<m@amrefcanada.org>

Tue, Jan 12, 2010, 10:21 AM

to n, M, K

Hi N,

How are you?

My name is Melanie and I work with AMREF in Toronto.

I was forwarded your contact information from Ehm and my co-worker , both of who explained that you spent some time working with AMREF in Ethiopia over the last few months.

I’m wondering if you might be interested in sharing some of your experiences about your work? Possibly writing a field diary about AMREF’s work and what you saw/experienced in Ethiopia?

We have a section on our website dedicated to our field diaries that you can see here http://canada.amref.org/info-centre/field-diaries/

I understand that you spent most of your time in Kechene – Ehm has written two field diaries already, one on South Omo and another on Afar – so any experiences you can share on Kechene would be great. The diaries don’t need to be long – around 500 words – but please do send photos, especially one of yourself. Our communications focus at AMREF this year is maternal health – so if you have any stories related to maternal or child health it would be great if you could share.

Let me know if you’re interested in writing or if you’re interested in participating in other activities with AMREF. It’s always great to have new supporters across Canada!

I understand you’re in Newfoundland now. What are you up to?

Looking forward to hearing back from you – and please feel free to contact me anytime.

All the best,

Melanie

<n@hotmail.com>

Sat, Jan 30, 2010, 12:42 PM

Wow,

This is a little different than Ethiopia. Everything is opposites. Exact opposites. Like a strange bizarro parallel universe. It's cold, clean, prosperous, white. All the mothers are pushing their babies in carts or pulling them on little sleds, and won't take any money I try to give them. I havn't seen a polio kid, just healthy ones. Hell, even in the coffee machine I am now using, the coffee percolates up! Seriously, it really does percolate up. Truly bizarro land. But, all is well and the family has lent Lisen and I (yes, we are talking. She calls me her boyfriend and I don't even have plans to go home early. Take that Nardone) has given me the keys to the BMW. Truly Bizarro land. Here are some pictures from Ethiopia. Hey, I got an e-mail from Chuka who wished me luck wiht the Swedish chick. Is our world of Geo Politicla Strategic Research Analysts and War Nerds that small that a man I have never met knows about my love life? What is going on here? Right, Picture 1. Kechene slums. You want slums? You got it. I did not include any poeple pictures here, even if that is what they want. The only poeple I have in pictures are HIV positive, mostly kids. Picture 2. Does have a little Afarinia kid. It also shows a nomads house (right) andd looks like pictures you see from Africa. The kid is fairly anonymous, and is now wandering the desert, so including this kid doesn't seem as exploitive as pictures of my Kechene kids. Picture 3. The re-location ( concentration) camps for the Nomads, to improve their sytandard of living and so they can enjoy the fruits of modernity, plus they are easier to control if you have them all in one place. I was unable to attach anymore via hotmail, but can send more if you need them. Cioa, or Hejo, as is the current case.

N

To: n@hotmail.com
From: m@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:33:30 +0000

Hello,
Have you been here yet? Did I miss you? We will be here until May 4th and then we leave for Nairobi where we expect to be for quite some time...
I hope to see you!
Sent from my BlackBerry® phone powered by Koodo Mobile®.

On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 7:27 PM, N <n@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hey, I'm assuming this is your new e-mail address and not spam, because it went into my junk box. I am in Ottawa now. Got back a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of a workshop in K town. However, things being as they are, the funding did not come through for the planned dates. It did come through, just later then hoped, so now the work shop is in May some time. But, I am just waiting to get my Swedish residency permit so I can go back to my baby girl ASAP. It is absolute horror to be away from her. So the past couple of weeks I have just been working and running, trying not to lose my mind in fits of despondency. I'm around for hopefully not too long. But, I am in the O-town, the Deadzone, for now, none the less. What are you up to? And Kenya? Hell, I haven't heard my Sudan stories yet. I got to hang out with Endale in Stockholm, which was awesome. He told tales that I'm sure would interest you. I must run to the gym now for my mental health before it closes. Let me know what's on the go, when and if your coming up this way to dreary land. I know plenty of people here could use a lecture in the realities of the world. Hopefully talk to you soon.N

Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:05:57 -0400
Subject: Re: Kingston
From: m@gmail.com
To: n@hotmail.com

Hehe, yes this is my new email address. my dal one was having some problems and hotmail is kinda spammy so I decided to get a fifth one!Sorry to hear about that Swedish residency- for some reason I thought it would be easier (although most thing SEEM that way...)- have you thought about doing a PhD there?I am processing my divorce and working on opening a polling company in East Africa with an American and a South Sudanese- hence the move to Nairobi- I'm also actively managing 2 contracts here and a "burn out." So some down time in Ottawa sounds good- we will be there the weekend of the 13th. I'll try and find a babysitter one night and we'll all go out.my number is still 613- 876-0483

