as my thoughts and perspectives change, I felt the need for a clean new slate.

What do you think??

While my title is a little hard to read (blogger won't et me change the colour grey..),

the header photo is a pic of one of the old woven basket lids

that the Sudanese villagers use to cover their food from the flies and sun.

It hangs on my wall in my flat in Khartoum.

p.s. Nobody comments any more... I love comments!!

Dreams are green and blue..

Want to see what my dreams look like these days?

Climate Change: A change needed...

If women are the key to breaking perpetual poverty - why are they being left out of Climate Change talks? Why is it always old farts in bad suits who appear on my screen as I catch the nightly BBC highligts from Climate Change forums around the globe?! (excluding the Lovely Peter Garret..not that he seems to be talking much these days..).

Not all are immune to the urgency though... such as this cool organisation.

And I was happy to see my own crowd taking a step in the girly direction too, in Bangladesh. Where they are providing flour rations to women in disaster-prone areas as an incentive to come to training sessions in climate change adaptation skills like; rasing homesteads and building embankments. Makes sense huh?

Our home is this weeping planet.. Healing hands are needed - we all know that now. But parts of our home are worse than others - the poor will (and indeed already have been with murderous droughts) suffer the most and the most immediately. People sometimes struggle to turn off a light for the planet, or stop driving so much to be a bit greener..but perhaps if the mind-set shifted a bit to: reduce your carbon footprint and save a five year old Kenyan boy from starving the death. Or push the Polly's to get serious on carbon reductions to create a future for a family in the foothills of the melting Himalaya's... to save people, to save our planet, to save our conscience, to live up to our responsibility as one big family of humans.

.....And now to pretty it up a wee bit...

Pulled out an oldie from NZ glacial lakes at Mt.Cook, taken 5 years ago..

Attacking the Hungry

Yesterday the organisation I work for was attacked in Pakistan. A suicide bomber entered the building and at least five people are reported to have been killed, many injured. It makes me sad and angry. I wrote an entry about a month ago about the increase in the targeting of humanitarian workers to harm in order to make global, political messages. It is deeply worrying - to all of us in the international community. Because, ultimately, it is an attack on the worlds poorest, the persecuted and the hungry. They are the people who suffer when humanitarians can no longer access them to support them when they need help the most.. This new trend is a devastation to all of us in countries like Australia, countries with the means to help, and I am sure you feel the sadness I do..

Here is the letter the executive director of WFP sent to all her staff (myself included). I think she sums it up well:

To WFP's global family,

It is with great sadness that I confirm the shocking news about this afternoon's bombing in Pakistan, which killed five WFP employees and injured others. We will continue sharing details as we learn them, but the facts alone cannot capture the profound pain - and outrage - we all feel today.

I wish you all to know that you are not alone in feeling anger or grief at this unprecedented targeted attack on the World Food Progamme. This is a tragedy for the whole humanitarian community and for the millions of hungry women and children, who are also victims of this senseless and cowardly act of murder.

I deplore and condemn this brutal attack. I am angry at the loss of the beautiful souls who dedicated their lives to advancing our life-saving work. I join with their families, friends and colleagues in their mourning. We all take comfort from those who have already shared loving tributes in the first hours of this sad news in mourning. And I am grateful for the quick response from all of WFP to assist in any and every way possible.

We all stand by our entire team in Pakistan and know they have all worked with excellence and great skill under the most challenging conditions possible to provide assistance to up to 10 million people in urgent need. You have our most profound respect and support.

We will not be stopped by this. Every meal we serve, food delivery we make, program we implement and monitor will be tribute to those who have lost their lives on the frontline of hunger.

But today we must focus on our colleagues and families in Pakistan, who need us most.
Josette

Rations

Baby girl being weighed

before being started on high-nutrient supplement.

IDP Mothers waiting to register at supplementary feeding.

The camp rations - six commodities, set amounts per person.

Supermarkets will never look the same to me again..

Its Hard to Concentrate on an Empty Tummy...

A quick visit to one of the Darfur schools involved with the WFP school feeding. For lots of kids in the world the only decent meal they get in a day is at school.. But they definitely know what a camera is, little posers.

Common thoughts from the back of a Khartoum Rickshaw (aka Tuk Tuk):

This pleasant breeze is drying the sweat I am covered in.

Can I remember how to say Left and Right in Arabic?

Answering driver with "I come from Straaaalia" (Sudanese for Aus.)

Just got a mouthful of sand.

I wonder if I will die. (as we take a corner at high speed with incoming traffic).

Will he be happy or angry with the 2 pounds I am about to pay him?

Made it to my destination Alive - humdoolilah!

