Well, finally got my blogspot setup for my UN Mission to Sudan.
I thought initially when they started talking about “The Mission” it was going to be me parachuting into the country, bandana on my head, brandishing two semi automatic weapons taking out the rebel’s, ya know Rambo “First blood” stylee, but this was not to be… my thoughts of “Saving People” were somewhat different to what is going to happen… visions of single handedly saving the people of Sudan by quashing the violence was not to be… 🙂
So the truth about “The Mission”, I am heading to Sudan with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee’s. The trip is going to be for 3 weeks to Khartoum (Sudan’ capital city) with hopefully some additional time where we will be able to travel to the border towns. With the trouble that is going on there at the moment this is going to unlikely, take a look on Google News to see what’s going on… This mission has been a long time in the planning and was only finally approved 2 weeks ago, its been all hands to the pumps on this one and I am unbelievably excited about the prospect that awaits.
I guess I like to think that this will be some sort of defining point in life, when else will I get the chance to visit a country like Sudan under these kinds of circumstances. OMG! 🙂
So what will I be doing while I am there, well the immediate goal of the project is to ensure that the latest version of the UNHCR’s refugee registration database is installed correctly and that adequate training is given to the people who will be using the product. I will also be developing additional reports and solutions whilst out there to meet the needs and the local reqirements of the UN staff.
On Sunday 28th November I set off for my flight to Khartoum from Heathrow, I have a connecting flight in Frankfurt where I will be meeting the rest of the UN Mission members, we should arrive in Sudan at midnight on Sunday night and then its all hands to the pumps to get the product rolled out.
I just wanted to get some initial bits up here, some links below for info on Sudan and to start the ball rolling, take care all, see you in three weeks…