Wed, Apr 11, 2012, 3:07 PM

Well then, that is a lot on the go indeed. Sounds like a burnout is long overdue. I really don't know how you do it, but you're tougher than most any one else I know, and I know some pretty hard (albeit skeety) bastards. As for me, I have just (literally just this second) finished two contracts, have recieved my Swedish permit, and am getting things packed to go. Though i am in ottawa today, i have to leave tommorrow, which is unfortunate because I would really like to see you. But, my entire family is going to Jamaica next week (without me I might add), and I have to go see them in NL before I become an expat. So, things didn't move for about a week there, and now there is a flurry of activitiy. Damn you time management! Still, i'm going to have to give you a call. I'll try that now.

N

Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2012 01:51:26 -0400
From: m@gmail.com
To: n@hotmail.com

So here I am in gorgeous Nairobi, working on a contract for Ann-Fitzgerald, who you claim you don't know. However she sends me a drop box from Boulden with Sudan files created by Neil- that can only be you!
I hope all is well with you and your family.Things are great here, you guys really should come over for a visit, or stay. We have an apartment with a pool and continuous internet connection, plus it comes with a maid who does your laundry...if you are going to work at home, why would it not be that home? oh did I mention there's a Chinese restaurant that delivers on the ground floor as well? why are people so down on the Chinese in Africa anyway??? AND NO WINTER.

On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 12:11 PM, N <n@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hey,

People are down on the chinese because they are a bunch of chain smoking, ping pong playing plutocrats who are not "us". If they were us, we would call their grand strategic projects development and applaud their efforts. Glad to hear things are going well there. Are you still there? I thought I had e-mailed you much earlier, but this life of a stay at home dad, wonderful as it is, has turned my brain to mush. I am loving spending time with wee Norah, but my god it is a hell of a hard job, labour intensive but not very intellectually stimulating (except when she makes really cool developmental leaps). How in the world did you ever work, finish an MA and raise a wee one all at once? Hero. I have a hard time just getting the dishes done. I am however, becoming a pretty decent cook.
All is well here. There is a great park behind our apartment, lots of running trails around, for when I get the chance, a kid friendly beach just a few hundred meteres away, and a cheapy grocery store across the street. I am fairly isolated really, but should be starting Swedish classes soon enough, so can meet more people than park moms and dads (with whom one can hardly converse when the kids are eating cigarette butts, running into bike traffic, etc, etc.) As far as kisckstarting my brain goes, that will have to wait as well. All said, life is good, and I am bored. Even when i do get out by myself and look for adventure, things here are so well tended, and more importantly people so innocuous, that nothing unusual, unexpected, or randomly entertaining happens. I do have a big Viking I can sometimes get drunk and wrestle with, which helps a bit (Is that homoerotic or what?). So, no grand tales from here. Swedish summer is beutiful and life is way too easy in practical terms, yet somewhat alienating in many respects. Anyhow, what news from you? There must be some interestig stuff happening. Let me know what's on the go, and say hello to your own wee Rana for me.

Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2012 13:00:04 +0300
From: m@gmail.com
To: n@hotmail.com

Hi,

Thanks for the update. You actually just brightened my rather boring week. Now that we've settled in things have become rather boring as well. Rana is on a term break until September, one of my contracts is finished so I am stuck working for only r.t. again and begging everyone I know for a job. I am actutally (if this was possible) more jaded with the NGO sector and looking to get into the private sector cause the thought of doing anymore contract work in a panic for no particular reason (because no good for will come to anyone) makes me physically ill.

So my roomate,and I have started imported clothes from Hong Kong, a box at a time that we will sell online to middleclass Kenyans, and possibly South Sudanese because there seems to be gap in the market of nice affordable clothes (ie RW & Co.) and then I can spend more time with Rana, stop having nightmares and ulcers about the people I have made money off of in wars and stop making rich academics richer...

but in the mean time I will have to get a couple more desk research contracts to pay rent. So if you know of anything send it my way.

Oh yeah, and I'm still getting divorced and my boyfriend proposed while I was trying to drum up some businnes in Juba last month!

BTW, women are just naturally better at mulitasking, that's why you are finding it a bit difficult!

