Tuesday, 27 July

Village from the air.

Refugee Camp.

This morning I went to the medical centre to get a vaccination. The nearest UN medical centre is in a town called Bunia, around 100km north of Beni. To get there I had to make a 45 minute flight by helicopter – the roads in Congo are not very good. This makes air operations the biggest UN expense in Congo – 25% of the total budget. I got to the town, got my vaccination at the Moroccan military hospital, collected my pay check and went to the supply office to chase up some requests (in Beni there is no finance or supply office either). I also called by my colleagues in the Political office. It was soon time to return to the airfield in time for check-in. However, the helicopter had already left half an hour before – even though I had arrived an hour before the advertised departure time. It turned out that the helicopter had left early to avoid a heavy storm. I spent the night at the house of a Russian colleague called Alexander from the political office. It seemed that his house was full of Russians - they all live together in that town!!