My Journey to Darfur: Ana Kwais (I am good)........

I just returned back to El Fasher after spending a week in Jordan with my friend Annette. What an amazing place to visit. One of my Jordanian friends in El Fasher helped us arrange our trip. I have to say….it's all about the contacts. We arrived in the City of Amman and we were met by our wonderful driver Waleed who was dressed in his traditional Bedouin attire that consists of a dishdash and keffiyeh.

Chariot racing at the Hippodrome in Jerash.

Our first stop in Jordan was Jerash where we went to a live show called the Roman Military and Chariot Experience. As you can see I was able to talk my way into getting a chariot ride. I have to say I was holding on for dear life.

Floating in the Dead Sea was unbelievable. I cannot even describe it. I have to say it was the most peaceful things I have ever experienced. The only downfall is that there is so much salt in the sea that you cannot put your head under water or even get it in your eyes, nose or mouth. It is very painful and tastes horrible. After soaking in the Sea you head to the beach and dowse your body in mud as it contains a lot of natural minerals. No need to pay for a spa day when you have it at your fingertips.

Look Mum no hands. Floating in the Dead Sea was incredible.

The coastline along the Dead Sea was beautiful.

The experience started once we left the Dead Sea. We drove to the Dana Biosphere Reserve which is Jordan’s largest nature reserve located in South-Central Jordan. At first we were unsure where we were going as Waleed dropped us off with another driver who had an old beat up truck that looked like it had been stripped down and shot at. We went off-roading in this vehicle and we could not stop laughing as it was the most uncomfortable ride I have ever had. I am surprised we even made it to our destination which was way up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. The place reminded me of Drumheller and the funny thing is our driver Ali was wearing a Royal Tyrell Museum shirt. We had our lunch and Bedouin whisky (tea) and started on a two hour hike to our camp. Belil, Saleh and his donkey showed us the way. It was so much fun. There was no one else around. It was like being a child again climbing up and down all these limestone/sandstone rocks. When we arrived at the camp the sun was just setting. We had the camp to ourselves and it was basic. No electricity and no showers. It felt as if we were back in Darfur.

Ali and Waleed preparing our Beduoin lunch at the Dana Biosphere Reserve.

Enjoying the view while drinking tradional Beduoin whiskey (tea).

Just arriving at our camp before sunset. Saleh and his donkey Mr. Ears (who I have named in memory of the late Mr. Ears) showing us the way.

Our accommodations for the night in Dana.

Group photo with the staff before we depart Dana for Petra.

That is our tent on the far right. We had a million dollar view of the reserve.

The next day we drove to Petra. A must see if travelling to Jordan. I can now cross another one of the New 7 Wonders of the World off my list of things to see. It was so impressive. After spending a day in Peter we drove to the Wadi Rum. This is Jordan’s largest wadi which is also called the Valley of the Moon as it is a valley cut into the granite and sandstone rock of South Jordan. We had to take a 4x4 truck to our camp which was a small camp site in the middle of the desert. It was even more basic then the camp we stayed at in Dana (no water or electricity). We hiked up one of the rock formations where we watched the sunset. When it got dark Waleed took me out into the desert to watch the stars. Spectacular! When we woke up our rides were waiting for us just outside our tent. My rides name was Shugran and he was this large furry camel that loved to have his ears scratched. We travelled by camel through the wadi for about two hours then went exploring for another few hours by jeep.

We had to do the touristy thing and take a ride on the camel in Petra.

Our first sight of the Treasury in Petra.

You can see in my eyes I was a bit nervous being so close to my camel as he already tried to take a bite out of my cheek. His owner, Teser, tried to tell me that he was giving me a kiss but I beg to differ.

Our camp in the Wadi Rum.

Watching the sunset on the rocks of the Wadi Rum.

Our accommodations in the Wadi Rum.

Venturing off on our camel ride at 0700hrs in the morning before the sun got too hot. As you can see there is nothing but sand and rock around us.

Playing around on the rocks in the Wadi Rum.

The views from the Wadi Rum were spectacular.

We spent the rest of our trip on the beach in Aqaba at the Movenpick Resort which is located 5 km from the Saudi Arabia border and on the other side of the town is the border of Israel. We spent the last part of our trip relaxing before we had to make our journey back to El Fasher to start our end of mission check out process.

I mentioned in a previous post that I was conducting evaluations in South and West Darfur. What a roller coaster of a trip that was. It was a tough couple of weeks due to the living conditions and the climate. When I was in Kulbus which is located in West Darfur on the Sudan/Chad border we had water for two hours a day and I never could figure out when the water was turned on. If I did catch it….it was cold (No such thing as hot water at this Team Site). The Police Advisors usually have to boil water for their showers every morning and there is no plumbing in the toilets so you can imagine how enjoyable that was. To top it all off there was no Internet or mobile phone connection so I felt very isolated. We travelled to the market on a few occasions and it was even a struggle to find bottled water. I have to say I left the most challenging evaluation for the end but I survived and I know I will look back and laugh.

Just outside the Nyala FOB compound (Sector South). Every morning the convoy forms up before we travel to the Kalma 1 & 2 CPC. The children are always there asking for money or "yum yum" (food). It's very difficult not being able to help all these children.

Patrolling in the Kalma IDP Camp. We were met by one of the elderly ladies who really took a shine to me. I think it has something to do with us being the same height.

While I was in Kalma we experienced a lot of rain. You can see that this causes flooding in the IDP camps and makes it difficult to patrol in our vehicles.

Conducting my evaluation with the Language Assistants at the Kulbus Team Site in Sector West.

Presenting the Kulbus Police Commissioner, Lt. Col. Osman Abass, with a Canadian/Sudanese pin.

He wore it with pride on his uniform.

While on patrol in the town of Kulbus we stopped off at the local hospital where several women

were there with their children who were very ill and needed to be seen by a doctor. The unfortunate thing was there was no doctor present that day at the hospital. It makes me appreciate the medicalsystem that we have back at home in Canada.

One of the Nigerian Police Advisors from Kulbus Team Site. His hips were literally at my shoulders.

Our accommodations in Kulbus. This is Saidybah's room where he was always preparing me the traditional Gambian "attaya" tea.

Having dinner with the Kulbus GoS Police Commissioner and some of the local staff. We were eating traditional Jordanian food called Maglouba.

I went on a medium range patrol to a small village approximately 25 km north of the Kulbus Team Site along the Chad border. The place was so green and we found herds of camel along along the way.

It does not matter where you are the children will run like the wind just so they

can say hello or give you the thumbs up.

We drove 25 km to this small village. At this time they have no means of obtaining water and have to drink from the pond that is approximately 100 meters from their homes (see next photo). We sensitized them on the importance of boiling their water before drinking or cooking with it.