Hey Y'all.
Doing well. My face is sunburnt and my body is stiff from working out in the lo-fi weight room, but the projects are moving smoothly. Save the Children UK are attempting to build safe play areas for children and I'm not working as a volunteer consultant to determine the location and the design within the camp. These people really need an architect or engineer...I don't know why they are doing these projects without some professional assistence. Anyway, today i spent time visiting the different ethnic neighborhoods in the Ifo refugee camp and talked to people about how they build their shelters. Sudanese and Somali-Bantu tribes are amazingly skilled craftsmen and have constructed mudblock buildings which could compete with the the finest adobe and south-western motifs. Other tribes are trying to afford Sudanese workers to build their homes as well.
One crazy thing occured today in which I met a guy living in the refugee camp who is from San Diego, California. His family is all from Somalia, and he probably moved to Cali when he was about 15. Then either being illegal or having committed a crime, he was deported to Mogadishu, now he is a refugee. Talk about a rough situation. This guy is straight up west coast american in his language, behavior, even his basketball jersey - and here is stuck living in a mud and stick house in the middle of nowhere.
One crazy thing occured today in which I met a guy living in the refugee camp who is from San Diego, California. His family is all from Somalia, and he probably moved to Cali when he was about 15. Then either being illegal or having committed a crime, he was deported to Mogadishu, now he is a refugee. Talk about a rough situation. This guy is straight up west coast american in his language, behavior, even his basketball jersey - and here is stuck living in a mud and stick house in the middle of nowhere.
Aside from that, not much else to really say at the moment. Working hard, making connections, eating well, quite exhausted everynight. Today I gave my students a crash course in economics, market behavior, economic developmens strategies...it was a lot, and after the 1st hour we did a 20 minute question/answer review session. It was rough, but these kids (its strange to say kids since they are between 18 and 27, but here they are considered youths and it just works out this way) are really earnest to learn so they did a good job getting the information. If American kids had the same value for education we would live in a differnt world. But hey, what can I say, its all about Supply and Demand.
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