It's been a week since we arrived in Dadaab and things are still stop and go as far as work is concerned. The past two days have been consumed with a remarkably ineffective teambuilding workshop, where I think there was more animosity and frustration displayed, and the one thing that the staff was united in was their team disdain for the facilitators (and the disdain was rightly felt, I might add). It was a little frustrating for the four of us because we have been here such a short time and would have liked to have been doing more work and less bickering. I have been able to do a lot of reading on the differnet Somali clans and ethnic groups which has been fascinating, and admittedly important for the work we are doing.

I have begun to feel and see the rampant frustration that exists among feild employees in the UNHCR. I think we all hear about the horrific beuraucratic nightmare that the larger organization is, plagued with budget cuts and setbacks in the past 24 months or so, but it is not until you are actually working with the organization that you feel it yourself.

Duty stations like Dadaab have high price tags to get employees up here. UNHCR employes quite a few United Nations Volunteers (UNV) who they pay a small stipend to (about 2k a month, untaxed) as well as their international staff who make a remarkably large sum of money. I am not going to argue that people should not be paid well who work for this organization, particularly the people who are working in the extreme hardship areas like Dadaab, but it makes me wonder if the organization really is using their resources in the most effective way possible. I think one of the most frustrating things about it all is knowing that with a simple restructuring wihtin the UN and a reallcoation of resources, the results would be direct and great on the people who are needing the services the most. I often wonder if the sheer number of refugees that exist in the world is such a daunting number that a sense of complacency has crept in and contaminated the agency very quietly.

This is a hard duty station. We can't leave the compound past 6pm, there are camel spiders the size of small children crawling around, and the company is limited. The personalities are bold and there is no place to go when you just need a break. you can't sneak off to the cinema, and your friend's houses are all next door. The atmosphere in the camp ends up being the mindset of the best way to amuse oneself is to create conflict between others and watch it unfold. It's slightly depressing.

I have combatted this with books. I forgot what it is like to read for pleasure and I am thoroughly enjoying rediscovering it. There are bars that people go to every night, and I have been a couple of times, but they are breeding grounds for camel spiders and I find that the last thing I want to do after spending an entire week with the exact same people is spend an evening talking about the same things, this time only fueled by alcohol. I know, I am risking sounding slightly dismissive, but it's amazing the things you will do for some peace.

This is after one week. Imagine what it's like after two years....