Seasons Greetings

It’s that time of year again and even here in Dakar the shops are full of plastic Christmas trees and other paraphenalia to remind us all what Christmas is all about –a good shopping opportunity! It’s also cooled down considerably, but I think the chances of a white Christmas here are still pretty slim. But tomorrow night I'm off to London, where I understand it’s already snowing, so I hope to arrive to a nice snowy scene on Saturday morning. The cold will be a bit of shock to the system after 6 months in the African sunshine, but I'm really looking forward to being home and seeing everyone. I’ll be back in Dakar on 6th January, Inshallah. In the meantime Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all!

Keeping busy

It’s been another busy few weeks here in Dakar, so apologies to any readers out there who’ve been wondering where I’ve been.

So what have I been up to? Well, recently I’ve been working on a grant application. All WFP activities are funded from grants from donor countries and organisations and this particular case we were applying for funds from the French Government. This has been an interesting exercise, very like writing a proposal or responding to an rfp in my ‘normal job’. We’ve put in a proposal to create a ‘collaboration platform’ to allow different parts of WFP in the region and also other UN agencies and NGOs to work together on projects, particularly emergency preparedness projects where there seems to be a need for more sharing of information. I’m also continuing to work on the Food Voucher programmes in Burkina Faso and Senegal and I'm hoping to become involved in some one-UN projects in the New Year – so lots to keep me occupied. Earlier this week I did a radio interview for Voice of America – they were following up on an article in our regional newsletter about the work I’m doing and the link between Vodafone and WFP. I think the interview was to be broadcast sometime this weekend.

And outside of work things have been very busy as well. I’ve been to see some more bands including Ismael Lo last week and Rokia Traore the week before, both excellent. Went to the Swiss Embassy for an evening of Raclette and have also found time for some more tennis and swimming. It’s definitely quite a bit cooler now so it’s quite ‘fresh’ (not to say cold) getting in the pool, but I love the fact that I can still go swimming in an outdoor pool in the middle of winter.

A couple of weeks ago Frank Harle from SPW came out to Dakar for few days. SPW manage the ‘World of Difference’ placements on behalf of the Vodafone Foundation and Frank was here to talk to me and some of the people I work with about how the programme is working. This year is the first time that this programme has been run and so it’s important to run a ‘lessons learned’ review to see whether there are things that can be improved, should the programme be run again. Personally, I really hope that Vodafone continue with this initiative – it’s been a great personal experience, and hopefully it’s also been valuable exercise for both WFP and Vodafone.

At the end of this week I fly home for Christmas – really looking forward to seeing everyone at home, although it may difficult to adjust to the British winter after the African sunshine!

A night under the stars

Every morning on my way into work along the Corniche de Ouest I can see the Isles de la Madeleines, lying just a couple of kilometres off the coast. The islands are completely uninhabited and have been designated a National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Despite seeing them every day, I’d never had the chance to visit until last weekend when Sacha, the ever resourceful ‘el president’ of the Dakar Swiss Circle, organised a trip, including bbq and, for those that wanted, the chance to camp out on the Island overnight. About 20 of us met at the departure point near Fann, very close to the apartment I was living in when I first arrived in Dakar.

While waiting we witnessed the local police/military arresting a local ‘fisherman’ suspected of fishing using dynamite – the guy was not very keen to be taken in, and put up a bit of a fight – which was more than a bit stupid as he was heavily outnumbered – and the police were all armed, one holding a pistol ready cocked. All a bit scary – no idea what happened to the guy, but I don’t think it will have been very pleasant.

After this interlude we took a pirogue across to the island – it was a beautiful, hot sunny day, and luckily the sea was very calm (can apparently be quite an ‘exciting’ trip if the sea is a bit choppy). On arrival and after unloading all our gear on to the beach it was time for a swim and snorkel. We were in a little cove on the far side of the island – the water was crystal clear with lots of colourful fish, beautiful, but certainly a lot cooler than it had been for the Goree swim only 2 weeks before.

Then it was time to prapre the bbq and to explore the island – the views of Dakar from here are spectacular.

Another quick swim and before we knew it was 5 o’clock and then time for the ‘day-trippers’ to take the pirogue back to Dakar (see pic).

