Paris 3 days!!

Almost 6 weeks without Joe so we met up in Paris for a wonderful three days!! We stayed in a hotel close to the Louvre and the Tuileries gardens (below)







Spent most of the time walking in les Marais and the area around Saint Germain des Pres.





France was playing England in rugby and it seemed like the whole capital was being mobilized to support them!







Saturday night we had dinner with Therese in her part of the town - metro station Corvisart - she lives at this street la Butte aux Cailles where I got the feeling a lot of students are hanging out, it is really relaxed and full of nice bars and restaurant with a local crowd. It was so much fun to catch up with her, miss her a lot!





Jardin de Luxembourg must be THE park to spend a sunny Sunday in...









Then we had a delicious pick nick with Therese on the edge of the little island in the middle of Seine (l'ile de Louis?) - don't have photos from this - my battery died! We were not the only ones - there was a birthday party going on, two guys were playing drums and everybody had a smile on their face.



Not a bad basket court



And what about the location of this playground next to Les Halles...?





High light - I finally met Sophie again! It has been far too long - I guess around 5 - 6 years now? She did not look a day older - and her French was perfect, hehe - contrary to mine...I guess that for each day I continue to speak and to use English as my working language my French dies a bit...I remember we used to speak for hours without me having to search for words and grammar, so I felt a bit sad about it. But I was also very tired so that didn't help. Anyway - it was fantastic to see her again and as soon as I get the chance I will visit her again.

Pics from Hargeisa and from Garowe

After Baidoa we spent a couple of nights in Hargeisa (Somaliland) and in Garowe (Puntland). Workshops during the day - I held presentations on gender mainstreaming for government counterparts and civil society - and also met with colleagues there.

You got to love the decor in Hargeisa airport's VIP room!





Down town Hargeisa



War & Peace





Our office in Hargeisa - established in February this year, first time I visited.






My colleague who speaks Swedish fluently - even with a Gothenburg accent! - and has a university degree from Sweden.



Somaliland is recovering from civil war and it seem to go well at least in Hargeisa - you see signs of development everywhere - but still there are a lot of internally displaced persons from the South living in miserable settlements, as well as refugees from Ethiopia. You notice the many constructions underway - a lot of diaspora people return right now to resettle in their old homeland. Some of them have not yet constructed houses - but they have put up a concrete wall to demark the propriety line. Some of the new houses are palace like and furnished with fridges, cookers etc. but they cannot use them - yet! The outskirts of Hargeisa do not yet have access to water and electricity - many land owners are waiting for the day when some private company will extend their business to their area to supply them with this.



Right next to some of these "palaces" you have IDPs living in huts with very bad sanitation and without access to any type of services.

Garowe below

Pics from Baidoa

A couple of weeks ago I spent 7 days in Somalia on a UN inter-agency mission with my boss. We visited all three "zones" of Somalia - Somaliland, Puntland, and South-Central regions. We spent the first two nights in the UN compound in Baidoa (South-Central).

Baidoa from above



Although it was an inter-agency mission, we also spent time with our colleagues who are based in Baidoa. Last year when I was there we had nobody working for our agency an not even an office space - now there is one with two full-time international staff, and we have quite a few activities going on as a start...exciting!



Curfew is at 18.00 but there is a volley ball court inside the compound that kept us busy in the evening. I realised how tough it must be to be based in Baidoa, and I really respect my colleagues for being able to carry out so much work under such rough circumstances, and at the same time to stay so friendly and smiley - amazing! As I write this, they are "stuck" in Nairobi as they are not allowed to return to Baidoa at the moment (it is not secure enough).

My colleague from Mogadishu with beautiful henna paintings



One of my rare Baidoa photos from outside the compound



The immigration office (tree) of Baidoa air strip



Somali (TFG) police officers there to protect us





Saying good bye at the airport!