Aug 8, 2012, 7:00 AM

Ahh, the cold dead fish of reality has slapped the idealism out of you has it? I am also coming to conclusion that money, or at least the opportunities for (or hope of opportunity really) is actually where its at. Not to sound all neo liberal, but I am begining to think middle class materialism provides a sound basis for stability, democracy and liberalization. Those who have want to keep it, and keep up the conditions that allow the accumulation of comfort. Those that believe they can have, want to keep sufficient conditions in place to pursue that middle class materialism, and so each works for the common good of maintaining conditions of trade. It might be an illusion, but it has been working for Western Liberal democracies for the past two hundred years. I am all for my own former idealism. However, idealism does not produce or innovate. Thus I am with you on the market driven private sector that responds to consumer driven needs and wants. Enough of this teaching everyone to fish. We need someone to make the nets, someone else to gut the fish, and someone to make the shrimp cocktails damit. No room for opinion or imagination in government or government driven work I tell you. That is my rant for now. As far as marriage proposals go, maybe you want to hold off on that one for a bit, at least until you are a bit more settled and 100% absolutely certain? Is this the Ugandan dude you have been "promised" to since you were 18? Lisen and I have mentioned such a notion in pasising, but we are really too poor to do it properly (with all our relatives and friends, etc.), and can think of better things to do with ourselves. Speaking of relationships, I couln't help myself but to see what Robert Marks is up to, as we were working for the same people until recently. Of course, he had something posted on a fantasy fan clup site, and mentioned going to see a movie with his girlfriend. Hurray for that heh? Well, enough of my pathological interest in the guy. I must go register at the unemployment office now, and see if all this talk of the Swedish social system has any merit. Keep me informed.

PS,

I am out of the loop with contract providers these days. I guess I could be back with a couple of e-mails or phone calls, but I am also a bit cynical with the whole business, would rather hang out with my kid (until she starts daycare at the end of the month (NOOOOOOOOOO) and am seriously thinking about the private sector myself. Still, let's keep each other in the loop.

N

Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 06:45:52 +0600
From: m@gmail.com
To: n@hotmail.com

Hi N, whats on the go? Maxime tells me you are i sweden with a new baby?!
We are in bangladesh. My boyfriend is working here so we came along. I am still working for R. T., she is at uottawa.
The political unrest here is becoming inconvinient so rana and i might need to get back to canada for the next school term.
Let me know whats up with you!

Tue, Dec 10, 2013, 2:37 PM

Hey Hej!

Good to hear from you. Still globetrotting I see. What happened to cheap Chinese fasions for the Nairobi hipsters? That sounded like a good idea. And weren't you in Botswana? I always thought that would be a very beautiful and very cool place. Perhaps my perceptions have been overly influenced by a book about a bicycle racing hippo I read when I was a kid.
Yes I now have a son, Sean Erik. I say it like I'm drawing a sword from its sheath and holding it high above my head on the final K. Nerdom into fatherhood says I. I love the fact Swedes think Sean is a strange and exotic name. He is a very fat and jolly little man, with a killer charmer smile. Unfortunately his sister has brought all manner of pestilence from nursery school, so he has actually been afflicted with colds and flus for most of his life.
I saw some news on al jazeera (that and bbc for best international coverage) about the unrest in Bangledesh, though there is next to nothing about it on the news here. I have a buddy in Thailand as well, so between the two of you I can get field reports of the political upheaval. Now I need more contacts in the Ukraine and CAR.
Other than a baby boy, which is awsome and a great addition to life, I am terribly lame and have nothing much to report. I applied for and was rejected from a faculty Phd position at Upsalla university. Boulden wrote me a killer reference, but alas, there were a whole lot of candidates that were qualified up the ying yang and then some. I really do have to let here know, but oh for the shame of it all. I have ben trying to get into things here through applying for jobs, going to talks, seminars, round tables, meeting people and the like. I was at one last week with speakers from DRC, Syria and Palestine whose stories broke my heart, made me sick, infuriated and inspired me all at once. But with all that, I work at a restaurant. Working for other people, and making them money, is not where it's at. Truth be told, I would be perfectly happy being a stay at home dad, which I did for my first year here anyway. I really like my kids and they just keep getting better. Hell of a lot of work though. This is seriously the first time I have been able to properly respond to you without someone screaming,being stuck in a cupboard, needing the toilet, fed, tipping over, etc. You are one of my personal heros for working and finishing an MA with a baby Rana. How is she doing? Tell her hello from me, though I doubt she remembers. And who is the guy? Come on now, some news. Are you back in Canada, heading back? I saw your Dhaka website, which is a great idea. IT is where its at for employment anywhwere and everywhere mehtinks, though I personnally have more than a slight distaste for computer related things. Anyhow, some stories now. I hear the stirring of little ones. Take care, give Rana a hug and let me know what's on the go.