This left just 5 of us ‘overnighters’. Sacha had a tent and various other luxuries to make his stay as comfortable as possible – I, on the other hand had just a sheet and blanket to sleep out on what is also known as Ile Serpents (Snake Island). I have no idea if there are snakes there – I certainly never saw any, but who knows? We chatted and played cards (I can now play Yass?) until it was time to turn in. I’d hoped we’d get a really nice night sky – nearly new moon, and no lights (Dakar not visible from this side of the island), but unfortunately the sky was a bit hazy, so only the brighter stars were visible, but still it was a lovely night. Next morning – breakfast of banana flambé (interesting) and then the pirogue for the trip back to Dakar. A really nice evening - we’re already planning to do the whole thing again, perhaps in February.

... and Orchestra Baobab

The Baobab tree is one of the of iconic symbols of Senegal, and the image of the countryside dotted with these interesting looking, not to say grotesque, trees will be one of the enduring memories of my time here. But I will also remember Orchestra Baobab who played a stunning set on Saturday night at the Institute Francais, as part of the Jazz a Dakar concert series. Orchestra Baobab were at the very forefront of the music scene in Dakar in the 1980’s, only to become somewhat overshadowed with the emergence of the new stars like Baba Maal and Youssou n’Dour. However in recent years they’ve staged something of a comeback and although now all ‘getting on a bit’ (who am I to talk?), they’re touring and making albums again.
When we arrived at the Institute the place was already buzzing in anticipation. Luckily some friends had saved us some seats, so we took our places near the front of the amphitheatre and a few minutes later the band wandered on and just started to play – a sublime mixture of African and Cuban rhythms that soon had everyone on their feet. What a way to spend a lovely balmy African night, they played for 2 hours and I would have gladly stayed for another 2 hours. But all good things must come to an end – and as we wandered back out into the busy Dakar streets to get a taxi back home I could still hear the music running through my head – a great night, a great band!

Jazz a Dakar

The institute francais is running a series of concerts under the banner 'Jazz a Dakar', and have managed to attract some big names, inlcuding, last night, Baaba Maal. I only found out about the concert a couple of days ago, but this wasn't something I was going to miss. Along with Youssou n'Dour, Baaba Maal is probably the Senegalese musician most well known outside Senegal and I've long enjoyed his music. There were 3 acts, a Sengalese singer Shula Ndiaye, a band called Moh de Diof and then Baaba Maal himself. All were excellent, although for me Baaba Maal stole the show with a fantastic performance. The people I went with had mostly not heard of Baaba Maal, but everyone enjoyed the show (altough some preferred Shula Ndiaye to Baaba Maal), and are now keen to go to some more of the 'Jazz a Dakar' concerts - next week its Orchestra Baobab!
Anyway for those of you who dont know too much about Baaba Maal, here's a quick video from the show last night

Dakar - Goree Race Day!

Lying just 5km off the coast of Dakar, Ile Goree is clearly visible from the city and every year there is a swimming race, starting from a Dakar beach and ending at the port in Goree. Along with a group of friends I've been in training for the last few weeks and on Sunday the day of the big race arrived.


Unfortunately for a couple of days before the race I’d had an upset stomach and was wondering whether I’d be able to do the swim, but come Sunday morning I decided I was well enough to give it a go. So first it was off to Sacha’s house (he’s the one on the right, with the beard) where the whole team had a hearty breakfast to help give us much needed energy.

Then to Monaco beach, near Dakar port, for the start of the race. The beach was crowded with swimmers, supporters and local dignitaries. After registering and much waiting around it was finally time for the off. The plan was for some of us to try and swim together, but there was such a large crowd of swimmers that we pretty quickly found ourselves separated and so it was just a matter of each of us going for it and heading for Goree. Pretty soon the crowd thinned out as the swimmers spread out across the sea and then it was a matter of just trying to keep swimming in a straight line, which is more difficult than it sounds when you’ve got your head down and no reference points, so I had to stop every now and then to make sure I was still heading in the right direction. As time went on the island, which started off in the hazy distance (you can see the isalnd behind us in the picture above) started to come into sharper relief and I realised I wasn’t too far from the finish – so time to put on a final spurt. The end of the race is on the beach by the harbour, and as we came into harbour you could hear the cries of supporters on the harbour side urging us on, and finally there it was, the finishing line. Crossing the line I was handed a tag giving my position in the race (181st, out of around 450 swimmers), and I checked my time, 1hr 50mins – I had thought it would take over 2 hours, so very pleased.


The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the remaining swimmers coming in and then waiting for the medal ceremony. One of our team, Ramona, was the fastest female, so she was presented with an impressive trophy – see pic.

Then back to Dakar by ferry, and Sacha’s apartment to pick up our belongings – and to scoff whatever was left in his fridge (sorry Sacha), and then home. A truly memorable day.

