A few days in...

Day 5 - September 9, 2006

Well, we’re a few days in now, and everything is going swimmingly. Sweden is still a little strange, and I still feel like I’m on a weird, giant, international, academic school camp! The food is all just potatoes, fish and pork, mostly fried. And bread, bread, bread! If you can get your hands on a piece of fresh fruit you can pull millions for it on the black market! I want to know where the Swedes keep all their morbidly obese citizens. Because looking at the diet – there must be quite a few…

It was quite extraordinary that on the FIRST day of lectures, a representative from the UN mentioned Australia's rather embarrassing behaviour in front of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination! This guy was actually sitting on the Committee when Ruddock had a tantrum and insulted the whole UN treaty system in 2000. He mentioned how shocking Australia's treatment of asylum seekers and indigenous people is... it was amazing to cross the globe and be confronted in the first 2 hours of class with my country's human rights reputation in Europe. Gee whizz.

We’ve had some amazing lectures over the past 5 days. Some have been kind of annoying, theoretical and self-congratulatory, but some are really extraordinary. We had 2 guys come and speak to us a couple of days ago, one from Red Cross, and the other from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). They both had extensive field experience, in Rwanda, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and all over the place. They were massively challenging – they both spoke about the serious security issues of working as an aid worker in the field, and the fact that NGO workers are no longer protected by the symbols of the organisations. Particularly upsetting were their comments on how sometimes now NGO workers are specifically targeted because they are NGO workers. The MSF guy spoke about the murder of 5 MSF workers in northern Afghanistan in 2004, and the fact that he – as the head of mission there – had basically no choice but to pull out of Afghanistan after these killings. It was really, really awful. It’s extraordinary to see the statistics of aid workers who are killed in the field. I think in a 5 year period there were 375, which is quite high. It’s also a bit scary that since Day 2 of the course, we have been talking about the very real security risks, and the possibility of death in the field. Whoa. Talk about baptism by fire. No mucking around.

Anyway, time to lighten up, I think! It’s Saturday today and we are at school, talking about gender issues in humanitarian emergencies. I expected to hate this session, but it’s actually been really interesting and practical. It’s amazing how much emphasis there is on listening to people – refugee populations, people in humanitarian emergencies and crises, just go out there and listen to them, before attempting to respond. What’s going on for you? What are your needs? Importantly, what are your capabilities? I love this practical, real, interactive approach to relief. It’s great.

Tomorrow we are going to be doing some outdoors stuff, which I can’t wait for. Apparently the weather will be good, and we are going to Sigtuna (a place… I really don’t know where / what / why it is!). We will then take the boat back from there to Uppsala, and dinner will be served on board. It sounds kind of fun!

My sleep is settling down much more now. I went to bed at 9.30 last night!! Still pretty tired, I think probably from the weeks leading up to my departure, more than jetlag.

OK sorta have to go now. Internet access is very erratic!! Will post again soon.

Love love

J x