Winding Down

Tomorrow is my last day in country - and this week has gone fast.  Each day has been full of working with our nutrition manager on envisioning how this project is going to succeed in meeting all the targets and objectives laid out in the contract.  We had numerous meetings both internally and externally to try to work out all the details.  The trick is that we are not doing separate activities but instead integrating our messaging and training into other areas of the project (and therefore have not budget of our own either).

It has been nice to be walking distance to the office - a straight 20 minute shot.  Notable events have been navigating lunch options at local restaurants with my colleague (and translator) and yesterday, so far the only day, the weather cleared enough that I finally saw the majestc, snowy mountain range to the south of the city. 

Pictures for these posts will have to wait until I go home since for some reason on either the hotel network or this computer, images are failing to load. 

 

Weekend in Bishkek

Friday night I flew back to Bishkek.  I was only going to spend the weekend (with a business meeting to make it worthwhile) but it turned out that my colleague would be coming to Bishkek next week to present the work plan to the boss, so we decided she would come early and we could work here. 

It is nice being back and staying again at the same hotel as my work associate from the partner organization.  She invited me out to a pizza place with another expat friend of hers.  Very good food - though you can smoke in restaurants which got to be a little much.  I'm glad another friend suggested I pack Febreeze. 

Saturday she took me on a long walk up to the center of town to meet a Kyrgyz colleague for some shopping and lunch at a Chinese restaurant.  It is unfortunate to be here in winter because they kept assuring me that it is actually very beautiful when there are leaves on all the trees and the flowers bloom.  I browsed some of the typical Kyrgyz souvenirs and did my best to make some quick purchases since it was likely my only opportunity on this short trip.  In total we walked 5 miles which was a nice way to stretch the legs after sitting in offices and meetings all week.

This Sunday afternoon she and I will meet with my project director to further figure out how these two projects are going to collaborate - and hopefully how my team is going to be able to meet their activity goals. 

To the South

After two days acclimating in Bishkek where fortunately I am overlapping with the visit of the acting director (and nutrition expert) of a project with which we are to collaborate (and strangely we have worked at two of the same organizations), I headed south to Osh City.  I traveled via an inter-country flight with our project chief-of-party (COP).  Initially we were attending a stakeholder meeting and then I was staying on to train and work with my team on planning project activities.  Because this event brought together all the staff from our three country offices, aside from work, there has been opportunity to socialize and get to know people. 

The first night we went out for shashlik (shish kabob) with some staff from our main partner organization.  Apparently this area is well known for their shashlik.  What I found more interesting was the restaurant consisted of small private dining rooms facing a central courtyard, so that the waitresses have to run around outside in between diners and the kitchen.  Given the weather here in the winter, I'm not sure that's a comfortable line of work.  Each dining room has a call button to summon your waitress. 

The second night, all our staff when out for pilav (pilaf).  The type served is unique from this area.  I don't think I can appreciate the finer points of pilav because it really reminded me of what I had in Afghanistan.  The staff said that the rice they use here is very special and only grown in this area - and indeed it did have a slightly different texture.  The evening consisted of speeches (yes I had to give one) and toasting with vodka and local cognac.  Having tasted the vodka from the night before, I opted for the cognac and was much happier.  What was especially nice was there was a set end time to the evening.  The highest ranking person opened and closed with a speech and then someone led a prayer and that was it!  Back to the hotel in time for some end of day work. 

On the road again

It has been 14 months since my last international trip and the break has been nice.  This trip has been postponed numerous times but finally I am in Kyrgyzstan.  I'll be in Bishkek on the front and back end and in Osh for the rest of the two weeks.  Routing took me on a direct 9 hr flight to Istanbul, short layover and a 5 hr flight arriving at 3:30a.  My seatmate across the Atlantic was a bit of a riddle.  A young guy, he was friendly enough for me to find out that he was on his way to Yemen.  Not anyone's travel destination of choice and apparently he wasn't thrilled about it.  Stranger still was the large computer case he kept on his lap for the entire trip, and even took with him to the lavatory.  When I asked if he wanted to put it overhead, he replied that his life was in there and he couldn't part with it.  This, in addition to the fervent prayers he recited upon take off, gave me pause.  But trying to keep in mind cross-cultural sensitivity, I managed to keep my imagination in check.

Fortunately, my travel coincides with two acquaintances, one who is managing a project with which we are to collaborate and has been able to provide me with very useful intel and another who used to work in Kyrgyzstan (now in DC) and is very familiar with the country.  Turns out the former and I have worked at the same organizations at different times and know many people in common.  Today she took me to a local grocery store and gave me a brief history lesson on why the country contains such diverse cultures - Korean, Chinese muslims, Russians, Germans and Kyrgyz.