Distribution of food vouchers in Ouagadougou

WFP’s mission is to provide food aid, and traditionally this has meant the direct provision of basic foodstuffs to those in need. However alternative methods of providing assistance are now being developed, including the provision of vouchers which can be exchanged for food at local stores. This is useful where the problem is high food prices rather than a shortage of food. Burkina has been running such a programme since earlier this year and yesterday I went to see the programme in action in Ouagadougou (the programme is also running in Burkina’s second city Bobo-Dioulasso). First we went to a distribution centre, where the beneficiaries come to collect their vouchers from a WFP partner. On arrival we found a busy atmosphere, with people queuing up to receive their vouchers. The process was all very smooth and efficient, but rather labour intensive, with documents being checked and information being entered on forms at various stages, following which the beneficiaries must sign (by thumbprint) that they have received their vouchers. In most cases the beneficiaries then go straight to one of the designated local stores where they can exchange their vouchers for staple food items and soap. Each voucher is worth 1500 cfa (about $3 US). We then visited one of the designated stores which was again very busy, with people queuing, first to hand in heir vouchers, and then to collect and take away the food. It was noticeable how busy this little shop was compared to others in the area – accepting the WFP vouchers is clearly good business for the shopkeepers!



In the evening a WFP colleague, Romuald, took me to a local restaurant. This was set up in the car park of the football stadium (Stade Municipal) – the setting was a bit bizarre, but the food was very good. It took about 45 minutes to prepare the meal, so after ordering we went for a drive around some of he sites of Ouaga. When we got back the meal was all ready, but there were no tables - this was soon sorted and we sat down toour meal of fish (Carp I think) with peppers and a side plate of Yam - delicious. See pic of Romuald about to tuck in.

I’m now back in Dakar after a long day’s traveling via Abidjan. The trip to Burkina was not only interesting but also very enjoyable and I hope I’ll have the chance to visit again sometime.

First impressions of Ouagadougou

On Saturday evening I dropped Raksha off at Dakar airport at midnight, and then a few hours later I was back there to fly out myself to the capital city of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou. I arrived mid- afternoon in blistering heat and then a short drive later was in the downtown hotel. A quick swim in the pool quickly cooled me off and then set off to have a look around town. First impressions are that Ouagadougou ('Ouaga', pronounced 'Waga') is much quieter than Dakar, it has the feel of a relaxed town rather than a bustling city like Dakar. Burkina is one of the world's poorest countries - its 177th out if 182 countries in the UN Human Development Index. However Ouaga doesn't feel any more run down and poor than many other cities in the developing world and there's a lot less hassle from street vendors and beggars etc. than you get in Dakar. The main roads are busy (and well maintained), but not choked, and once off the main roads its all very quiet and peaceful.

On Monday morning I was picked up by he UN driver to take me to the office - about a two minute drive, so I think I'll be walk it from now on. It's so hot here that they have a long midday break, from 12.45 to 3pm - it makes for a long day overall, but its very nice to be able to really relax at lunch time, rather than having a quick break and straight back to work.

The main purpose of my visit is to find out more about Food Voucher Programmes and I'm hoping to be able to go and see vouchers being distributed in the next couple of days. I'm working with the head of IT here in Burkina on a proposal to use mobile phone or radio technology to support these programmes, so it will be really useful to see how they work at the moment.

Workshop & travelling around with Raksha

Its been a very hectic few weeks. My wife, Raksha, has been visiting and we've had a chance to to do some travelling round Senegal. Our first couple of days were spent in Saly, at then end of the Regional ICT workshop. Saly is a beach resort, much frequented by the French for a bit of winter sunshine. During the workshop we operated a fine system for anyone turning up late for a session - 1000 cfa for each session - at the end of the week we had over 60,000 cfa (Bety was very diligent in collecting he fines!) which we used to buy food and nappies for a local orphanage (see pic left). The workshop itself was a great success. There were representatives from the ICT teams of all 19 countries in the West Africa region (see right), and we packed a lot in, inlcuding workshops on Emergency Preparedness and Response and presentations on WFP ICT strategy from senior management in Rome, as well as my session on Project Management - and some people still found time to explore the bars of Saly at night!


Once the workshop had finished Raksha and I travelled down to Sine Saloum - on the way our taxi broke down in the middle of nowhere and we eneded up spending a couple of hours in a local village while the local 'mechanic' repaired it using his sophisticated welding equipment (see picture).

