Tunis

I’m currently in Tunis as I type this. My first time. After about four days in country, I have to say, I’m a fan. To be fair, I haven’t seen much. As is the routine for these events, I’m usually retrieved at the airport, whisked off to a hotel and there I remain for a few days before being rushed back to the airport to return home. This was the case a few weeks ago in Mombasa and it’s more or less the case this time.

Tunis airport

There are staff that tack on a day or two to enjoy the generally well-chosen destination. I usually refrain from doing this to limit the amount of time away from my family. I travel so much in the course of my job, I am reluctant to add to it unless it’s absolutely necessary.

I flew Qatar through Doha. It was a relatively short night flight (4-5 hours) and of course I didn’t sleep. We arrived in Tunis around noon and it was surprisingly easy to get through immigration. They didn’t ask where I was staying or how long I intended on staying in the country. My nationality didn’t require me to have a visa. I wish it was this straightforward in other countries. My passport was stamped by a pleasant young lady and I was on my way.

the hotel and massive pool

The hotel is on the coast about 25 minutes or so from the airport. After checking in I made my way to the massive buffet in the dining room. I’ve seen few buffets as impressive as this one, at least the lunch buffet. It was fantastic. At least I thought it was. In fact it was like six buffet tables with various salads, cheeses, olives, breads, pastas, a couple different kinds of fish, multiple entrees, about a dozen desert options, and on and on. It reinforced my need to workout each day.

looking southeast down the coast along the Mediterranean Sea (Gulf of Tunis)

Having attended these meetings for over a decade, it’s a bit like a reunion for many of us. For the first couple of days there is a lot of catching up. A friend/colleague from the London office and I were discussing this today. He brought up a good point. It’s not only that we see each other at these meetings but many of us have gone through some rather intense experiences together in the course of our work – long trips together on bumpy African roads, navigating insecure environments, staying in rough accommodations, etc. We’ve met in New York, Bangkok, Miami, Windsor, New Jersey, London, etc. and now Tunis. All these experiences forge bonds that are probably more intense relative to the overall amount of time we spend together.

the old city of Sidi Bou Said

This part of Tunis seems to have a lot of large hotels. As is the case of most large hotels, it hosts a number of groups in addition to a few people on holiday. After my lunch I was sitting in the lobby connecting to the wireless. A woman walked by with a large bandage covering what looked like a well-bruised nose. As one does, I speculated about what might have happened. Abusive spouse? Slammed into a door? Bummer for such a thing to happen while on holiday, I thought. Just a few minutes later, a guy walks by with a massive bandage around his head and a tired face peering out. Now I’m really wondering what is going on. Two very visibly injured people within a few minutes of each other. Now I’m thinking something like a bus accident? Not too long afterwards there is a second woman with a bandage over another well-bruised nose. Around this time a colleague of mine came by and sat down. I asked him if he’d noticed all the injuries. He smiled and told me that Tunis is a popular place to go for cosmetic surgery. Mystery solved.

looking across the Gulf of Tunis

Another thing that caught my attention was the number of, and I don’t know the proper term, “short people”. For this I never was able to get an explanation but given that most were in athletic clothing, I’m going to guess that it was some sort of competition. To contrast this, also among the clientele were a few other sports teams, including the national basketball teams of Algeria and Egypt. The particularly large and the particularly small all milling about the hotel.

Seeing the basketball players took me back to my playing days. They had all the right gear. They had the slow walk. Headphones on. Wearing the team colors. . Feeling pretty bad ass. Some things don’t change.

feels a bit like Mykonos

In addition to the nice buffet, the hotel has a probably the largest pool of any hotel I’ve seen. Given that it’s mid-October, the water was a bit chilly. But warmer than the average Nairobi pool.

The days have been more or less similar – packed with meetings, including some of the evenings. We did fit in an excursion to the old city, “Sidi Bou Said”. Tunisia is on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. The capital, Tunis, is located on the Gulf of Tunis and has a large port. It’s a very old city, having been the capital of Tunisia since 1159 and includes the ruins of the ancient city of Carthage, arguably one of the most affluent cities of the Ancient World. It’s had its ups and downs over the centuries culminating in the colonial occupation by the French in 1881. The Nazi-allied Vichy government provided the Axis forces a base in Tunis during World War II until they were overrun by Allied forces in 1943. But the war was the beginning of the end of French occupation and by 1956 the country realized its independence.

Since then the country has been relatively stable. It experienced protests during the Arab Spring in 2011-2012 but was able to maintain general stability. Coincidentally, the day we arrived the country was undergoing run-off elections for president. We had received some security warnings in advance but no one seemed too alarmed. Unlike some African countries, there was no indication that there was a potential for unrest. Indeed, the democratic elections went forward as planned. Where we were in the city, except for the TV news there was little indication that the elections had happened.