N

On Monday, January 19, 2015, N <n@hotmail.com> wrote:

What's on the go? Did you see that Jordan is famous now? Probably not entirely the reasons I would have hoped and expected him to be famous, but there's no denying he knows how to work a bit of publicity. I'm still in Sweden, expecting child number 3 now. I have been a stay at home dad practically since I got here, and will be some more I suppose. Which would have, in fact, been an extremely silly proposition if you had asked me if this is what I would be doing five years ago. Sometimes I have a sneaking suspicion I was brought here for population propagation to increase the diminishing North European tax base. Though let it be known that I have never been in position to take advantage of their rather generous parental leave, having not worked much and not paid enough in, as that would be a convenience. In fact, i am in the midst of a Kafkaesque migration purgatory now, partially of my own doing of course. Damned bureaucracies and their convoluted ways. But, all my paperwork is in, and now I must wait, and wait, and wait. Other than that all is good here. I must chase Sean (1 year nine months) constantly because he is more monkey-dog than human now, with the capabilities of a wild animal and none of the sense. Norah likes painting and books, which makes life with her very easy and pleasant. However, with three, their survival will be based more on luck and attrition than child rearing. So whilst my career is stopped dead in its tracks, all my physical and creative energies are consumed by caring for, and hopefully positively shaping, my wonderful savage little monkeys. I was in line for DFAIT, but that is a trail of tears that has only led me to brutal cynicism (even more so) for government work, the HR system and the people who get hired. I spoke to Endale over Christmas. He is in the States now. Somewhere in Maryland. Since he is out of Ethiopia he has become quite a vocal critic of the government. Right now he's just awaiting his residency, and then his family can join him. I really hope it all works out for him. Now, how are things with you? Are you still in Bangladesh? How is Rana? She must be becoming a big kid now? Did you say you were getting married? Let a brother know what's on the go.

Mon, Jan 19, 2015, 10:52 AM

Hi N! So great to hear from you, mind you it's a bit of an awkward time for me. I guess that's the best time to catch up!!So 3 kids for the man who never planned on settling down!!?? You have quite the life there. Have you been back to NFLD recently?I am currently home schooling Rana in PEI, that is a real chore. Meanwhile my mom has her living like an heiress up here, singing lessons, horseback riding and dance classes.In August I got married to an American, we met in South Sudan and moved to Bangladesh together. We had a really great wedding in Sri Lanka and just as things were looking up for me contract-wise he got pushed out of his organization (along with a few other people) because of some political infighting and we found ourselves homeless and jobless in Bangladesh. So Frank went back to his parents house to look for jobs while I stayed back to work on contracts and let Rana finish school. So now we have a house rented in Orlando from a friend and we move down on February 1st. Neither of us have jobs yet but that seems like a good enough place to look. Rana and I don't have green cards so it's home schooling until then. Haiti is pretty close, so I will look for contract work there, along with applying to be a prison guard etc.I almost applied for DFAT-d myself at the urging of friends in Dhaka but kept vomiting in my mouth as I was completing the application and missed the deadline. I did apply for CSIS though but haven't heard back. Here is something that has further entrenched my cynicism: all the new hires at the Canadian High Commission in Dhaka were Francaphones from rural Quebec. Some of the wives couldn't even speak a word of English!!! Conservatives, all of them. The high commissioner was from asbestos, Quebec. Great representation...That is a funny story about Jordan. I saw that Vine was one of his handlers too.

Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 08:05:50 -0500
From: m@gmail.com
To: n@hotmail.com

Hey N, did you see this?

http://www.salon.com/2015/01/27/is_scandinavia_really_a_utopia_one_intrepid_reporter_seeks_the_truth/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