Sine Saloum is a delta area, with mangrove swamps and lots of birdlife. We stayed in a lovely lodge with huts facing out on to the water, all very peaceful, and very diffrent to Dakar. After Sine we came back to Dakar and Raksha spent some time getting used to the hustle and bustle of Dakar life while I went back to work. Last weekend we spent a couple of days on Ile Goree (see earlier blog) - really nice and relaxing again - and interesting to spend the evening there as mostly people go for a day trip and so it's especially peaceful at night and early morning.

We then travelled to St Louis in the north of Senegal, right on the border with Mauretania. This was the old colonial capital and it still retains many old colonial style buildings, it has a run down feeling, but is gradually being restored to former glories. It's also a busy fishing port, with large fishing boats (pirogues, see picture left) plying too and fro all day long, bringing fish to the very busy, and extremely smelly, fish market on the edge of town.


So it's been a vey busy time and all seems to have gone by in a rush - Raksha goes back to UK tonight and then tomorrow I'm off to Burkina Faso for a few days to look at some of the projects that WFP are running there. Hopefully I will then have some more time to put some more detail and some more pictures, as I now have a working camera - thanks to Raksha!

A new apartment

It’s been a very busy few weeks, both in and out of work. The biggest change for me is that I have moved to another apartment – I’m now sharing a large 3 bed roomed villa in Mermoz, which is a bit further out of town from where I was before, but it’s only an extra 5 minutes on my nippy little scooter. It’s a much bigger place, with a nice garden, large terrace and, best of all, air conditioning (I only had a fan at the last place) – real luxury! The only downside is that it’s under the flight path for Dakar airport – sometimes feel I could reach out and touch the planes as they come in to land.
I’ve now finished my French classes – the next set start in October but I will probably wait until January before starting again as October and November already look very busy. I’m getting even less chance to practice my French now, as my new flat mate is an English speaker from Uganda – speaks even less French then me!
What else – well I’m still swimming quite a lot – I’m hoping I might be able to do the ‘Ile de Goree’ swim in early November. Regular readers will know the Ile de Gore is a small island just off Dakar. Each year there is an organized swim from Dakar to the island – about 5km in some pretty polluted water – should be fun! I’m also playing some tennis, although my game seems to be getting worse rather than better, age and dodgy knees catching up with me.
Ramadan ended last week – so we had a long weekend. It’s traditional to have a friends and family around for a meal to celebrate the end of Ramadan – Alpha invited me to his house, lovely meal and a chance to meet some interesting new people. I also seem to have become an honorary member of the local Swiss club, thanks to a Swiss colleague, Lucas. The main activities of the club appear to be focused on eating and drinking as well as possible – so I’m very happy to have made their acquaintance – very nice people (no, really!).
Next week sees the annual regional IT meeting – where representatives from the WFP IT teams in each of the 19 countries in the West Africa come together for a bit of bonding and sharing of experiences etc. The meeting will last all week and is being held in a resort just south of Dakar, so I get a week in a nice luxury hotel by the beach – but there’ll be plenty of work to do as I’m running a workshop for a couple of the days. After that I’m taking some time off as my wife will be here in Senegal and we’re going to travel around and see a bit more of the country – I’ve been here 3 months and haven’t been out of Dakar yet, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what the rest of the country is like.
And straight after that I’m planning to travel to Burkina Faso for a few days. The aim of the trip is to find out some more about Food Voucher programmes (see earlier blogs) – a voucher programme is currently underway in Ouagadougou, which is the capital of Burkina (but I’m sure you knew that). I'm talking to the Senegal office about using mobile phone technology to support a Voucher programme that they are introducing at the end of the year, so am interested in finding out as much as I can about the practicalities of these programmes beforehand.

In addition to working on the voucher programme my main focus over the past couple of weeks has been in preparation for the IT regional meeting, plus continuing to push forward with a number of other projects, which has meant there never seem to be enough hours in the day – which is my excuse for having neglected the blog again – I promise to try harder!