I’m now on the flight from Tunis to Doha. We have a short layover before continuing on to Nairobi. I should arrive home mid-morning. Can’t wait to see my wife and girls.

Rain

October was a busy month. But it appears that I will make it to Halloween alive, albeit tired.

Early in the month I went back to Somalia for a week. As the plane was arriving the pilot told us that we needed to circle a few times to wait for a heavy rainstorm to pass. It’s not something you hear often when flying to Somalia. Eventually we were able to land. Though the tarmac was very wet, it wasn’t flooded. But as I was exiting the terminal, there was flooding everywhere. There was no way to get to the parking area without tromping through water that was mid-calf deep in some places. The security guy that was retrieving me from the airport was trying to figure out a way to get me to the armored vehicle without wading through the water. It was a vain effort and finally told him that we should just go. What’s a little water.

a rare scene in Mogadishu; exiting the international terminal

What I didn’t realize was that my feet would remain wet for the entire day. I had to go straight to a meeting in the airport compound (green zone), followed by two more meetings back to back. I was not able to get to our office until late afternoon. It’s a rare problem in Mogadishu and I’m not complaining.

On the second day that I was invited to lunch with the staff in our compound. Our finance manager was leaving the organization and, as is often the case in Somalia, he bought lunch for his colleagues. It was a nice surprise. I went downstairs and into our courtyard to see the feast all laid out. It was only men since women often eat separately in this type of setting, particularly where you’re eating on the ground.

The food consisted of chunks of goat laid on a bed of rice with a few veggies thrown on for decoration. We chased it with a glass of camel milk. It was quite yummy, I have to say. One needs to be careful with camel milk if you’re not used to it. It’s a powerful laxative. I don’t have it often enough to say I’m used to it but my deputy director assured me that this was not super fresh. That's actually a good thing. The fresher the milk, the more powerful the laxative effect.

I don't get a chance to eat outside much in Mogadishu so it was quite nice. I think the team enjoyed having me join them. With all the insecurity, expats can be a bit of a novelty in some circumstances. Lots of questions as to whether I'd had a traditional Somalia meal before. I had - the most recent being in June of this year, but it's not something I get to do often. Will look to make sure the next one happens sooner rather than later.

Back to Work

Soon after returning from the US, I needed to get back to Somalia. As I looked at the coming months, it was clear to me that I would be spending a considerable amount of time away from family. It’s not pleasant but it’s the nature of what I do right now. The next few months will consist of several weeks in Somalia, a week in Mombasa (on the Kenyan coast for regional meetings) and a week in Tunis (global meetings). Needless to say, I’m not a big fan of being away from my family. And my carbon footprint is a bit of a nightmare. Those who have hobbies should be grateful.

WHD - Mogadishu

During my time in Mogadishu recently I’ve attended loads of events and meetings. It’s good for the networking and visibility but hard to get other things done. One event was World Humanitarian Day. It’s generally an event to recognize those of us who do humanitarian work as well as host governments and donors who support this work. Generally these events, particularly those in more dangerous places, offer a moment of silence to those who have lost their lives over the past year in the line of duty. There are lots of speeches and attempts to recognize those who are on the front lines (though the people who are really on the front lines rarely get invited to these events).

visiting a clinic in Mogadishu

Also in August I welcomed a couple of high-level visitors from New York to visit our work. They actually didn’t get to see much (one hospital) but just being in Somalia offers a certain exposure in and of itself. These guys had been to Somalia before so driving across devastated old Mogadishu, which I normally include in my visitor itineraries, was less of a shock to them. Having said that, we did encounter something out of the ordinary. As we were entering the airport “green zone” to catch our plane back to Nairobi, things were backed up much more than normal. As one of the more volatile places in the city, security at the UN/VIP entrance has been beefed up. Now the sniffer dog vehicle checks, opening the hood and doors, happens in a more secure areas surrounded by blast walls. This day it was backed up. Eventually we made our way through and into the terminal. We found out later that there was an IED found in the vicinity not long before we arrived. The back news is that it was found on the inside of the green zone rather than the outside. The good news is that it appeared to be old and was not ready to be detonated. Makes you wonder where it came from and how long it had been there.

meeting with govt. minister

I always feel sense of relief when I am sitting in the departure lounge. It’s not that I feel like I am in great danger while I’m there but you never know what could happen. As is my habit, I send a message to my wife to let her know that I’m okay and that I’m on my way. I order a coffee and water and then download my messages for the upcoming flight. We board. Fly to Wajir (just over the border into Kenya). Deplane. Go through security. Board again. Fly to Nairobi. Launch into Nairobi rush hour traffic. Make it home just in time for dinner. Easy as that.