October 3, 2003

West Africa Newsletter Oct. 3, 2003
From: MPilert@yahoo.com


Greetings,

A month has flown by since my last news. The biggest change here has been in the weather. The dry season is coming on and we are not getting nearly as much rain as in the past couple of months. It still rains almost every day, but just one or two thunder showers, not continous rain as before. Of all the places in Africa that I have been, I have never seen a rainy season like they have here, I am glad that it is over. Now I can dry out! This makes the flying much easier, and also gives me an opportunity to actually see some of this region from the air. Until now all I had seen of West Africa was clouds and then the airstrips when I break out on the instrument approaches at about 500 feet above the ground, on a three mile final approach, most of the time.

There is some beautiful country here. Of course everything is lush and green with all the rain that we have had. Kissidougou is one small town that I fly to about twice a week. "Kissi" is very near the Headwaters of the Niger River. There are many rivers and waterfalls. The town is a short distance from the tri-country borders where Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea all meet. There is a large refugee camp near there. Because I fly for the U. N. High Commission on Refugees, this destination is a busy one. Kissi has a dirt runway that got so muddy and soft a few weeks ago that we almost had to stop using it. There is usually jet fuel there in 200 liter drums.

Nzerekore is another dirt strip further to the Southeast. It is very near the tri-country borders where Ivory Coast, Liberia and Guinea all meet. The Jungle is very dense around Nzerekore. Lots of mountains there as well. There is of course another large refugee camp near Nzerekore. We use company devised GPS instrument approaches to land in bad weather at all the little airfields that we go to.

Our flights are mostly passengers and light cargo. In addition to UNHCR, UNICEF, and the UN World Food Program, we also have people from various NGOs that have related projects. These organizations include: World Relief, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, World Vision, and a host of others.

This past Sunday I had some free time and we were able to take our Toyota Land Cruiser, which is provided by UNHCR, up into the mountains. Perfect weather for a drive, and we found a beautiful waterfall, with a nice pool for swimming.

I am getting a bit more time to get out now since I have completed training our new pilot here. I'll be busy again next week when I take over as program director for Bob. He will take a 6 week vacation. This means that I will be doing a lot more office work and less flying. I'll have to go to planning and security meetings at the UN. I will be finished with my work here, when Bob returns on Nov. 11th. Then I will take 12 days to travel in Gambia and Senegal before returning to the States for Thanksgiving.

The city of Conakry, where I live, is not exactly the garden spot of West Africa, although it is on the Atlantic coast. The ocean is filthy here, and I would not even consider swimming here in town. Everyone in town uses the ocean as a garbage dump. The water is brown. I do have a pool at my apartment complex, which I am getting to use more now. There is an Island just off shore that is supposed to have a nicer beach. I hope to go there soon.

Conakry is a city of refugees. Mostly people from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast. Our maids here are all Liberian Refugees, and good workers. They make about $60 a month each. The really good thing about them is that they speak English. English is the national language of Liberia. French is spoken in Guinea, and there are few English speakers here. My French is pretty bad. You should see the traffic here in town. Total Jungle rules! Always traffic jams.

Although the security situation in Monrovia, Liberia is better now, the interior of the country is still in turmoil, and there is still some fighting going on even with an official cease fire agreement. A multi national force of peace keeping troops from Nigeria, Pakistan, and several other nations are just beginning to venture into the interior. It will take months to have total peace in Liberia. Even then there will not be an end to the unrest. Although the peace negotiations with the rebel groups and existing government are political, there are underlying tribal differences, and rivalries that are not easily solved, as is the case in many African countries.

This past month there was a coup in Guinea-Bissau, the next country north of here. The military overthrew the president, and seized power. So far it seems to be a fairly peaceful turnover. This region in quite unstable. Guinea itself has been fairly stable, that is why the UN has based their regional operations here.

Conakry also has a large Lebanese population, a couple of nights ago, I ate at a Lebanese-Mexican restaurant. The burritos were not bad! The Lebanese run many of the shops and restaurants. Best Mexican food on this side of the planet!

I am home from flying in Conakry almost every night, but now and then I spend the night in another country. I've spent two nights in Accra, Ghana, and I like the town. It is almost first world, especially compared to Conakry.

I'll try to send some pictures in my next newsletter. E mail in this part of Africa is just a little more difficult than in other places.

Drop me a line and let me know some news of your part of the world.

Mike