Reflections during Ramadan

It's the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and also the height of the rainy season here in Senegal. Although this is a predominantly Muslim country, it is not a place where everything comes to a complete halt during the day in Ramadan, however things do seem to slow down a bit, which in some cases means going from slow, to almost stopped. And then of course everything livens up once night falls as people on fast are free to eat and drink again. Where I live currently I can hear the call to prayer, particularly the one just before daybreak, which is the signal for the last meal before starting the day's fasting afresh, and also the one as the sun goes down - the signal to start eating again. It’s a daily reminder that I'm not home in rural England, where the equivalent would be the sound of church bells ringing.
And, as I say, it’s also the rainy season, during which, it rains - a lot. Usually the rain is heavy but short lived, although there have been a couple of days where it has rained for most of the day. The result - lots of flooding. I'm guessing they call it the rainy season because it rains like this every year. However this doesn't seem to have prompted much in the way of taking measures to deal with heavy rain, and as a consequence the TV news and newspapers are full of people in abject circumstances, waist deep in water, surrounded by their few possessions, presumably ruined. In addition it's a been a month of power cuts. A reasonably regular occurrence here they became much more frequent for a couple of weeks, with many people being cut off for days on end. Luckily where I live was not too badly affected by either floods or power cuts, although we did have a share of both. But the situation in other parts of Dakar was bad enough for people to take to the streets, with ominous talk of bringing down the Government. The president meanwhile had decamped to Biarritz for a few weeks, where I'm guessing there were few power cuts or floods.
The situation in other parts of the region has been even worse, with, for instance, severe flooding in Burkina Faso which affected the WFP country office.
Meanwhile at the office we have been preparing for the annual Regional ICT meeting, which will be taking place in early October. I'm going to be running a 2 day workshop as part of this - so will be quite busy over the next few weeks preparing that, as well as for a trip to Burkina Faso at the end of October, fact finding about Food Voucher programmes which is one of the projects I'm currently involved in. Between the two I will be taking a bit of a break as Raksha (my wife) is coming over and we hope to spend some time seeing a bit more of the country - which I'm really looking forward to.

Ile de Goree

Lying just a couple of kilometres off the coast here in Dakar is Ile de Goree, a world heritage site which is principally known for its role in the slave trade. Its a small island, easily visible from Dakar and only a 20 minute ferry ride from the port, but that 20 minutes takes you to a completely different world. The island has no cars and a small permanent population which is swelled each day by visiting tourists. Most of the buildings on the island date back to the 19c and earlier, with some dating back to the 15c when the Portuguese first arrived here. Not having had a chance to visit it so far, I'd arranged to go to-day with Judith, a colleague from the wfp office. We took the 10am ferry, and after a quick but very pleasant trip arrived in the little harbour, where local lads in the water were calling out for coins to be thrown in which they would then dive down and retrieve - all within a few metres of the ferry.

The island itself was an absolute delight - a real little gem which surpassed all expectations. Quiet, narrow lanes with little surprises at each turn, lovely terracotta buildings and little squares with trees and shrubs in blossom.

We were particularly struck by one huge palm tree - with some very strange looking fruit - colleagues at Vodafone may recognise them - in fact it's the local mobile phone mast! (see pic). On the far side of the island, away from the village, a small artists colony has grown up, based around some large gun emplacements from the second world war. There is also a small mosque, supposedly one of the oldest in West Africa, which looks like it must originally have been a church. One of the old houses has been turned into a museum on the slave trade, and includes a 'door of no return' - an opening out to the sea through which slaves were supposedly taken onto ships for transportation.

The weather was beautiful, right up until the point where we got on the ferry for the return to Dakar, at which point a storm which had been threatening all afternoon arrived with a vengeance. The ferry had to wait for the worst of it to pass before setting off, but even so every one got soaked to the skin, and then I had to drive the scooter back home through the driving rain as well - interesting!

The island was an absolute treat, and I will definitely be going back there.

Back home, and dried off I checked the cricket score - and England have won the Ashes!

Scootering aound Dakar

I’m mobile now – finally bought myself a scooter (see pic), so now every morning rather than negotiating with a taxi driver I just get on my scooter, drive along the corniche and into town. Its only about ten minutes into the office, and so long as the rain holds off (which it has so far), very pleasant, with nice views of the Atlantic ocean off to my right. Just have to be aware of the trafiic around me – apparently my scooter has a special feature which makes me completely invisible to taxi drivers! After work I can drive straight from the office to the club Atlantique for a swim, before going home again along the corniche, with views of the sun setting over the ocean.
In the office I have been working on getting some of the projects moving. The main work this week has been on a Food Voucher programme. This is a relatively new initiative for WFP – rather than distributing food, the idea is to give those in need vouchers which can be exchanged for food at local stores. This can be useful where the problem is high food prices rather than lack of food. One of the advantages of this approach is that it can help stabilize and inject liquidity into the local economy, and can also offer cost savings as there is no need to transport large quantities of food across what are often long distances. A number of pilot programmes have been run and it is expected that this will become an increasingly important way of distributing aid to those in need. I have been looking at how IT can support these programmes, as there are no real solutions available at the moment.
Ramadan starts at the weekend – either on Saturday or Sunday, depending on sightings of the moon. Of course this means that the local Muslims (by far the majority of the population here) will be fasting during the day, so I would imagine the atmosphere will be quite different.
Despite being here in Francophone West Africa where cricket is completely unknown , I’ve been able to follow the Ashes series as well, via TMS on the internet. Apologies to any readers who don't know what cricket is, and also to any Autsralians reading this (Salma?) - but right now listening to a frankly unbelievable comeback by England following the dismal performance in the last test – at this rate they’re actually in danger of winning the series.