<n@hotmail.com>

Wed, Feb 11, 2015, 8:42 AM

Ah Salon. Once the home to pullitzer prize winning investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald, now home to such hits as "I Let a Clown Put Cantaloups in My Rectum-- So I Can Love Ketchup Again", and "Last Night's T.V. LOL MOMENT". What the hell happened there, and when did it start outdoing Maxim and Cosmo for bananl, inane idiocy. I am so disippointed, though I am in love with Joan walsh and love Andrew O'Hehir's film reviews.
Yes, getting on and off the bus, and to a slightly lesser extent the subway, is an excercise in Hobbe's state of nature, where people are brutal, vicious and anilmalistic. Though I do think this is as much of a product of Stockholmer's fear of tight, enclosed places. Most Swedes living in the city actually come from the wide open contryside, so it's like dropping a bunch of rural Canadians in the middle of Toronto at rush hour. They are mostly overwhelmed and scared. This does, in fact, result in a very unpleasant experience. I have put spiked horns on our double pram, with razor blades at ankle height, just to counter this phenomena. Grocery stores can be just as bad, especially when little old ladies sneak under my arm to pick oranges and other fruits and veggies without saying a word, or making any sound for that matter. Generally I find people between about 35 to 65 to be the most ignorant of manners and social niceties. My lay sociologist blames that on a number of factors including the form of Social Democracy during the height of the Cold War, that being a very socially conservative, statist, sociatal codes of conformity type. It is still rather conservative here for my liking, but the social norms have relaxed a bit I think, with greater social mobility (capitalism Hurray!), through the children of immigrants with more relaxed social norms, and cheap flights to Thailand that make people happier through the long dark (but not particularily cold) winter. The younger, post Cold War generation I find to be quite open and polite, with the exception of godamned hipsters bowed down to their idiot phones. Unfortunatelty there are quite of few of them in this part of town, and I don't think that is exclusive to Stockholm.
The immigration issue is another matter. A few months ago a I was at a real live anti-Nazi rally. I just can't believe that there are actual Nazis still on the go here. To me they were just evil Unicorns, a joke, a plot device in movies. My mom's family (from Scotland) fought them (some were killed) defeated them, and made them a despisable relic, or so I thought. Not here. Now the Sweden Democrats, an ultra nationalist right wing party, who want to return to a mythilogical past of "real" Sweden, are garnering 13 percent of the vote in paliamentary elections. There is an open door policy for Syrian refugees, but we are seeing the same backlash as in all of Europe. And now, with Russia on the move, things are getting interesting. Former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen thinks Russisa might make a play to regain the Baltic. I live on the western shore of the baltic. It's not just academic anymore. Anyway, I must get the kids now. Send me some picks. I want to see how Rana has grown. And maybe a wedding shot, till I have a look at this fellow. Gotta fly.

N

On Wednesday, February 18, 2015, <n@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hey,

I just had another son. All are doing well. Now I am unemployed, unmarried, and with three kids. Does this make me white trash, or a very modern guy?

N

<m@gmail.com>

Wed, Feb 18, 2015, 8:04 AM

Congrats!!! Does this new son have a name? According to my husband you are living the American dream. I bet there are quite a few maritime men who are highly envious of your position. We have been snowed in for 3 days here in PEI, which has been a bit stressful. There was a news story on about a New Brunswick man who spent all his money on a online girlfriend in Africa because he was lonely. The cops said it's pretty common I rural NB. You could always set up some kind of matchmaking service bringing Atlantic men to Nordic countries as stay at home dads.I will send photos in the next email, when I have my laptop.

Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2015 10:21:00 -0400
From: m@gmail.com
To: n@hotmail.com

Hi N!

How's life? Hoes the family? How's the new kid adapting?

Well I rana and I are on the train on our way to visit Sharpened and her family for the weekend. She is back in school in Trenton  to get promoted but her husband was posted back in kingston with the kids after 3 years in Winnipeg.
As for me I have officially been divorced from R.T. She started to threaten to fire me unless I as better at being a nanny and put it in an email. I went to uOttawa, who felt very uncomfortable but unwilling to do much to a tenured prof. At the same time I was hired as the Research Ethics Coordinator at Carleton. A rather unpopular position but one I rather relish, considering my desire for ethical research and holding academics accountable. So it looks like we will be here for about 2 years.
As you know it's not the greatest city to live in, with a conservative bureaucratic drabness blanketing everything (even pride week). But it could be worse. My husband is moving up here from Florida in october. Just in time for the election.

On Sep 25, 2015 3:10 AM, <n@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hey,

Everytime I try to write one or all of my 3 wild and wonderful things requires my attention. Now thing two, Sean is jumping on the computer and Norah set off to boil some milk. Noble effort but I must go save the apartment building form cathing fire. Will try to writr soon.

N

Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2015 17:20:35 -0400
From: m@gmail.com
To: n@hotmail.com

Unimaginable.
Meanwhile, I am leaving rana to fend for herself while I get passive aggressive emails from the school administration b/c she shows up unsupervised.
We live in the safest neighborhood in the world!

