Back to Baidoa

(November)

Much of the last quarter of 2022 has been spent in Somalia. It’s understandable given the unfolding severe drought. Some of these visits are normal monitoring trips, overseeing our response on the ground. Others are to accompany media. Some are to travel with internal visitors from within the organization. All of this is time consuming but necessary.

In early November I traveled back to Baidoa with on of our senior vice presidents. I had met with him nearly a year ago so we already knew each other going into the trip. But this would be his first time to Somalia and he hadn’t spent much time in Africa previously. I sensed at least some degree of apprehension going into the visit.

Admittedly, this sort of travel is unpredictable and has some risk to it. You do all the necessary preparations, contingencies, etc. and then you just hope for the best. 

 

Mogadishu

We traveled together from Somalia to Mogadishu in the normal way. The 4am taxi to the airport. Arriving in Mogadishu at the beginning of the workday. Navigating immigration (much easier for me as a resident).

navigating the streets of Mogadishu

Generally, my visits to Mogadishu are conducted in the first half of the day. Statistically, there is less insecurity. The health facilities are teaming with people, making it much easier to get an idea of the work being done. And you avoid the afternoon heat.

We went straight from the airport out to visit activities. I’ve visited hundreds of clinics in my life but when you do this with someone who hasn’t done this much, it’s important to step back and picture how this might be viewed. We’ve had visitors who have struggled a bit. One woman earlier this year had to step out of the clinic because the sight of extremely malnourished children was too upsetting. It’s not easy sometimes but I think it’s important for people to recognize the dire circumstances some people are facing.

By early afternoon, the visits were drawing to a close and it was time for lunch. I always want to go to the lido area for lunch when we have visitors, but I’m always aware that it’s subject to the prevailing security situation. On this day, we received the green light by my security guy and off we went.  

Seriously, these lunches have been some of the highlights of my time in Somalia. Not only is it a wonderful place to have lunch, it’s important for outsiders to see how beautiful the country is and tweak the narrative of “fragile state” rife with drought and violence. It’s more complicated than what usually is presented in the news. Obviously, it’s tough to circulate beach photos when there is so much suffering going on so one needs to find some balance.

The lunch was so late that we didn’t get back to the office until late afternoon. There was time for a brief meeting with staff before the end of the workday.

 

Baidoa

The next day, we would have an early start back to the airport to catch out plane for Baidoa. There was a massive delay but at least the flight happened – something that is never a certainty. We had a short 2-night/3-day window for the trip so we couldn’t afford to have any cancellations. We both had board dinner to attend in Nairobi on Wednesday evening and meetings the following day.

The Baidoa visit would proceed in a similar fashion. Straight from the airstrip out to visit activities followed by a meeting with staff. In this case, we wouldn’t even have time for a meal until dinner.

As I mentioned in the earlier blog about Baidoa, it’s the more or less the epicenter of the drought response in the country, not only for us but for the international community. It’s by far the most expansive humanitarian crisis I’ve ever witnessed. I’ve worked in massive refugee camps with tens of thousands of refugees and this is measured in hundreds of thousands. It’s hard to comprehend unless you’ve seen it. Even then, it’s still hard to comprehend.

I was able to speak with some of those who have been impacted, including a camp leader who I met previously. He was able to share with me how support we’ve been providing had made a difference and then I could see it with my own eyes. A massive area of makeshift tents now had latrines and a covered area where we were conducting nutrition screening for malnourished children. Massive bladders were set up to provide water. Things are happening, though not nearly at the pace needed to stave off famine. We’re also not sure how long the water, used to fill these bladders, is going to last.

We visited a couple of different locations before heading back to the office. We had our meeting with staff and then retreated to the hotel. I’ve never stayed in a hotel in Baidoa since we have our guesthouse. But due the surge team supporting our drought response, we were relegated to a hotel in a secure zone near the airport.

I had a headache. I generally limit my water intake while in the field so as to avoid being caught needing a men’s room with no opportunity to do so. We also hadn’t eaten which made it worse. Though I certainly can’t compare my skipping a couple of meals to those facing severe food insecurity, it does serve in sending signals of deprivation – sort of a “just imagine what these people are going through”.

The next morning, we would make our way through the layers of security to get to the tiny airport. I was able to make some acquaintances in the “VIP” room. There were four Southwest State government ministers traveling to Mogadishu on our flight which gave me a certain confidence that the flight would happen and it might be reasonably on time. The main thing for me was that, given that we would be connecting in Mogadishu to a flight taking us back to Nairobi, we just couldn’t miss our connection.