Two weeks further on

I can’t believe that another 2 weeks have passed by. If there are any regular readers out there in blogland – apologies.
The French lessons at the Institut are still going well – we have had a couple of new joiners, including one girl from England – who’s just arrived in Dakar, and the airline have managed to lose all her luggage. I can’t say I feel very much progress – but perhaps it’s all sinking in somehow. Last week there was another concert at the Insitut. The band included a Kora player who played like Jimi Hendrix on speed – stunning, all the while with a huge grin on his face. A man that clearly enjoyed his music, which was great, but the concert had been so poorly promoted that there was hardly anyone there – such a shame.
On the work front, my boss, Alpha, is now back from vacation, so I spent some time earlier in the week taking him through my findings and recommendations on the projects. Generally in agreement on what we need to do, so now it’s a matter of prioritizing, but I would say there is plenty to keep me busy. We are also trying to arrange a regional IT team meeting, probably in September/October, which will be great chance to meet the IT teams from the rest of the region. Alpha is keen for me to provide some Project Management workshops as part of this meeting – should be interesting.
I’m trying to get myself mobile at the moment – it’s a pain (and expensive) having to rely on taxis all the time so I’m looking to buy a scooter. Have had a look at some, but can’t actually buy one yet because there’s been a delay in making payments from WFP and so I don’t have sufficient funds! Anyway hopefully it’ll be sorted soon – but it’s very frustrating. Anyone in Rome reading this –please help.

Multi-cultural French, multiple projects

Another week has passed so quickly. I'm now going to French lessons 3 times a week after work. The approach is very academic - lots of grammar and lecturing, not particularly interactive, I'm not sure it’s the best way to improve language skills, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless. The class is like a mini United Nations, we have 2 Senegalese, and then a single rep for Mali, Spain, China, Japan, Mauretania, the Comoros Islands (look it up) and myself from the UK.

On the work front, the projects I'm working on are beginning to come into sharper focus now. The highest priority being a project to review the provision of satellite links within the West Africa region. WFP uses two providers for its satellite communication, which is a vital component of the relief work, since operations are often in locations where there is no 'standard' communication infrastructure (cable, cell phones, wireless etc.). In fact WFP often takes the lead role in providing communication links for the many different agencies involved in relief operations and so having effective, reliable communications is all the more important. One issue at the moment is that the two satellite systems used by WFP do not integrate well with each other, leading to delays and increased cost, so one focus will be to look at how this can be improved. Another project is looking at providing simple back up and disaster recovery solutions for country offices - which often have minimal ICT skills, but still have the need to ensure that their ICT systems are not vulnerable to failure. Altogether there are about 10 identified projects, with a couple of more 'opportunities' suggested to me over the last couple of weeks - so the first task will be to manage this down to a manageable list!

Starting French lessons, plus Griot Concert

On Fridays the office closes early (1pm). My French lesson (see yesterday’s entry) is nearby, but it’s not till 5.30 meaning I had a few hours to kill, so I took a walk down to the main market in Dakar (Marche Sandaga). It’s impossible to walk around this part of town without being constantly hassled and you have to be on your guard the whole time against pickpockets and new found ‘friends’ who want to show you their uncles/brothers/fathers shop. The Sandaga itself is in an old colonial building and is the main food market for Dakar, but the surrounding streets are crammed with stalls selling just about anything.

