Well, the other side of Africa anyway. I've been meaning to post an update on the blog about so many things but I just haven't been too inspired to write. It's been a difficult couple years. I quit HGS way back now in summer 2015, rested for 6 months, then wandered around with Loren for 6 months. We worked in Parc du W on the Burkina side (which was supposedly red zone but it appeared fine), then we went to Arlit in northern Niger. We went to Canada summer 2016 - the whole family. I did my certification as NLP practitioner and also Life Coach (and since have done a whole whack of training and got my ACC certification through ICF! yay!). Sept 2016 Loren went to Agadez - originally Ben was going to Sahel Academy and theoretically Loren and I would have had work in Arlit but then Ben changed his mind and the Arlit work fell through. I stayed in Ouaga with Ben while Loren ended up in Agadez for 4 months (I visited once) and still hasn't fully been paid for it. I started working for a Civil Engineering company in Jan 2017 just to bring in some money, part time as an Office Manager. And I just put in my notice as Loren and I are off to a new adventure.
I will post more pictures soon.
Ben has been going to Sahel Academy in Niamey, Niger this past year. He really loves it and is doing wonderfully at school. He always did well but this year he has flourished and grown in so many ways. He's now 16 and lost all his baby face. He's about 6'3" and has found many things that he loves, including softball, volleyball, American football. He's helping coach a softball team and performed in the school musical just this last weekend!
Back in Feb 2018, we got an email from a friend who used to live in Ouaga - Thierry - who Loren had worked with frequently. He sent us a couple job descriptions for a park in DRC (Kinshasa), on the east side, near Uganda.
We had several interviews spread out over 2 months and finally in April were invited to the park to check it out, meet the people and see what we thought.
The flight was super long. We flew to Addis Ababa in Ethopia and transfer to a flight to Entebbe Uganda. We caught a flight the following morning to the border at Arua, and then were driven over to the DRC side. After some fairly long waits for formalities, we caught a small charter plane, owned by the park (6-seater!) to the park itself. We spent from Monday night til Saturday morning there. We met lots of interesting and lovely people while we were there. There appear to be a lot of military there - and with good reason. The range of ages seemed to be from a young American woman around 25 to one of the pilots aged 69!
The first day, Erik, the current Operations Manager drove us around the camp and showed us all the facilities. The afternoon we went out to the bush to check out a river crossing. We met John, the General Manager the following day who gave us more explanation of the set up of the organization and the jobs he had in mind. My job was not at all what I was expecting and I think he could see the confusion on my face. It appeared to be the lead for a regional development plan but I had no idea what the role would mean or how I would accomplish such a thing. Finally on Friday before we left, I still had not received a contract nor a job description. It was promised for the week to come as we got home. We agreed on a handshake that we would be coming and that eventually it would all be sorted out. Others at the park admitted that they had similar scenarios but it all eventually worked out.
Finally Loren received his contract in by email, and I received an alternative offer of Coordinator for Renewable Energy - to follow up with the installation of solar kits in the communities surrounding the park. There may be additional work in biomass. Still waiting on a contract but it all appears to be in the works.
So Loren
leaves June 3. He is Operations Manager - 2nd in command largely. One of 4
Directors responsible for the Park. He's doing roads, bridges, buildings, he
keeps up the
fleet of vehicles, machines and even the air fleet (2 Cessnas and
a helicopter).
He's also responsible for the Monitoring and Research side, so
collaring and tracking
elephants and giraffes, etc.
Me, I head
out,mid- June.
We work 3
months, and get 3 weeks break. Ben is in Canada June 11 to mid-Aug and
goes
back to school in Niger (2 years left). I will attempt to line my breaks up
with his,
but we also get 2 flights per year for him to come to the Park.
It's not
the safest place on the planet but then where is right now. There is a ton of
military
on site due to the threat of poaching (very well armed, trained and
funded poachers) and
LRA. Everyone keeps telling me that there is Ebola but
that is on the other side of the
country, about 3000 km away.
It's a 2
year contract with possibility of renewal. Loren is a bit worried, mostly about
having to manage whites. It's a lot of responsibility but I'm glad he feels he
can take it on.
I know he can do it, if he stays focused.
I will post more pictures soon.