Addis

The festival of Eid al-fitr is certainly a lovely time to be emmersed in the Islamic world. Everyone is in a super great mood (which, given they have just finished fasting for the month, I suppose I would be too), and there is much eating of elaborate cookies (even found a bucket on my desk one day!) and going around to the houses of everyone you know, eating, playing with kids, just being together. Much like Christmas in other countries really. A happy vibe all round.

The UN was kind enough to give us a long weekend so my friend Shanoo and I climbed aboard Ethiopian Airways and jetted into Addis Ababa for the weekend. What a cool place! At times I felt like we had stepped in a time warp to the 1950's, other places had more of a 70's vibe happening. It is a city set amongst rolling green hills (arrrived at the end of the rains), cloaked in Orthodox Christianity (over 100 ancient Cross designs) and displays clear remnants of the Mussolini years when the Italians attempted to colonise Ethiopia: the architecture, awesome Italian restaurants (fresh Proscuito, home made pasta, gorgonzola, you name it) and then there's the staple drink in Addis - the Machiatto. Everyone seems to drink these and the tiny road-side places serve up a brew that would rival Roma or Paris. Mmmmmm...yummy. I indulged in more than a few. The Ethiopian coffee beans are filled with the richness of their volcanic soils and their ancient cultures.. The tiny coffee houses were smoke-filled as they roasted the beans out back.

When people think of Ethiopia, many must have images come to mind of barrel rib-caged children surrounded by flies from the 1984 famine. I know I used to. I was only a child back in the 80's but even then, all us kids new there was a place called Ethiopia where kids were skinny and the land was dry. When Geldoff gave us BandAid and Michael Jackson told us We are the World. From reading and hearing stories of that time I think that was basically the first time the world was informed on what poverty and famine actually meant and were appaled and ashamed all at once. That will always live in Ethiopias history now. But I hope it is not the only image people will encounter.

I felt a strong energy in Addis, the place was literally pulsing with humanity.Which is perhaps not surprising as many historians say Addis was the birthplace of the first humans.. If so, I would certainly be proud to say I am one of their descendants.

Panic Attacks...

What a wonderful little invention WiFi in public places is. I write as I sit under the air-con, sipping an icy Lemon and Mint juice (a Khartoum speciality) in a local cafe. (And here you thought I was a struggling aid-worker, doing it tough).

I have not been posting of late as my internet at home has been down sadly, (okay i use the word "my" a bit loosely as I have actually been piggy-backing of someone else's wireless for the past 4 months.. I have suspicions it is one of the two embassy's next-door.. but I am sure they have looooaaads of money and would not mind..?).

It is super frustrating. Becoming addicted to technology and then to have it fail me. These days I live trapped in a world where all my beloved time-filling activities are just not accessible to me and so I have begun to increasingly rely on the internet to enable me some kind of 'escape'. So when this avenue of escape is suddenly blocked..I almost do feel literally trapped...Sudden panic. Until I brave the 48 degree sun and jump in a rickshaw down to the cafe of course.

I have to laugh at myself and my level of frustration when I think of a whole year spent writing (real!) stamped letters from Yorkshire and I did not even touch a keyboard, (I don't think I even knew something like email existed, but of course it did in 1998). And then Cambodia, where the connection we had was so bad (a mobile phone modem with a home made antenna 3 meters in the air that got knocked down every afternoon when the monsoon hit) that I used to type up emails on a floppy disk and then when someone mentioned the internet was working I would grab the disk and run across campus to the computer to quickly load it up before it crapped out 10 mins later.. sometimes it would hold on just long enough to send my precious connection with family, friends, the outside world.. sometimes it did not. But I coped.

These days I struggle to cope.. But perhaps that is just a simple matter of conditioning. Spend long enough 'off the grid' , with other stimulating occupation available and I am sure it would be rather heavenly.

But for now.. I log-in and I write. Humdoolilah!!

This is what happens when heavy rains rarely fall over a city, the government decides not to build drainage systems and 20,000 people lose their homes when it rains heavily for 3 hours. I guess the expression "when it rains it pours" is rather befitting to a country with a tumultuous history like Sudan.

Half the Sky

"Women Hold up Half the Sky"

- Chinese Proverb

I just stumbled upon this book, "Half the Sky" - a book by journalists looking at targeting women to break perpetual poverty cycles. I will order it online and will report back. But regardless of the content, I am just happy to continue to observe the clever marketing of innovative solutions to poverty. To begin to be surrounded by creative thought being expended when it comes to the task of assisting the worlds poor. It led me to some interesting NY Times articles too, such as The Daughter Deficit.

In an industry where the concept of "Do No Harm" has high importance but is rarely heeded, I think the philosophy behind micro-credit schemes and small-enterprise establishment that simultaneously empower women is, and will continue to be, part of the solution. And it seems to be kinda trendy with rich americans at the moment too, and that can't hurt.. They also have a really nice comprehensive list of links to NGOs that focus (in one way or another) on women.  