On arriving at the Insitut for my French lesson I saw a flyer for a Griot concert – so I bought a ticket (as a member this cost me approx $1) and then went to my French class. Took some time to find them – they’d switched rooms but hadn’t bothered to tell anyone – but once there I enjoyed the class – most of the other pupils are locals, so their first language is Wolof. Took a little while for me to get going – I’m joining part way through the course, but hopefully I’ll be able to catch up.
The concert was not till 9pm and the lesson finished at 7pm, giving me time to have a leisurely beer at the institut bar, while doing my French homework. The concert took place in the cinema, the band was a five piece band – 3 on stringed instruments (xalam and ngoni I think) one on some sort of percussion instrument and one singer. It was all in Wolof so I’ve no idea what they were singing about, but it was all very lively and great fun.

l'institut francais

Thursday 16th

If I’m to make the most of my time here in Dakar its clear I’m going to need to drastically improve my French, so earlier this week I went on the web to see what was available. I came across a 10 week course at the French Institue (l'institut francais) which sounds interesting, but it’s already started. Took a trip down there (its not far from the office) to see if I could find out more – I can still join the course, but need to take a test to assess my level of French, which I did this morning (Thu). Having done this (it seems I’m ‘intermediate’), all I needed to do was hand over the money, fill in a number of forms (all with the same details), join the Insitut itself (more money and more forms) and I’m on the course. It’s 3 sessions a week, each for 1 ½ hours, with my first lesson tomorrow.
The Institut itself is a really pleasant oasis of quiet and calm in the middle of the hustle and bustle of ‘downtown’ Dakar (known as Plateau). Its housed in an old colonial building (see pic) set in its own grounds, with a large Baobab tree out front, under which there is an outside bar and restaurant. There is also a small cinema and an outdoor arena. In addition to French I could also learn Wolof here – but, one step at a time, I think I’ll stick to the French for the moment.

Moving office and music on the streets

Well, the weather is still hot and humid, with not much sign of rain yet. It’s been a busy week. On the work front I’ve been getting to grips with the projects underway in the region. There are about a dozen projects ranging from setting regional hardware standards to implementing a fuel management database and they are at different stages of development and all being run from different countries – so I’m trying to understand current status, as well as familiarising myself with wfp processes etc. Up till now I’ve been based along with the rest of the regional ICT team in a separate building (the annexe) from the main bureau, but on Friday we started the process of moving back to the main building. It’s only a few minutes walk away, but it will be good to be closer to the rest of the regional team.

Outside of work – I’ve joined the Club Atlantique in Mermoz. It’s a short taxi ride away (or long walk along the corniche, depending on how I feel), and has a nice pool (see pic) and tennis courts, so I’m hoping to get some games in – so beware, my normal tennis partners (you know who you are), thinking I won’t be playing for a year and will be giving me a good thrashing on my return!

I’ve mentioned before that the area I live in is quite lively – there seems to be different musical ‘entertainment’ on the street every night. I tried to included some video of a couple of these events over the last week, but currently having problems uploading - but I have managed to include some video from last night's roller skating team who were performing on the street outside the apartment in front of a large and noisy crowd.

I’ve also been treated to some excellent local cooking over the last week, thanks to Cyrille, or more particularly Carole. Last week was her birthday and in addition to cooking a lovely meal we had birthday cake, I had been hoping to lose some weight while out here, but at this rate and I’ll be putting it on.

Note: after checking out the web I found a potential cure for my broken camera – not very reliable but maybe able to get some more pics after all. Will try and upload some in the next day or so.

Changing weather and broken camera

The weather has begun to change over the last few days, with a storm on Wednesday night (wind and thunder, but not much rain) and to-day, Sunday, being the first really overcast day since I arrived, with some rain this morning. However most days have still been hot, sunny and humid, so I’ve been trying out a couple of places to cool off. On Friday I went to the Club Atlantique in Mermoz. It’s a short taxi ride from my apartment, has a nice pool, tennis courts and a small bar with a TV which was, as I had hoped, showing tennis from Wimbledon. So I ordered a beer and settled in front of the TV to watch Andy Murray’s semi-final against Roddick. He lost of course - oh well, there’s always next year – but console myself with a dip in the pool which was lovely. Yesterday I tried out the Olympic pool – this is a large (50m) public pool in the Point E area, with a huge grandstand and full set of diving boards – all very impressive and again a lovely chance to cool off.
On the way to the Olympic pool I went through the campus of the main Dakar university (Cheikh Anta Diop University), with Cyrille and Carole – she’s studying medicine there and is waiting for her 3rd year results – good luck Carole! The university campus is large and modern looking and rather impressive.
Yesterday morning I was taking some pictures along the corniche, when I realised there was a problem with my camera, which I don’t think will be easy to fix, so I’m not going to be able to post as many pictures of life here in Dakar as I’d hoped. However to give you some more of a flavour I’ve included a couple of pics of the colourful local fishing boats (pirogues) taken before the camera gave up the ghost. I will also try and get some using my phone, but not so easy to use!