On Thu, Oct 29, 2015 at 2:43 PM, <n@hotmail.com> wrote:

That is so lame. That is so Ottawa,

Here nursery school kids learn how to use the busses and subway, so by the time they are six and seven years old you see them coming and going all over town by themselves.
You know what's messed up? Your relationship with Thiessen. So, she was upset about your babysitting? The woman who sent you to drought stricken Sudan to do the hard work, and has had you as her number 1 for how many years? Congratulations on your emancipation. That really sounds messed up. I must admit I took great delight in the absurdist message board concerning a certain school colleague and Battle Star Galattica. I can only imagine these were equally entertaining? Not for you of course.
While we're on the topic of messed up, I cannot help but to have been following Jordans decent into narcissistic, tech-bro insanity. I am really quite horrified, yet can't stop myself from checking his twitter feeds.
Congrats on your new job. You are now in a position where you can do a little ass kicking, and rightfully so. Give em' hell. I am torn between finding academics completely insuffereable, and wanting to be one. All of which will have to wait. I was in a bit of immigration purgatory for about a year. Actually, I was an illegal. Damn you bureaucratic forms that need to be submitted on time! All is well with that now, but it has set me back a bit. But, it also meant more time with the kids, which I cherish above all. It's great to see them interacting, playing, looking out for each other and fighting. Poor baby Dan (eight Months) is traumatised by his much bigger and stronger brother, who is actually very sweet but plays a bit rough. It will be fun to watch when they get a bit older.
So not much on the go workwise, or school wise for me just now, though I am constantly extraordinarily busy with kids, and sleep deprived to boot. I have a park and nursery school dad buddy who´s done lots of intensive international work in conflict zones, so at least I have somebody to talk shop with. ANd I just signed up for Facebook in the hopes of making some connections. Unfortunately I have no idea how to use it, and all I see so far are endless streams of idiocy from people I have never met.
Haven't been back to Canada in almost four years now, but my mom comes every summer, one of my buddies from home was here a few weeks ago, and I'll be off to a massive family wedding in Ireland next summer. Should be fun times. And how about that election heh? I personally would have preferred a Liberal minority (40%), with the NDP as opposition at 31%, and Cons screaming to keep the rudder steady at 29%. Still, I'll tak it. And your husband is there now? Frank isn't it? I really must meet him someday. He does sound very nice from all you said, and I may even have googled him to make sure. It's wonderful that you can all be together, with a bit of stability for the next couple of years. Stability used to be a very bad word and entirely threatening concept to me, but kids change that up. While we are good her for now, both Lisen and I can't wait till the kids are a bit older and we can start going international again. Jobs that pay pending of course. Canada has not been ruled out, but I have spoken so lowly of Ottawa that Lisen is scared off. Must get back to parenting now, as Danny is heading for a window. Take care and hello to the family, especially Rana.

N

From: <m@gmail.com>
Sent: November 11, 2016 1:19 AM

Hello!

So I am in Addis Ababa, staying in an Air B&B in Bole Atlas (behind Millennium 2000, which looks a little worse for wear).

But the city is completely unrecognizable! it looks like a Chinese version on Nairobi. Tonnes of vehicles and restaurants. There are even street signs.it was EASY to get through customs (they were almost friendly...)I am visiting one of our offices here. (AfriQuest Research)
Last month Rana and Frank and I moved to Nairobi - I accepted a position as a Shareholder/Director of afriQuest at the request of a Kenyan friend of mine who is a statistician and founder of the company. It has grown quite big in the past 5 years since I have last lived here. He has asked me to run aspects of HR, communications and qualitative oversight (including training researchers and developing SOPs) while we expand into South Africa and Nigeria.

I am trying to drag Carleton and Dalhousie along, many of my contacts have asked us to host/supervise university students conducting master’s and PhD level research here.

We would love for afriQuest to become a research hub especially for university researchers from North America who need help with translator and facilitators/fixers because we have a vast network of trained researchers from Africa and who are based in Africa. This would be a fantastic exchange for both our field researchers and academics to work with experienced researchers on the ground in an ethical 'non-NGO' way.

What do you think? www.afriquestresearch.com

On Tue, May 16, 2017 at 2:19 AM, <n@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hey,

     Here's late reply or what? Always good to hear from you and sorry it took so long. I think I actually sent this e-mail to my junk box as I thought your address was hacked.  Life with kids, I tell ya. 3 now, but I think you knew that.  And we have all been stomach sick and expelling liquids from various parts of our bodies for a week solid.  Good times. Great weight loss, but I wouldn't recommend it.  I'm still here in Stockholm trucking along, and trying to get a thesis done. As I want some semblance of my life back I started a program at the Defence college here (FHS) in international security.  It is like War studies, but honestly not as well done or put together.  There are officers in the building, but kept separate from us civvies, and very little interaction with people who have been out doing things/working on issues in the world that can bring some real perspective to the classroom.  The profs also run off to their offices after class, which are all behind magnetically sealed bomb proofed doors, so you can't really just have a chat with anybody about what they are researching, what opportunities are around, etc.  And everybody is really afraid of Russia, but that's actually sensible from here, given the history and geography. And I am older by everyone by about 15 years. Still, it has it's moments of awesome, which are actually very awesome.   There are a bunch of Kurdish guys in there with interesting stories (and they all insist that they are direct descendants of Al- Saladin). One of my buddies is Frank Habineza, first Green Party candidate in all of Africa, and currently running against Paul Kagame for presidency of Rwanda.  I really do fear for his life when he goes on the campaign trail.