As we disembarked in Mogadishu, a couple of the ministers motioned us to follow them to the VIP section of the airport. This isn’t something I normally get to do in Mogadishu. In fact, I’ve only done this once in six years when I was traveling with a friend of mine who worked in the office of the Prime Minister. I felt a bit justified in this case given that my traveling companion on this occasion was an SVP.

I will say, there isn’t a huge advantage to being in the VIP wing. There’s no free food and the chairs aren’t any more comfortable. The one thing that’s cool is that there’s a guy that comes to retrieve your documents and returns later with your stamped passport and your boarding passes while you’re sitting and having a drink.

After a couple-hour delay, we would be on our way back to Nairobi. The 5pm landing would thrust us into rush-hour traffic. While annoying, I would take advantage of the time in the taxi to catch up on emails and a few phone calls. I would get home in time to have a cup of tea before heading out to a board dinner. As exhausted as I was, I was happy that we’d pulled off a successful trip with an important visitor and such a tight schedule. Always satisfying.

Life in Nairobi

(October-November)

With Somalia on the verge of famine, my job has never been busier and more complex. It’s placing huge demands on my time, not only traveling to, and around, the country, but I’m pulled into loads of coordination meetings, media interviews, reviewing press releases, co-drafting articles, etc. I’m helping to navigate obstacles to procurement and shipment of medical, nutrition, water and sanitation supplies. Meeting with government officials and donors. Raising funds. And so on. Thus, I feel like my every minute is measured.

a little bit of Somalia from our window in Nairobi

Time with family is nonetheless essential. Being an intentional husband and/or dad through all the years of doing this job, admittedly is tough. I don’t always get it right, obviously, but I suppose I can take comfort in the fact that no one does. You can never allocate sufficient time for everything. One thing I won’t do, when this is all said and done, is wish I’d spent more time working.

What does time with family look like these days? Well, there’s been basketball. My girls have developed a taste for the main sport of my youth. I did not push it on them. It’s sort of happened on its own.

There’s also been swimming. The pool at our building was out of commission for a while, possibly due in part to the drought, but we’ve had access to other pools, including at the coast. We’re entering the heart of summer so I suspect that when we get back from the holidays, we’ll be swimming even more.

Oreo spiders

We did sort of did the Halloween thing but less than in previous years. They also may be something that tapers a bit as the girls are getting older.

There are still the endless birthday parties. It’s not like days of old when it involved clowns and bouncy castles. But it still involves a lot of noise, pizza and running children.

There is some cycling in the nearby forest, but it’s inconsistent. The challenge is keeping up with their rapid growth. Bikes aren’t cheap (though Kiran’s old bike, purchased for $8 at Goodwill in the US several years ago, taken apart, put in a duffel and brought to Kenya, is still serving Kinaya well).

 

Brackenhurst

I’ve mentioned Brackenhurst in the past in this blog. It’s about 45 minutes outside of Nairobi. It’s different enough from where we live such that we’ve used it as a weekend getaway. With the way my work has been lately, it was just what I needed. Doesn’t require loads of travel time and preparation. Just a peaceful(ish) weekend.

We’ve been to Brackenhurst a few times. The first thing that jumps out at me is how quiet it is and cooler than Nairobi. Some people cycle there from the city, have a drink or a meal and then cycle back. I would be a bit skittish of riding on some of the roads (already having broken my arm doing such a thing). But it’s beautiful, hilly country once you get out near the tea plantations. 

 

 

 

 

 

Question marks on a meat truck? It might be meat but we're not sure?
 

Baidoa

 (Still catching up. Going back to the third week of September.)

Not long after my previous trip to Somalia, and loads of meetings in Nairobi, it was time to return again. This time I would be going to Baidoa, a place I’d never been given we just opened an office there just prior to me going on vacation in July.

Baidoa is not an easy place to work. The city is completely surrounded by non-government held territory, though the city itself is reasonably safe. But if you venture out 10-15 km. in any direction, the security situation significantly deteriorates.

the modest international airport

rare view for a foreigner - from a tower looking out over non-govt.-held territory

Unfortunately, it’s the epicenter of the drought in Somalia. It’s an historically underserved population due in large part to its inaccessibility. Though people can get in and out by road by paying tolls to militants, for the most part everything we do needs to be airlifted in as if it were an island. From a supply chain standpoint, it’s sort of a nightmare given that shipments by air (for medical supplies and nutritional feeding supplements for example) are very expensive. 

