Richard Wesley

We have had the luck to come across an excellent group of people all belonging to what I thought was a long past colonial relic, the Hash House Harriers (HHH). It turns out this concept is alive and well around the world, usually in places with large expat communities. Here in Yaounde every Saturday at 3:30pm, a group of around 30 or 40 takes off into the green hills around the city for an hour or so run and then some social drinking afterwards. Last week was a little damp and therefore muddy, with the allocated trail leading through fields and and up and down muddy slopes. The route for the run is laid out by some volunteer 'hares' in the morning using some standard little markings at junctions. The 'harrier' runners come along and have to search and find the correct route. This means lots of extra running and searching for the fitter and faster members, and a more social slower time for those bringing up the rear. Turns out that the concept started in Kuala Lumpur in ...

Elodie and I have landed in Cameroon, with the rolling green hills of the busy little capital city of Yaounde all around us now. It is hot and humid and we have been spending our first forty eight hours here tapping away at a long list of jobs including getting sim cards for our cell phones, sorting out our house, hunting down internet, supermarkets, and money changers. Elodie will be working on an HIV study based at the main hospital here and concerned with a new 2nd line drug and its effectiveness and side effects. I will be visiting MSF and other organisations in the coming days with a view to a similar position as in the past, non profit logistics or management. We are living in a basic three story building run by the organisation Elodie is working for, in one of four flats run for expat students and research workers. We are sharing with two others, one French woman studying for a masters, and another Swiss woman undertaking research into condom use and acceptance. The place is a b...

As a retirement type activity my father Laurie Wesley took up doing triathlons. Some swimming, a little bit of cycling and then a run. The biggest granddaddy of these events is called the Ironman, so what better for a grandfather of 72!?! The last time I was a spectator for my Dad in the 2006 Ironman the weather decided not to play ball and the swim part of the event was cancelled. Luckily I found myself still in New Zealand this year and so joined mum, my aunt and two sisters, as the cheerleading support crew for the 2009 Taupo Ironman, Dad's eight event. The swim start certainly is an incredible sight, with the 1400 competitors all in the water for when the cannon goes at 7am. It is like a giant school of fish all thrashing around in the water, arms and white water everywhere. Even a third through the 3.8km swim though the line of swimmers is well spread out into a long even line. Then it is onto the bike for the 180km out around a course that requires two laps. We managed to ti...

My year overseas came to an end with a little trip across to Switzerland for a couple of days skiing under the famous north face of the Eiger. The weather was not the kindest on the first day but with large amounts of snow falling and empty ski fields at half price for the beginning of the season, there was no reason to complain. Rode trains, giant cable cars, chair lifts with plastic covers and even skied off the top of the Schilthorn, the alpine set of an early James Bond film. Actually since getting back from Lebanon most of my time has been in and around Paris, trying to learn a little of the French language, but with limited success. The weather has progressively moved to the colder end of the scale, with some snow falling the other day right in the middle of the city. While the city is still beautiful I can see the cold combined with short daylight hours makes a European winter quite harsh. Some other trips around France in the last weeks have taken in the city sights of Strasbou...

Beirut is not the normal holiday destination that springs to mind when considering where to take a two week break, but it turns out Lebanon is a pretty cool place. Certainly the people are friendly, completely hospitable, helpful and generous, so much so that hitch hiking is a breeze. Even though most of the devastation of the 1980's era civil war has now been carefully restored or completely reconstructed, it is hard to shake the standard image of the country as a war zone. Admittedly the Israelis do seem to have a habit of visiting by force in the south from time to time, and Hizbola is the dominant political party in many parts of the country, but it really is very peaceful and safe for travellers now. Along the coast are crusader castles, inland a huge canyon with cliff side monasteries, then an amazing Roman era temple bigger than anything I've yet seen anywhere else, and there are even ski fields in the mountains, though we were a little early for the cold stuff, simply c...

In a bit of a surprise move it seems that my time in Ethiopia is coming to a sudden end. My visa runs out after three months in the country and cannot be renewed here, so it is a trip back to Paris (that much was planned for some time). However it seems that there are others here that can take over my job so I'm no longer required. Oh well, it was excellent fun while it lasted. The Wamura staff gave me an excellent send off party the night before I left. It was a great time with the most amazingly colourful farewell gift of a local traditional costume. Of course it had to be put on immediately and some dancing around the fire ensured. It was a good evening and I was glad that the speeches were kept to an absolute minimum. I'm miss the green hills of Wamura, it is a beautiful area, and I would love to take my mountain bike and return one day. Perhaps some of the local staff will still be living there even after the mission closes at the end of November, although many come from o...

Not everything goes smoothly with a humanitarian interventions. Being representations of a rich white western aid organisation certainly means that as an expat here there is a dollar sign halo ever present. This causes conflicts over pay for starters, and then other things like demands for blankets for the watchmen, gumboots of the logistics workers, and endless pens for the nurses. Most of the time it is not a problem but quite often conflicts occur. In Wamura I have been trying to use only contract staff (ongoing employemnt) with no daily workers (paid for the day). This enables trust and loyalty to develop with staff, and avoids some of the walking dollar sign feeling being an expat. One of the other problems associated with being in control of seemingly unlimited resources while dealing with people with very little, is the 'cheaters'. Woman and babies who try, and succeed, in getting around and through the system twice or more times, picking up drugs and food on each round....