Birth

These were three mid-wives I met in North Darfur.

I was visiting an IDP Camp called 'Zam Zam'. I popped into a mother-child healthcare centre, where women can take babies for therapeutic feeding (to treat malnutrition). My organisation assists with these kind of programmes because we are all about Food. I wandered around (ashamedly looking for some shady respite from the 40+ temps, i am no tough Darfurian) and ducked into an empty tent. When my eyes adjusted I found I was looking a chair with some home-made 'stirrups' attached - I was in the birthing tent. A place of new life.

At first I felt a deep sadness. Lives entering the world - displaced. With no home or village. Born into a world with no food, into overflowing families. Born into the horrors of Darfur. But the midwives wandered in and were full of smiles. They made me smile. And made me see that the lives starting here in this tent were the lucky ones. With far-higher chances of survival, right from the first breath. It was clean and, most importantly, it was Safe. My perceptions of the world these days are far from static..

My first impressions of Sudan were rather blurred and uncertain;

I was so much more interested in myself than I was in my surroundings.

- Edward Fothergill, Five years in the Sudan 1910

Ten Things...

I recently lost all my photos of Sudan (not that I had many in a country where it is not permitted by foreigners, but still ..). One of those tragic moments where my harddrive was wiped and I had not done a back-up since I left Australia :( So in the absence of pictures..here are ten things..you may not know...about a fascinating country..

(1) Sudan is the biggest country on the African continent and the biggest in the Arab world.

(2) Sudan is the most Ethnically, Religiously and Geographically diverse country in Africa.

(3) The Nile River, bisects the country, (running South to North) and Southern Sudan is home to the worlds largest inland wetlands ("Sudd Marshes").

(4) Sudan was home to some of the oldest civilizations known to man, (Nubia, Meroe and the Kingdom of Kush - The first Great Black African Kingdom).

(5) South Sudan hosted one of the worlds longest civil wars, (50 years, with a short break in the middle) ending in 2005 with the signing a peace agreement. All people know in the south is war..

(6) Northern Sudan is governed under Sharia (Islamic) Law.

(7) The US has had trade sanctions on Sudan since 1997 and lists it as a state sponsor of terrorism. Osama bin Laden made Sudan his base 1992-1996.

(8) Darfur, a large region in the far west, was an independent sultanate for hundreds of years before the English & Egyptians made it part of Sudan.

(9) The Darfur region has been in a state of Humanitarian Emergency since 2003.

(10) In 2009, Sudan was ranked the third most politically unstable country in the world.

World Humanitarian Day

August 19th 2009 is World Humanitarian Day.

On August 19th 2003, the context of humanitarian work shifted markedly. That was the day of the terrorist attack on the UN compound in Baghdad, which killed 22 humanitarians and injured dozens. (hence a day of remembrance on this date). But something happened that day, something triggered a new trend and attacks on humanitarians has been growing steadily ever-since..

In 2008, 122 aid-workers were killed and 62 were kidnappned. Aid-workers are no longer viewed as 'neutral ground'. In the post 9/11 era, you are either on one side or the other it seems, regardless of your mandate. .

There are some sad but well-captured photo's here.

There is a saying in this industry, "Mercenaries, Missionaries and Misfits" - that people who do this work fit into to one of those categories. Most people I meet are certainly one of the three. But they are also all the same thing - passionate. Whether its passion for de-mining equipment and military convoys, or building churches, or school-feeding programs, or simply a passion for the adrenalin rush of 'being on mission', without passion I suppose this would all just be too damn hard. Living in remote places, away from family, lovers, support networks and well-equipped hospitals.. Often trying to pick up the pieces from broken lives that were shattered by Governments who in the end, are still supported by the first world if there is such lucrative family-ties as Oil... It can get a tad frustrating.

But the people I meet and the experiences they share with me in stories (Tsunami, Bosnia, Iraq, Pakistani earthquake, Somalia, Rwanda, Afghanistan), while at times heart-breaking, make the adventure a lot more interesting at the end of a long hot day.

p.s. for a slightly more entertaining version of life on a mission, check out "Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures" (not that my job is anything like theirs, promise!)

Far to Here

The war in Darfur has exhibited both the cruelty and the beauty that exist within the human spirit. This man has captured the beauty..

Far to Here is an exhibition by Kenyan photographer Kabir Dhanji, which documents the lives of Dafurians who has made the journey to a new life - In Australia. He has also given a bunch of kids from Darfur camera's and allowed the rest of us to see the world through their eyes. ydney exhibition will be this month at the Blender Gallery in Paddington (dates to be announced). Let me know what you think of it..

