Snapshots of Arusha

Welcome to Arusha, Tanzania! I've been in Arusha for approximately 3 and half weeks now and am slowly settling in. The settling in process has actually taken quite awhile, in part because I have spent most of my time here working. The other problem is that, while I have found a place to live, I can't move in until June 9th. Consequently, I'm still living out a suitcase.

For these reasons, I don't have much to say about Arusha yet. Nevertheless, I thought I would take this opportunity to share a few photos. Enjoy!

The picture below depicts a fruit and vegetable stand on the side of the Old Moshi Road.

This is a picture of Mt. Meru from the air. The city of Arusha sits at the foot ot Mt. Meru, Kilimanjaro's little brother or sister. In fact, when I flew into Arusha from Nairobi, we flew right between Kilimanjaro and Meru. I saw the last snows of Kilimanjaro. They are as pathetic as they're described in discussions of global warming. Mt. Meru has no visible snow or ice on it at all.

This is the East African Hotel, where I spent my first 5 or 6 nights in Arusha.

Yesterday, I joined a couple of new friends for a leisurely hike around the foothills of Mt. Meru. The following are a few shots from that walk.

Kids are the same everywhere. These kids were very happy to have their pictures taken. I love how excited the kids here get when you show them photos of themselves and their friends. Digital cameras are awesome!

"Roadblocks" in South Kordofan

And now for a blast from the past...

My last mission with UNDP closed a circle that had begun in September 2007. During the first week of July 2008, I boarded a plane for Kadugli, South Kordofan, for what would be the last of my rule of law assessment missions.

When I disembarked from the plane, one might have assumed that I had been there quite recently, rather than 10 months before. I say this because, when the police officer at the airport asked to see my passport and ID, he asked (without having seen either), "Your name is Hillary, right? I remember you from when you came before." Terrifying, right?! I mean, I assume I'm being watched, but I don't really want to be reminded of that fact.

From there it was off to Kadugli town and the UNDP office. Having faced delays in my departure for Kadugli, I had three very busy days ahead of me. The next day and half was busy but largely uneventful. I survived a couple of nights at the UNDP guesthouse--by far the worst UNDP guesthouse in Sudan. I got to know St. John, the new UNDP Rule of Law UNV, who was supposed to go to Abyei but was reassigned to Kadugli after most of Abyei, including the UNDP compound, was burnt to the ground during fighting in June 2008. I learned about the rainy season in South Kordofan. It turns out that there is a good reason why South Kordofan is so much greener than areas to the north. Finally, I had dinner at what is reportedly Kadugli's only good restaurant. That's where I saw this monkey, which apparently the owners had caught.

On my third day in South Kordofan, we drove north to Dilling, the site of one of 3 Justice & Confidence Centers in South Kordofan. On the drive north, we passed this nomad camp between Kadugli and Dilling. The nomads in this part of the country herd cattle and typically travel with thousands of the animals.

I had met the Dilling paralegals in September 2007 and been impressed with their dedication. In the meantime, they had suffered a number of setbacks, many attributable to UNDP. I was therefore somewhat nervous about meeting them again. But I needn't have worried. Although they made clear that they wanted things resolved and asked me to do anything in my power to help them, they were quite cooperative, answered my questions, and seemed genuinely happy to see me again. In fact, they had a photo taken during my previous visit on the wall of their conference room.

On the drive back to Kadugli from Dilling, we were forced to stop at a roadblock that had not been there when we drove north. Roadblocks and checkpoints are not unusual in Sudan. The government, for example, has a number of roadblocks and checkpoints throughout the country. Darfur, in particular, is littered with them. Indeed, the road from Nyala to Kass in South Darfur had something like 16 official checkpoints that last time I was there. In Darfur, however, when you encounter an unofficial roadblock, particularly one that wasn't there when you drove the other direction, you have serious cause to worry. These roadblocks are typically set up by the region's various armed groups for the purpose of robbing or carjacking travelers. Thus, if one encounters a new road block in Darfur, the wisest move is usually to turn around and return to one's place of origin.

The roadblock in this case, however, turned out to be benign. Those minding the roadblock were children, who were apparently trying to raise money for an event at their school. The kids were requesting donations from the drivers who arrived at the roadblock. They did not, however, prevent those who failed to donate from passing. As was explained by some of my national colleagues, this is apparently a popular way for kids and others to raise money for parties and other activities at their schools or in their communities. I quickly learned how true this was.

The first roadblock we encountered turned out to be the first of many...four or five to be exact. At first, we were quite generous. But by the time we arrived at the roadblock in the picture above, most of us were out of change. Although there were 4 of us in the car, we found ourselves scrounging through our pockets in order to produce a donation. Thankfully, this was the last of the roadblocks, and we returned to Kadugli without having to disappoint any of the children along the way.

Next Stop Tanzania!!

Tomorrow I embark on yet another adventure. I am off to Tanzania, where I will be spending the next five months working for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The ICTR, which is located in Arusha, is responsible for trying the worst perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. But while my work life is likely to be grim (but also highly intriguing), I am hoping that my free time will bring safaris, diving in Zanzibar, and maybe even a trek up Kilimanjaro. And without Sudan's strict rules on photography, I expect this blog to acquire some new color.

That being said, I still have a lot to say about life in Darfur. So look forward to flashbacks to Nyala (and South Kordofan).

Stay tuned for more African adventures and keep your comments coming!