          So the Chinese really are taking over eh?  I'm writing my thesis on the US use of private military contractor's for AFRICOM, and a big part of it has to do with counteracting Chinese influence, as far as I can tell.  So reports from the ground make it sound, somewhat fascinating actually.  Do they have Karaoke bars? Is it very segregated?  And how is Nairobi going?   It seems so vibrant (compared to Stockholm, but what isn't other than Ottawa), but huge. 

Yeah I've been pretty trapped in Stockholm for a good while.  A quick trip to Ireland for a wedding last year, but I really don't get out of my small child rearing bubble very much, thus the pursuit of another degree. So not much to tell from here really.  Now my boys are going savage and I must begin morning clothing wars. 

While everyone here is focused on Russia, and Asia to a much lesser extent, I'll pass the word on Afriquest.  Do you have any connection to West Africa?  Sweden is actually quite involved in Mali and the Sahal right now, though no one really talks about it. Take care, hello to Rana, and when/if life ceases to be simultaneously mundane and insane, I'll have more to write more frequently.  

Neil

From: <m@gmail.com>
Sent: December 19, 2017 4:27 PM

Hi N!Now my turn to apologize for the absurd amount of time taken to write back.I don't even know where to start, this year has been so crazy.So, April, Rana and I went to South Africa for her birthday. when we got back to Nairobi I had a big seizure and put out my back, was in the hospital and everything. we stayed with a Canadian friend so she could help Rana get to school etc. because my husband Frank was so unhelpful. I told him to move out by the time Ii could walk again, which was mid-May.In the meantime, on of our business partners had died and another took advantage of this and stole all of the project money ( we were half way through a project measuring Kenyans perception of justice). no one we had hired was paid for that month or afterwards including myself.June, I can afford to pay my rent and someone leaves an anonymous tip about my immigration status, so i get rounded up and detained in immigration. our landlord locks us out and confiscates all of our stuff in the apartment. Rana is kicked out of school for non-payment of fees turns out the company hadn't paid them for the past two terms. we stay with some British friends until we fly back to Canada with just our carry-on luggage.we stay with my mom in PEI for July.I try and get a job for July, and then apply to hairstylist school and get in,so that i can get a student loan and have something to live off. Rana stays wit my mom for August, i stay with friends in Ottawa and look for an apartment. i do find a sublet for October so we stay with friends for September and i take Rana to school in the Lowertown until we can move in.October/November, I get a job as an apprentice hairstylist, college goes on strike. I hate being a hairstylist (shocking, isnt it?) and am still working part time on research contracts from home so I switch to Project Management certification, so far so good. A friend in Kenya helped negotiate my luggage out of the apartment once the company i worked for paid what was owing and now that the election is over our stuff has just been sent to Toronto. should arrive next week. looking for government contracts while i work on that program and that is where we are at now! Maybe i missed something but be sure to ask for more clarification on any point!.

On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 1:41 AM, <n@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hey M,

    Delay forgiven. I am so sorry to hear what a crazy awful year it's been. That's a lot of misfortune to have to deal with.I know you are tough and sound like you trucked through alright, but I wish a happy ending for you now. But tell me, what was the seizure? It it serious, lasting effects, indicative of something else?  Who ratted you out to immigration, and why?  Do you have any recourse against the company, or nefarious individuals in the company?

How's Rana doing with all this? it must be a big shift from Nairobi to Ottawa. Is she allowed to walk to school by herself now?  Ottawa can be so lame, but at least it's a good place for you to work the scene.

Speaking of underemployment, I must run off to my job as an assistant to persons with disabilities now. I'm officially an "undernurse", with some special training and tested certification.  While I would like to be using my education more, I actually quite like this job.  It feels honourable, and there is a very tangible sense of helping others. Technically my job is to keep a guy alive, so I guess that makes sense. Anyway, must run. I'll try to write more later. In the meantime, take care, good luck, Merry Christmas, and I hope you get some proper chill time over the next couple of weeks. Sounds like you deserve it. 