The Girl Effect

I believe in this.

I have never felt more 'female' than when I began working in South Asia and Africa.  Initially my white skin earns me a little respect (she is rich, she is educated, she could help?). But generally I end up feeling a sense of shame, to be offering advice to people in need and only being 'a girl'. I see their eyes look me over and the respect drift from their gaze.. I see the instant respect and attention my male colleagues are afforded. I imagine my 6 foot brother standing in my place and the respect he would automatically be given, despite his experience level.

I am not losing hope though. Things are changing. Micro-financing and education programmes are targeting girls more than ever, inspired by people like Greg Mortenson, showing that a single person can make a difference to poverty through targeting girls. My understanding of this has developed greatly from travelling and working in poorer parts of the globe, with the realization that the gender imbalance is so heart-breakingly extreme and capable of having such a devastating impact on humanity. Now it is so painfully obvious, the facts speak for themselves. And what I see before my own eyes is reality. Schools full of boys and young girls outside collecting water, tending to the livestock, cooking the meals, babies strapped to their backs when they are but babies themselves.. Where did their childhood go? 


Women do not instigate the global conflicts, they nurture. They need nurturing too. And certainly not 40 lashings for wearing trousers to work... The professional women I have worked with in Cambodia, Nepal and now Sudan are amazing and inspirational given their success against the odds. But often they are the minority, and usually those born of the wealthy. The 'beneficiaries' to use an impersonal term, are still in desperate need - but with a little help, in the right way, its proven they can help themselves as well. I picture the opportunities girls are given in Australia and then imagine the girls of Pakistan and Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, DRC and Somalia and Sudan, Nepal and Bangladesh, those girls given the same opportunities, the chance to have an innocent childhood, to stay in high school, have a small business, the chance to vote, even the chance to influence politics. Would their still be so much conflict and consequential poverty and injustice and HIV in the world? Would we still be wasting so much money in aid that never seems to end with a generation but go on and on and on? Would the worlds natural resources be depleted and gasping for breath as 7 billion lives walk the planet? Lets see. 

Dear Plastic

My holiday in Zanzibar allowed me to witness the amazing marine creatures that call the surrounding reefs home, so I was super excited to hear the Island has been plastic bag-free since 2006. Good on them. All my purchases in the Stonetown market and lovely tourist shops were handed over bundled up nicely in a brown paper bag. And as you'll notice in my beach shots below - the white sands were pretty clean.

As a humanitarian worker, my job and focus is mostly about humans. Humans first, environment later. Theoretically. But of course, humanity needs a healthy playing ground in order to prosper. We all know that. But somehow this never seems to get converted into dollars by the world powers who decide who to assist and how. It does make me sad.

I was sad to watch the local villagers in Cambodia burn their household rubbish in the gutter everyday, next to the roadside ponds where they grow their fish, because they knew no other way to dispose of it. I was sad each time I rode my bike over the Bagamati River bridge in Kathmandu, as i held my nose so as not to be overpowered by the toxic stench rising from a river that begins in one of the most pristine places on earth, the Himalaya's. And now I am sad to watch the desert winds toss plastic water bottles around Khartoum, never to be reused and left for the donkeys to choke on.. sad to see every single foreigner here drinking bottled water all through the day and not using filters or the bulk 20 liter containers. Some people even look at me oddly when I pull out my bright pink Nalgene in a meeting.. I thought the rich countries knew about environmental awareness now..its 2009 for crying out loud?!

But I am certainly not sad every time I think of my wonderfully inspiring friend Yumi. Here she is below getting her shopping bag kit all sorted to leave in the back of her car - so she can still shop but continue with her goal - a plastic-free diet. Yumi is documenting her journey at her beautiful blog: Dear Plastic.

I LOVE it. It is fascinating to rethink your daily existence in an urban environment (and its been so long that i've lived in an Australian urban environment, that fascinates me too!). She has some wonderful tips but also some amazing links to environmentalists, artists and Ideas (sailing around the world on a boat made of recycled water bottles for example! Or a couple living for one whole year and only producing only small bag of rubbish!) And some startling facts.. such as this poor Albatross (which also happen to be my most favorite bird):

(An albatross found with more than half a pound of plastic... you can read more on that here and here) (taken from Dear Plastic - thx Yumi)

I think she demonstrates the point nicely that the power in changing the planet really lies in the hands of the consumer. Shop wisely, in both packaging and in seasonal, local fresh foods. The thoughts that go through our heads before taking the money out of our wallets can change the world. They say money talks, so we can tell manufacturers and supermarkets what we want by how we spend.  One third of the worlds population lives in poverty and do not have the choice to be a consumer. They lack the power that we have and therefore I see it as our responsibility to act.

Think before you Plastic.