Thread: Employment Opportunities

They say that if the Diggers are complaining, that things must be looking up.

Sometime ago the Ugandan Land Force Commander, Gen Wamala flew in and announced remuneration increases...it has not then happened, as was announced. Mogadishu, for both the Burundian and Ugandans, is a chance for them to make 3-4 x times what they are normally being paid and they have recently just bumped it up by another 25%....but, how much would anyone want from our side of the world to come here?........and carry a rifle?

KEYDMEDIA - News - UPDF in Somalia complain over pay cuts

No doubt though, someone within their system is 'scamming' their payments. My time and experience here has shown me so many different ways that these people can twist something for $$...never will I be surprised.

Then, yesterday, they lodged a new complaint:

Uganda's AMISOM troops demand sex leave [50176162] | African news, analysis and opinion

I flew over into Nairobi yesterday AND I think I have found something that might be of assistance, while shopping in a supermarket...classic!

Hi BBC, the fairfax press here seems to now have one writer providing a bit more copy about Africa....

Search Results

He had an extensive article in the Good Weekend 26Nov11 insert about piracy, specifically the hostages Paul & Rachel Chandler. I cannot find an on-line link to the article.

However, he writes that the Interim Federal Government in Mogadishu is supported at an astronomical cost by the UN and the US, that it barely controls Mog, and that it is completely irrelevant to the rest of Somalia - I'd be interested to read your take on this

All the best and stay safe - best regards from all of us here.

87County,

I've met Jeff as he has stayed within our camp at the airport. Yes, everything to do with the conflict here costs. What also has to be measured, is what will be the cost if the effort is not made?

Google 'Turkey, Somalia, Mogadishu etc'. There is very little, to absolutely nil, media comment being drawn to the effort that the Turks are currently putting into Mogadishu. Planes and ships of aid are being delivered and are resulting in well constructed and managed camps that are accommodationg hundreds of thousands of locals that have brought so much pressure into Mogadishu as they have fled the dual effect of the drought and Al Shabaab. They are making long term commitments that the rest of the world will never commit to ie. a 49yr education agreement to Somalia.

Regionally, Kenya has moved into the south and Ethiopia has recently moved on Baidoa. Talks over last weekend in Addis Ababa will result in Kenya coming under the African Union mandate in 6mths (the time it will take to win the funding).

The media have portrayed Kenya's move as one of it trying to solve it's sovereignty issues and protect its tourism. What is not spoken about is the intent of China to invest heavily in Kenya with the piping of oil out of South Sudan and down for refinement and export from Kenya via the new port that the Chinese are intending to develop. To me, this is the underlying basis for their military projection. Their border with Somalia is a colonial straight-line drawn across ethnic areas. Kenya have to be very careful.

The TFG is the international attempt to institutionalise the politics. They fight each other and they have these cross-clan lines. The fight with Al Shabaab is about Shabaab trying to impose Whaabism on what has always been a traditional Sufi Islamic culture...an Islamic imperialist move, the same as what Al Qaeda have been trying to impose elsewhere. A struggle (Jihad) within the plurality of Islam.

But the local problem is that when you have these places that remain mired in anarchy for so long, every day that's like that, it gets harder and harder to reinstitute authority. In Somalia, people adapt. They have gotten used to the fact that there's been no central government. Businessmen start schools. Neighborhoods band together to provide their own generators. And then you have this young generation in Somalia. These kids who haven't been in school for their entire lives, they've been carrying weapons since they are 12 and playing their part in protecting their clan interests because, that is what you do in chaos. For so many, this is all they know. They don't know what a functioning government does. They don't know the need for it. Conflict provides business opportunities for the powerful.

The West is behind the AU here and the Turks are leading the input from the Islamic world. I think that the US are also encouraging the Turks to do so via the 'back-door'. I can believe there will be misunderstanding and politicing between this side and that and I would wish there could be a common table that all the stake holders could come to. At the moment it isn't the UN because the AU have the political lead.

A very complex place.

thanks very much for that... I was not at all aware of the contribution from Turkey

and for your continuing input

I enjoyed a day out yesterday. Visited the Elephant Orphanage and the Giraffe Manor which are both located adjacent to the Nairobi National Park.

The Orphanage is a wildlife charity that rescues young elephants from anywhere they can be. Many from poaching interdiction but also from where wildlife and people overlap. Elephants can end up being bogged in river sides and caught in wells.

The young orphans are minded by elephant handlers as if they are in a herd. Their herd instincts take over and the older orphans relate and form the younger ones with the handlers maintaining contact and parenting the herd daily until each orphan can be released to the standing herd within the Nairobi National Park. An amazing and dedicated life that the handlers lead.






















This youngun is 2 weeks old. The white stuff is sunscreen.














































This was hilarious. The herd had been fed, then wallowed in the mud and came together in front of the school kids and, as if on cue....they all started farting....impressive...the kids were highly amused.











The new orphans initially, are kept close, and they sleep with their handler. This bonds them, it is amazing to witness the interaction and dependency between the calfs and their handlers.






The orphanage has about 20 staff and they are equipped with some good vehicles:





Then, I took a short drive over to the Giraffe Manor.



Here you are able to handfeed the giraffes. Amazing to be so close and to be able to physically touch them.
















Food gets dropped and these lads were doing the clean up:








It was a good day out, enjoyed it very much.

onto the 'next best thing'....

Its time. Getting back to Melb at the front end of February. 3 x Christmas' has been enough.

With the team of International Consultants we have had here we have worked hard and have eventually been so successful that we are working ourselves out of employment. As far as the UN has been concerned it has been about using us, to get them in.

2010 I thought that the prospect of becoming a UN Staffer was an attractive one. Having worked for them now in the capacity of an International Consultant I can say with feeling that the purpose of the UN, is to simply keep those within it, employed. Once you are on the Gravy Train...you suck hard. There are some good individuals within it, but the bulk are simply part of the 99% that avoid responsibility and defer blame...Weapons of Mass Avoidance. The institutional bureaucracy is so process driven; not outcome focused.

Anyway, it has been a useful learning experience and I now aiming back at the commercial world. Waiting advice on a couple of options. One of which could mean me going back to a place where I was before. Others include employment in Mozambique and Nigeria is also developing.

So, the experience of Mogadishu is drawing to a close. It is certainly been a place from which I have learnt about the complexities that the world can throw up. As I draw down here I can reflect on what has happened and I can see that there has been a lot of change. Much of it positive and, I can see and account for what I have personally done toward that.

Though, there is still scope for failure. The Somali people need to believe there is a better way and collectively insist that their leaders point their noses in that direction.

I hope for success because, so many of the Somali people that I have interacted with are truly wonderful people. Another reason for wanting this to continue positively is because, if it can prove to be successful, this can become a future model for solving conflict. There has been so much that has been done here, that could not have been done by the usual international actors. It has been done as a 3rd party proxy and at much less financial cost and political risk, than what has happened before.

Happy New Year to you all.

Thank you for the insights into a world so different from the one I inhabit, best of luck for the future.

Regards,
Tote

Happy New Year to you and yours as well.... we have followed your adventures with much interest and as many have said, you have opened a window for us and the people we talk to about such things on parts of the world that are only rarely and briefly reported on here....

and the photos you have posted tell stories worth thousands of words

... as far as your friends here are concerned, your sign-off line says it well - you are already known for what you are doing

best wishes for wherever your future work takes you -

and stay safe my friend