Thread: Employment Opportunities

BTDT. CET Teams are not sexy at ALL!

YOU can keep Khandahar Province as it sucks dogs balls. Much prefered being in the Kush, especially in the Wakhan Corridor....speak Pashto, Dari, Command Experience, Liaison Experience, not going back.

AJ sends

Originally Posted by DeanoH

Perhaps if Somalia had oil someone would give a damn. It's enough to make you ashamed for being a member of the human race.

Deano

Deano,

The oil & gas is there mate. Just waiting for some semblance of governance.

Seriously, one of the fullest weeks in my life. I departed Melbourne 0340h Sat 24 Mar 12 and arrived Nairobi 1930h, the same day.

Attended the East African Oil, Gas, & Energy conference...a full 3 days 26-8 Mar 12. A great induction into the job, meeting so many of the personalities and interested parties involved with the global exploration, development & production...and...Mozambique is well within their aim for both on/offshore oil and LNG exciting and NOW is just the right time to be here on the East Coast, so much potential. You might note, that I was coat and tied, like everyone else...a bit different than some previous workclothes I’ve had to wear.



Full day today. Early AM drive to Jomo Kenyatta Airport, Nairobi to catch a plane down to Mombasa. Landed, checked into the hotel and then straight out to work. Hopefully, I will have a bit of time to have a look around here in Mombasa. It looks beautiful. Had a beer on the 6th floor roof bar of the hotel tonight and watched the sun set. Nothing like watching the sun set when you are on the equator; it don't get much bigger.

Another couple of days here in Mombasa for company induction, then onto Dar es Salaam to visit the Tanzanian office for maybe 2 weeks and then, onto Maputo.

There, I have to get myself registered as the Mozambique Company Director, undertake the admin and bureaucracy to attain a work visa, find an office/accommodation solution, buy a 4wd, establish bank account etc....then....get myself ready for the Maputo Oil & Minerals Conference 24-25 Apr 12.

Then, to start visiting everyone, beginning in Maputo, then up to each port along the coast, meeting the local government and port authorities, and visiting all the oil/gas & mineral companies. Looking out for prospective real estate opportunities. I will drive the length of the country to ascertain the current road states...looking forward to that.


Some photos of stuff I saw around Nairobi:

Somethings that Leyland used to make





A Civet Monkey, monkeying around a shopping centre:





Stopped and took some photos of this on the way to the airport this AM. It is in downtown Nairobi and I'd heard the media talking about it on the radio the day before. It is protest 'graffiti'. They interviewed the man responsible and he related how he and two others, had painted this protest graffiti (it is art to me!) overnight and then. the next day, he'd been asked to attend the central police station. I take it as a sign maybe, of increasing democracy in Kenya, that he was questioned and no charges laid...he better be careful though. It would seem he has ruffled a few political feathers:








Mount Kilamanjaro from the flight between Nairobi to Mombasa today; a snowy bit, right on the equator:



The Mombasa airport:



Mombasa from my hotel, will get around it a bit more:






I have to keep pinching myself and asking...is this work?

Had a great day today, went out for an early walk, contacted a mate in the UN ( a bloke from Nowra) who I'd met twice in Mogadishu and we (and his beautiful wife from Cameroon) had a late extended lunch down by the beach; a full day.

First up, come for a walk with me, down around the tight streets of old Mombasa town. This place is one of the most complex communities on earth, Swahili, Kenyan, Muslim, Christian, Indian, Asian...you name it...and one of the most harmonious places on earth. A great experience to be in it:






























Then, out to the beach at Nayali in a Tuk Tuk (Took Took) for our lovely late seafood lunch....I won't tell you how much it cost....or, you'll all be over in Africa next week!!!













Don't have any sympathy for me...someone has to do it!!!

Flying down from Dar es Salaam to Mtwara, this was a pretty complex river delta:



The Tanzanian flag at the Mtwara Airport. I did not get any photos but the terminal is made out of CGI and timber, classic....just a shed. This be Africa.