 * * *

The city has an interesting history. A colleague I was traveling with said that her parents used to go there for long weekends prior to the civil war. It is generally cooler than the coast and was very prosperous. Back then it had the largest camel population in Somalia (over 1.3 million – more camels than people). Nowadays things are obviously different. On this trip, I didn’t even see one – the first of my travels to Somalia without seeing a camel (though I did consume some).

In the early stages of the civil war (early 1990s), Baidoa was ravaged by repeated attacks and changed hands several times. Meanwhile, the situation in Mogadishu was even worse. The government temporarily established itself Baidoa which, by this time, had become more stable. By 2007, with Islamists pushed out, the capital shifted back to Mogadishu. Though Baidoa was retaken by Islamists the following year, it was eventually liberated in 2012 and has remained in government hands since. Though the three main arteries leading into the city are not controlled by the government, the city itself is.

* * *

For the work I do, Baidoa has been important. The region has notoriously been the hardest hit by the repeated droughts, including the famine in 2011 and the near-famine conditions we battled in 2017 soon after I joined the country program. I/we realized that we needed a base there and we would need to figure out a way to start up operations there (find resources). In the end, we did and we proceeded to scale up quickly. In a few busy months we had a new office, staff, partner organizations and several million dollars in funding to respond to the drought. 

 * * *

My trip involved a combination of meetings with local government officials as well as several visits to the seemingly endless encampments of those who have been displaced by drought and/or conflict. Hundreds of thousands of people are packed into a few square kilometers, most of whom are in desperate need of support.

I must say, it’s hard to fathom the magnitude of the crisis. In addition to those impacted by drought, a surprising number of those in makeshift housing are conflict displaced. Sometimes it’s a combination of drought and conflict forcing people from their homes. Most had come from long distances. Some on foot. Some on donkey carts. They congregate in places like Baidoa because they know that aid is being provided. Most are in contact with others from their communities before they come and then seek out them out when they arrive. It’s much easier to have clan/family ties in order to be received without issues and get some immediate help.

thankfully, this nutrition screening facility has been replaced by the structure below

 * * *

After a couple of days, it was time to return to Mogadishu. We drove from the office to the airport. There are multiple perimeters of security as you approach and you need to navigate each one separately. There’s always some shouting, hand gestures, etc. as each side demonstrates their authority – us making the case why we need to get through and the other side making the case why we’re not allowed. It’s the same thing at almost every checkpoint in the country. Nine times out of ten, we eventually get through successfully. One would think that with a flight booking, there ought to be a way to do this more easily. But the tug-of-war does serve a purpose. Over the course of the shouting/gesturing, it buys time for the security forces to observe us and assess the probability of risk. And with high frequency of attacks, the security forces do need to take their jobs seriously.

The first perimeter security/boom gate is the local police, followed by the national army. The inner checkpoint is the Africa Union, the international forces that are in Somalia to assist the government with security and assist in building their capacity. The team assigned to Baidoa is Ethiopian. I’ve heard stories that they can be particularly challenging but on this occasion, we didn’t have any issues.

sunset view from my room in Baidoa

After all this, there’s yet another security check as you approach the airport itself. On this occasion, the conveyor belt/x-ray thing was not operational (it was the same the next time I traveled there so it could be that it never works) so it served as a table for security to basically dump the bags’ contents and rifle though peoples’ underwear and cosmetics. Always interesting to have your stuff exposed to other travelers. Mine wasn’t nearly as interesting as some of the things I saw coming out of other people’s bags.

We walked across the dirt open space between security and the “terminal” which was basically the size of a three-bedroom house. Once inside, I was escorted to the VIP room. I’m not really a VIP (usually reserved for government officials) but I guess because I was a foreigner, I was allowed in. To be honest, the chairs were comfortable and there’s the “separation from the masses” that some enjoy, but it wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. There’s no food, no internet and the loo wasn’t even operational – possibly my primary motivation for being in the lounge given the rather warlike conditions of the men’s room in the main area.

After a considerable wait, we were off to Mogadishu. The flight is less than an hour, mostly over non-government held territory. Our armored vehicle was waiting for us and the transition to the office was rather smooth. I would return to Nairobi the following day. A lot of travel these days. Not likely to slow down between now and the holidays.