In Khanaqin
Yesterday I finally took the trip down to Khanaqin, where I'll be staying for a few days. I was excited not only for the opportunity to see our office, but also for the trip itself. Three hours in a car is not usually most people’s idea of “fun,” but when traveling to a new place, I simply find staring at the landscape to be pretty fascinating.
The scenery doesn’t change too much for the probably the first half of the drive. It bears a close resemblance to the drive from Erbil to Suli, in that there are many mountains off in the distance and very little green to be found on the side of the road. Remarkably, the land remains largely undeveloped, and it’s not hard to imagine that if I was traveling along on a donkey rather than in an SUV, it would be eerily similar to the way things were during the Mesopotamian era. Bringing me back to the present, however, are a series of small villages we pass through during the drive. Although the homes appear to be barely standing in some cases, chances are there will be a satellite dish affixed to the roof. Electricity may be hard to come by, and clean water practically non-existent, but gosh darn it – at least they have a wide selection of channels to choose from!
As we approached Khanaqin, the mountains leveled off and palm trees started to appear, although I strongly doubt they are native to the area. Khanaqin almost appears to be in an oasis, surrounded by a very dusty, brown landscape. It is incredibly hot here during the day – I would say well over 100 degrees for sure, but if the air coolers are working, it’s bearable. There are three MC buildings: a house/office for the South Program staff, an office for the North program, and another house for North program expats and guests. The nice thing about Khanaqin is that they have a fully functioning kitchen, with a cook.
The other good thing about Khanaqin is that staff for the North program are actually working where their programs are being implemented. Therefore, the possibility exists that either this visit or the next, I’ll be able to visit some project sites where we are distributing livelihood assets (beds, kitchen tools) to internally displaced persons who live with pretty much nothing at all. On so many occasions since I arrived in Iraq, I have felt so energized about the work we do here and the programming possibilities that exist. Unfortunately, situations like the kidnapping of the two Italian aid workers remind us what a delicate environment we operate in.
The scenery doesn’t change too much for the probably the first half of the drive. It bears a close resemblance to the drive from Erbil to Suli, in that there are many mountains off in the distance and very little green to be found on the side of the road. Remarkably, the land remains largely undeveloped, and it’s not hard to imagine that if I was traveling along on a donkey rather than in an SUV, it would be eerily similar to the way things were during the Mesopotamian era. Bringing me back to the present, however, are a series of small villages we pass through during the drive. Although the homes appear to be barely standing in some cases, chances are there will be a satellite dish affixed to the roof. Electricity may be hard to come by, and clean water practically non-existent, but gosh darn it – at least they have a wide selection of channels to choose from!
As we approached Khanaqin, the mountains leveled off and palm trees started to appear, although I strongly doubt they are native to the area. Khanaqin almost appears to be in an oasis, surrounded by a very dusty, brown landscape. It is incredibly hot here during the day – I would say well over 100 degrees for sure, but if the air coolers are working, it’s bearable. There are three MC buildings: a house/office for the South Program staff, an office for the North program, and another house for North program expats and guests. The nice thing about Khanaqin is that they have a fully functioning kitchen, with a cook.
The other good thing about Khanaqin is that staff for the North program are actually working where their programs are being implemented. Therefore, the possibility exists that either this visit or the next, I’ll be able to visit some project sites where we are distributing livelihood assets (beds, kitchen tools) to internally displaced persons who live with pretty much nothing at all. On so many occasions since I arrived in Iraq, I have felt so energized about the work we do here and the programming possibilities that exist. Unfortunately, situations like the kidnapping of the two Italian aid workers remind us what a delicate environment we operate in.
posted by SBM @ 9:18 PM
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