These shots are taken around the Mtwara dock at the port. There are three significant oil exploration companies here, Statoil, BG, & Petrobras.

Each day, there are 4 x supply ships & associated security vessels docking here, on average, 2 each day. The company I am with is chandling the ships, clearing their imported supplies, storing them, procuring as required and transporting by land, and then loading the ships according to the needs of the the drill rigs off-shore. It is busy, with 24/7 shift work.

Then, what has been a score for the company, has been their picking up and management of the waste from the rigs, the ships, and the port operations. This is collected, seperated, incinerated, and buried. This is a capability I'll be taking south:














Drill casings:






Sling gear:



Waste management. A process that is still under development...but better than what they had:





Had to remind this lad to put his PPE:



Which he did:



This is around the accommodation. The company is also providing accomodation as a service. This gentlemen is mowing the lawn with a Tanzanian whipper snipper:



Tanzanian whipper-snippers:



slash by slash, he cuts the lawn. About half an acre

Looking forward to the challenge of setting the business up in Mozambique. Tonight I e-mailed a lady who is studying for her Masters in Melbourne. She is a Mozambican lady who went to school with my wife and whose mother is a lifelong friend of my wife's mother. Back in Mozambique, she is a Customs Official at a management level. She sent e-mails to the Custom Directors of both the North & South regions of Mozambique to introduce me so I can meet with them. Nothing like having a good network.

On another network, the new Premier of QLD and I both served in the Royal Australian Engineers together...he'll always be just another 'bloody' Sapper to me. Once a Sapper, always a Sapper!

BBC, as ever, we look forward to hearing from you and really appreciate the excellent photos that you post. They are an essay in themselves and your streetscapes tell a story all of their own.

You seriously help keep a window open for us on another world that, if we have never visited, we wouldn't really have much idea of.

Got to love the expression - no matter how many times it gets used - "this is Africa"..........

At least these recent photos present an environment which is much more organised and safer than your earlier tasks.

Best wishes ....

This was my dinner last night:







a 200m walk down to the beach at Oystabay, in Dar es Salaam for some fresh seafood.

Then today started early up in Dar es Salaam with an early AM drive to the airport to catch the 0600h flight to Johannesburg. It was a beautiful flight, flying over some of the more dramatic landscapes you could imagine, Tanzania, Northern Moçambique, Zimbabwe, the Zambezi, Gorongosa, the Drakensburgs all the way up to Johannesburg. I sat with my face pressed against the window.

Some time in Johannesburg International Airport 'O.R. Tambo's', then a 1hr flight down to Maputo. This is the approach to land, coming from the south:









This return to Maputo has had so much of my past going through my mind, reliving so much of what has changed my life...and, all good. Would not change a thing.

Some running around this PM, then dinner with my family. Wonderful, really beautiful people:





Three days in Maputo and then I fly up to Pemba, for meetings and viewing prospective land opportunities. Four days there, then back to Maputo for Mozambique's Minerals & Energy Conference...better not miss it...costs $2000/head to attend.

Lot to do...but enjoying the challenge and being back in Maputo today, and having to open my ears to Portuguese being spoken, I am looking forward to being able to practice and improve my language skills.

After getting the business registration and admin effected, including my residency, I have to buy a vehicle and, guess what...I will have to drive it up to Pemba...LOL...looking forward to that, and the photos it will produce.

This means a lot to me:

Taur Matan Ruak set to win Timor election - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

GEN Taur Matan Ruak and I used to sit down together every Wednesday during 2004. I was the Training Mentor for his force. A good man, with a great deal of humility.

It is not related to this event but this week myself, and the other members of what was the Timor Leste ATSTEM (Australian Training Support Team) have been notified that we have been awarded the Timor Medal of Merit:

MERIT CERT0001[1] ATSTEM.pdf

TL Pres Decree0001[1] Medal of Merit ATSTEM.pdf



Something unexpected and 'out of the blue'.