Life in Meheba the past few weeks has been great. Sherie and Sabah left at the end of July and since then Jeremy and I have been running at full speed. While things are busy, they are also amazing. My first official week as Project Manager once the old PM’s left was spent working on a camp-wide Teen Pregnancy awareness campaign with UNHCR. I went with our FORGE health workers from RHS and FHS as well as three community health workers from MCDSS. Our group organized dramas, poetry, songs, and lectures on HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, and abortion, all things that have been on the rise in recent months in the camp. We canvassed one Block a day and visited schools in the mornings and gathered community members in the afternoon.
I had an “I love my job” moment when I was sitting under the trees in the community one afternoon. We had gone through the area calling people to come to the program and inviting them to join us under some shade trees. A group had gathered and our team began doing a drama on early marriage and the importance of schooling and waiting for marriage for girls. After the drama, Mary, an FHS worker, sat down and began lecturing on HIV/AIDS and began a discussion with the community. All of this was being done in their native tongue by a fellow refugee. As people asked serious questions and engaged in debate and discussion, it hit me that this is where change happens. Sitting under the shade trees in rural Africa, these people were acquiring fundamental and vital information about problems affecting their families and neighbors, from one of their neighbors. I love my job.
Settling In - July 30th
Interagency meeting - July 21st (I know its late, I'm sorry...)
We had our first interagency meeting with the UN today. This interagency meeting is designed to bring all of the UNHCR Implementing and Operating Partners (IPs and OPs) together and includes the UNHCR Officials, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Community Development and Social Services(MCDSS), and FORGE. FORGE is the only NGO still operating in Meheba and is the only OP instead of IP. There are a variety of reasons FORGE operates as an OP instead of IP, and perhaps I’ll bore you with that in another post some time.
This meeting was quite informative. I have heard a lot of different things about these meetings and have all sorts of preconceived ideas about the UN. I was anxious to see for myself what it was really like.
In college I visited the UN in New York as a tourist. I remember there were so many people, waiting in a long line to get inside, going through metal detectors and having to leave all their bags at a coat check before entering. There was a tour guide and a preset route to take. We were given tourist badges to wear the whole time and there was of course no leaving the group or going where we weren’t cleared to be. Everything was scheduled and precise. I remember being in awe. I even bought a United Nations t-shirt at the gift store.
The UNHCR headquarters in Meheba was also swarming with people when we got there, but there were no lines; these weren’t tourists and they certainly didn’t have badges or security clearance. These were refugees waiting for a chance to see the UN officers who come to the camp from Solwezi. There were no guards or metal detectors, no security at all. In fact, the UN headquarters in Meheba looked very much like any other building in Meheba. The doors to the offices surrounded a courtyard where the UNHCR vehicles were parked amidst bicycles and the waiting crowd. We rode up on our bikes and parked them in the courtyard with the others.
The beginning of the meeting was spent recapping the projects accomplishments and trials during the past quarter- it was a great introduction to see how each agency has a hand in the goings-on in the camp. I’ll admit the meeting was a bit long, but I couldn’t help but smile when I realized I was in a UN meeting, something that requires years of hard work and many more diplomas then I possess to attend in New York or Geneva. It was also great to see the way FORGE programming was received by these agencies and the UN- we are clearly well respected by the powers that be in the camp.
When I visited the UN in college, I remember marveling at the idea of one day attending a UN meeting. This isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but then again I’m a good deal younger than I imagined I’d be when I attended my first UN meeting. I look forward to working more with UNHCR. We have a camp-wide health campaign coming up that is sponsored by UNHCR and FORGE is responsible for canvassing blocks B, C, and G. I’ll let you know how it goes...I may even get a t-shirt. :)
Red Soldiers Strike Back
I am fortunate that my dad travels to South Africa several times a year on business; this month, my mother happens to be traveling with him as it is her summer break from teaching, and they were kind enough to fly me from Zambia to visit them. The land of hot showers and fast internet is a nice break from Meheba!
The night before I was leaving the camp for Lusaka the guards came to the compound in the afternoon to inform us that the red soldiers (the ants) were back again and they were lighting fires to stop their path. Having had such success with this in our previous encounter with these insects, I was supremely confident that they would take care of it and gave it no other thought.
Later that evening Jeremy came into the living room complaining of the painful bites these ants deliver. We postulated that he must have walked through some stray ants that made it past the fires. I left the living room and headed to my room to start packing for my trip. As I walked into my room I also felt the painful presence of these red soldiers on my feet. As I turned on my headlamp to examine my feet the frightening reality became apparent: The red soldiers had broken the perimeter and were all over our compound. Streams of ants lined the outside walls and a few ants had made it under my door and into my room. I ran for the guards and they brought pieces of burning rubber to start burning the lines of ants as Jeremy and I looked for any flammable material in the house. We set small fires of paper near the walls and found great success in pouring nail polish remover on the lines of ants and, in a blaze of glory, dropping a match. While this was somewhat entertaining (fire!!) it was unfortunately limited to my short supply and thus was short lived. It soon became apparent that for all our effort, the ants continued to stream in and were increasingly attacking Jeremy (poor guy!). They seemed to be, thankfully, somewhat deterred by the rubber boots I had donned at the beginning of the attack.
After literally hours of setting small fires, exhausting my nail polish remover, deciding to set a bonfire in the courtyard, and using anything in sight to sweep away the ants, we found ourselves unfortunately unable to win the battle. It was midnight, we were exhausted, and we decided that we had sustained enough painful bites for one evening. I threw a few things into my suitcase for my trip to South Africa and joined Jeremy in our car. We drove just outside the compound, parked, locked everything from the inside, and slept in the car.
The ants may have won the battle, but I am happy to report that in the long run, I think we will end up winning the war. The next morning there were still ants in the compound, but while I had to leave early in the morning to catch my bus to Lusaka, Jeremy was able to work with our neighbors to find some local remedies later in the day that drove the ants out. A mixture of local plants, corn meal, ash and some other things I’m not even sure of apparently were all employed to drive the ants out, and hopefully, keep them out.
I have a new respect for nature. Apparently, ants can read blogs, and did not take kindly to my earlier post reveling in our victory over them. So, I will not revel. Indeed, I will respect the worthy opponents that are the red soldiers and offer a cease fire and peace agreement. Perhaps we can all learn to live together. Meheba is a big place…please find your own home and stay out of mine.
Pictures from Meheba
Hello all!! I am in South Africa with my parents at the moment and as such was able to finally get an internet connection fast enough to upload some photos of Meheba!! Above is a photo of the old Project Managers and Jeremy and I in front of the sign at the entrance to the camp. The police inspector was milling around that area and jumped in the shot as well :)
Here is an album I've created of a few photos from Meheba and I hope you all enjoy it!
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