Changing of the Guard

I don’t know if you guys knew this, but AVSI Sudan is getting a new Country Representative. In non-NGO speak, this means Stacey is getting a new boss. Pietro, who has been here in Northern Uganda and South Sudan for over ten years now, is leaving the day before me and heading to England to get his master’s degree. His loss will be great to this field office. AVSI Sudan for many years has been Pietro. The amount of knowledge and experience he possesses far exceeds that which could ever be handed over to anyone new. But in this last month and a half, he has been trying.

Andrea and his wife Natalia came to Sudan in mid-July to begin the handing over process. They are obviously both Italian and have spent the last three years in Kosovo with AVSI. I have a feeling that Sudan is going to be a bit different for them. But they are fun and young and are ready for the challenge…and as hard as it is sometimes, change is good.

So, these last few weeks have been VERY busy and if I’m honest, a bit tedious. Meeting after meeting to talk about how the handover will happen, what policies and work plans will change, introductions and explanations of every project and budget line and staff contract, etc. I have been asked to CC Andrea and Pietro on EVERY official email I send, and have lately taken to asking for clarification or approval on even the smallest decisions I make – just to be sure I’m not screwing something up. I have made it my mission to understand, in as much detail as possible, everything that I may ever want to know about one of my projects or an AVSI Sudan policy before Pietro leaves. He could be as annoyed about my newfound curiosity as I am about having to CC him on permission to use the bathroom (I’ve never been good at being micro managed).

Last Saturday the entire staff was gathered on base for an INTENSE security briefing. Following the tragic deaths of three women working for the IRC in Afghanistan, it seemed very appropriate to talk about safety and security and to remind us all that working for a humanitarian organization is no longer an invulnerable occupation. And while I feel extremely safe here in Ishoe, I am reminded that anything can happen. This security briefing made me realize that we can never be fully prepared for what might happen, and there are far too many drunk people with guns around to ever become complacent.

However, this workshop – or what I will call “introduction to the art of war for paranoid people” was a little over the top. I learned how far the explosion of a grenade, mortar, land mine (of many various sizes and colors) will travel and which type of hole I should throw myself into if I am lucky enough to sense that the explosion is about to happen. How accurate at a distance a rifle, pistol, submachine gun, or rocket launcher is if I happen to be threatened with one. I learned how these devices are constructed and that some are meant to clear long paths, while others are meant to blow up a wide, round areas. I also learned that people in many communities here still have active grenades, mortars, and land mines in their homes (just in case) and even use the pins of grenades as key chains, fuses for bee harvesting, and unexploded mortars as furniture. Lovely.

But what I still feel like I don't know is what to actually do should I get held up at gun point, or if the car turns over and we are stranded in the middle of nowhere with no means of communication. I don't know who to call if someone foot gets hacked off or if Isohe is invaded by rebels. Who do I contact if I get appendicitis and need to be airlifted to a hospital or if I get bitten by a snake? WHAT DO I DO IF....? These are answers that have yet to be detailed in out security protocol...but I will find them. Until then, I'll just pray that we all remain safe and pray that Andrea will be as good as Pietro at making things happen.