 

Sleepless in Nairobi

After some Spartan but comfortable accommodations in Nigeria, my colleague and I arrived at our hotel in Nairobi for a workshop.  All shiny and new, it was renovated only two months ago and had had, they said, only a soft opening.  That might have explained a few things.  Upon further investigation, things weren't quite right.  For one thing this hotel seems to have an identity crisis.  Is it a hotel or is it an event space?  Is it large enough and sound proof enough to be both?  There were other incongruencies.  There was a lovely little french press and bags of custom roasted ground coffee, but no electric kettle.  There was a flat screen TV but only a few local news and sports stations.  There was a posh glassed in shower but no water pressure or hot water.  There was a phone but it didn't connect to the front desk - to possibly inquire about the previous issues.

For most of these obstacles there were work arounds - no coffee/tea in the room, read a book and make due with the sink's hot water.  However the biggest sticking point was the noise.  Our second night, the staff delivered a letter apologizing for an event that would be over at 11:30p.  It had a live band, which sounded like it was in my room.  The party ended at 1am.  The next morning as people shared stories of their sleepless night, it turned out everyone had complained and over several hours were told "oh it's wrapping up, it will be over in a few minutes".  Because my phone didn't work, I may have scared the front desk worker coming up desperate and wild-eyed in pajamas and bathrobe.  The next night there was also a party but it was a bit quieter.  And this afternoon, as I wait to go to the airport, there has been a party, also with a live band, so a pre red-eye nap is out of the question.

On the bright side, the staff were exceptionally nice and they gave us one night stay free.  

Road Rules

Even if I had had a camera, pictures would not have accurately described the drive from Ibadan back to the Lagos airport.  We departed at 6:30a for a 12:30p flight because no one can anticipate how long it will take to get there.  Could be 3 hours, could be 5 hours.  There is one road, two lanes in each direction, heavy with truck traffic.  There were five of us and the driver in a trusty, old mini-van.  Pretty much Nigeria is where motorized vehicles go to die - if the number of dented, rusted, broken down cars and trucks is any indication.

Not 10 minutes after departure we came up against a "jam".  Traffic going our direction had stopped.  So, like many others, our van crossed the dirt median and start driving the wrong way down the northbound side of the highway.   Then we saw that the same thing had happened on the south bound side.  Gridlock going south had run into vehicles trying to go north.  The accident, a turned over truck was blocking the northbound side so the cars had crossed over only to stop the on-coming traffic.  So like many other cars, our van took a one-lane back dirt road through the shacks alongside the highway.  Of course the north bound cars, trying to get around the accident had also decided to try this route.  Again head-on standstill with cars trying to turn around mid-road.  Fortunately we persevered and some bystanders or passengers of other cars started directing traffic.  We then crossed back over the northbound lane, through the dirt median, through the north bound cars in the south bound road and back into the traffic going south which had started moving again.  The Nigerian drivers are fearless and aggressive.

The rest of our trip was a harrowing duck and weave. Cars drive very fast and there are no lanes on the roads.  They are just narrower or wider allowing for more cars to pass each other.  You can pass on the right or the left, just as long as there is enough room and you give a honk to say your are going.  If there is no room, you drive on the dirt shoulder.  Depending on the traffic built up a two "lane" road could easily become four cars abreast.  One would think the number of accidents or at least missing side mirrors would be high, and vehicles came within inches of each other but somehow an invisible buffer or supreme spatial relation skills kept everyone separate.

We made it to the airport early and safely where a handler maneuvered us and perhaps greased the wheels through check in and security. 

Page Refresh

One day I'm running a 5 mile turkey trot in 20 degree temps through the snow.  24 hours later, I walk into a Nigerian wall of 90 degree temps with 80% humidity.  I'm not sure the human body was meant for such transitions.  Since I did not take a camera on this quick, sit-in-meetings trip, words will have to suffice.

Departing the airport defied logic.  It was hot, the immigration line made no sense, the driver appeared at immigration, disappeared and then finally reappeared outside customs, and customs waived us through without taking our forms.  I had met two consultants in line for immigration who were going to the same campus, which was nice considering the confusion.  In addition, our car was called back to the airport so we could switch to a larger vehicle to go pick up several people at the Lagos guesthouse who had been forgotten all day.  The plus side was an unexpected trip through the city.

I am spending the first three days on the research campus of one of our partner centers.  They have sub-centers in several other countries but are headquartered in Ibadan.  It is a huge, beautiful, serene campus, except for the air raid siren that announces work breaks throughout the day.  This morning I managed a run which took me through a tree lined residential street, down to the lake and back through the experimental cassava fields.  It was a bit sweaty and buggy.

Needless to say, impressions of Nigeria will be limited to the airport, the 2 hour drives between Lagos and Ibadan and to the campus.  Though, as our meeting runs an hour behind, as one of the consultants said: in Nigeria, everything happens in its own time.