Settling in

I've now been in my apartment in Fann Hock for a few days, and am getting used to my new surroundings. The area is lively, its close to the university and there is a large student community here. It has a very different feel from central Dakar, more relaxed and much less hustle. I'm having to get used to a whole new set of sights and sounds - being woken in the morning (or is it the middle of the night) by the call to prayer, the flocks of birds at dusk and dawn, and the street scene - football everywhere, taxis, horse drawn carts, 4x4 s, buses and the 'transoprt en commun' ( a small 'bus', invariably packed inside and often with people hanging on outside) - all weaving around each other - see pics.














Also spent some time at the Voile d'Or beach over the weekend with Cyrille and his sister Carole - the weather is very hot and sticky at the moment, so it was lovely to have a chance to cool off in the sea.
On the work front, I have now met the Regional ICT director, Alpha Bah. He's is going to be away on leave for a few weeks so we've spent some time discussing project work I can make a start on while he's away. There is a range of ICT projects/initiatives being looked at by the different countries within the region. The initial task is to assess progress/status and to identify those which we should prioritise, which will mean liaising with the different country offices, such as Mali, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea-Bissau and Central African Republic. Should be interesting!

Finding accomodation

Monday - into the office and spent some more time looking for accommodation. The admin assistant, Bety, pointed me in the direction of an expat web site, and from there I found a few places that were in reasonable areas and which I could pay for without having to rob a bank. The best way to reduce the cost is to take a room in a shared apartment – which has the added advantage of having someone to talk to in the evening. So after a bit of phoning around went to see Cyrille's apartment in Fann Hock - it's basic but clean and secure - and it has internet access which is definitely a bonus for keeping in touch with home. So from Wednesday I will be taking a room in Cyrille’s apartment in Fann Hock. Cyrille is from Cote d’Ivoire and speaks about much English as I do French – so the conversation should be interesting, if somewhat limited, but I'm very much looking forward to moving out of the hotel and into a room of my own.

A Dakar Weekend

Spent some time at the beach over the weekend – Dakar is on a peninsular and so the sea is never far away, and there are beaches within a few minutes walking distance of the City Centre. The beach scene is pretty lively, at least it is where I was on Sunday, with picnics, wrestling, and incredibly skilful football amongst a heaving mass of people – see pictures. The sea is teeming with fish – the preferred method of fishing on the beach seems to be simply scooping the fish out of the water on to the sand and then skewering them with a stick! The city itself is transformed on a Sunday, from a heaving, smoggy, jostling mass, to a quiet almost genteel place. However by Sunday evening everything was getting back to normal, traffic everywhere, street sellers laying out their wares, and the beggars and pickpockets back in action. Lively and bustling, certainly not boring!

First days in Dakar

Arrived safe and sound in Dakar, 8pm Thursday evening. The airport was complete mayhem, but eventually got through and was very pleased to see my name amongst the many cards being held up amongst the large crowd behind barriers at the airport entrance. Homere, the wfp driver, took me straight to the hotel, which is in the city centre, about half an hour from the airport. It had been a long day and I was ready to crash out. Next day - into the wfp offices to meet everyone and start some of the admin stuff, set up bank account etc. Also started the process of looking for an apartment - looked at one in Fann Hock, just outside centre of town and close to the beach, very nice but expensive so need to check out some others. The climate in Dakar at the moment is very nice - warm but with a cooling breeze. The streets are crowded and it's impossible to walk more than a few yards without meeting a new 'friend' who wants to sell something - the favorites being phone cards and watches. No mosquitoes - so no need for insect repellent, but what can you use to keep the street sellers at bay? I'm working on it.

It starts here

Well - the adventure is about to start. It's been a just a few short months since I saw a posting on the Vodafone UK intranet site looking for volunteers to work with the UN World Food Programme - and now here I am sitting in Madrid airport waiting for the final leg of my journey to Dakar, Senegal. For the last 3 days I've been in Rome at WFP HQ - the UN is TLA (three letter accronym) mad, so please forgive me if I drop some in without explanation. These initial 3 days were a briefing session for the 4 volunteers, myself, Salma, Marco and Ayten. It was great to meet everyone and to get to see more abot what WFP is about. The highlight of the briefings for me was to go to the situation room, to see where WFP co-ordinates it's response to crisis situations and in partcicular to see a video and pictures of some of the fantastic work in Darfur- very moving.
My flight departure has just been announced - so here we go!