N

From: <m@gmail.com>
Sent: December 21, 2017 9:44 AM

Hi N,I am really impressed with your new job. much more important than policy analysis, etc, if you ask me. but so is raising decent human beings (aka parenting)to answer your questions: 1. I have had epilepsy since i was about 16, but Ive been pretty good about keeping it under wraps since i only occasionally get small seizures when i am on medication (travel and lack of sleep make them worse of course). this seizure in Kenya was really big though, like a couple of minutes being unconscious.2. I can only guess one of our employees ratted me out. I got the immigration guy to show me the 'anonymous' letter and it mentioned Rana's school.3. Recourse? funny enough, in a justice review i interviewed about 30 justice decision makers and the consensus was that for any case to go through court takes about 7 years to get a hearing and about $1000 dollars. most labour situations go through mediation anyway at that point so no one is happy with the outcome. it gets worse for land disputes...4. Rana is amazing, she loves Ottawa, we are in Lowertown and her only demand was that she goes to school with other brown kids (unlike Rockcliffe) so she really loves it here. so many free activities for kids in Lowertown (music lessons, swimming, sports, meals), there are benefits to being a low-income single parent in Ottawa, which had previously never occurred to me.5. she walks to catch the bus herself and goes to the corner store. she is definitely allowed a lot more freedom in Ottawa than she could ever have anywhere else.

On Tue, Jan 30, 2018, 7:36 AM <n@hotmail.com> wrote:

Happy New Year!

Well, after a Christmas full of dealing with the drug addled, suicidal bi-polar and neo- nazi (those are my friends from home. Some have all 4 issues at once, other have various combinations of 1 or more) I'm back it Stockholm style.  And, as would be the case, I am currently on a contract with the Candian embassy here unitl the end of March (God Bless the Liberals $760 million embassies spending spree).  Keeping my nursing job though. I like that one and want something to come back to.

I think you may have mentioned the epilepsy before. I hope it's not bothering you these days. And I'm glad to hear Rana finds Ottawa a happy place.  I guess lowertown can be good for kids (where do you live? I used to live on Charlotte street, fairly close to the Turkish embassy) as they don't have to deal with disillusioned, depressed and dying inside government bureaucrats as much as the rest of us.  No I'm off to learn about cyber security. Happy New year!

N

P.S. Did you get you luggage and stuff back? 

<m@gmail.com>

Mar 1, 2018, 8:20 AM

Hi N!Have I ever told you how much I love your emails? I think one day we can put them all in a book and publish them, the title can be forget millineals, correspondence of the geographically mobile contractor.Anyway, things are on the upswing for me. After being on welfare for are brief month I just landed a maternity cover in the resource centre at NPSIA. Man the pay and benefits are good in a para-statal!We are on Boteler street, I've attached a pic of the view from our apartment. It's a great intersection of the market, sussex and the homeless shelters.Now with all this stability and mundane tasks I have my seizures under control I just have to try not to overeat or strangle a grad student!

June 10, 2019

Dear Rana,

It feels weird being in Kingston without you. The last time I was here without you I must have been about 14. It was when my mom was remarried and we drove from Calgary to meet your (our) new inlaws. Justin and I spent a lot of time in GG’s pool, that was when the new grandparents still lived in one house. We had never been further east than Medicine Hat before this. Our step-dad grew up in a house with a swimming pool in the backyard, it was beyond belief to us, there were so few outdoor swimming pools in southern Alberta and I’m pretty sure I had never even seen a private pool in a backyard although there was a kid in my class who had a mini hockey rink and their house. At the time that all seemed so swank.  So did hotel rooms and room service and conferences for that matter. Not that I’m living high on the hog now, but we do alright. Or maybe times have just changed and with technology ordering in and knowing what everyone else has it what has changed not so much my station in life.

The last time you and I were here was for a toga-themed birthday party. Some kids you knew since you were born were there, you always liked seeing them. So many big ‘milestones’ in my life took place in this town with 5, now 4, prisons, 2 universities and one mall. The birth of my only child, spiraling into cocaine and random sex after my brother’s death, marriage, MA, losing my licence. My grandfather died here and no one told me about it, I found out on facebook. I was homeless with a new baby here. I learned how to be a mom after discovering how truly alone in the world I was.

In this town you saw your first snowfall, and lived with your dad, went to your first rugby match and learned how to swim in my boss’ apartment that she rented to me. You learned how to feed yourself and use the phone here, just in case I died in my sleep. You got your ears pierced and your first bike, your first birthday, your first day of school and your first steps were all in this town.

Now we live only 2 hours away but our lives are so much different from how they started. Or maybe they are not that much different at all. It is still just you and me, me and you with a bit more job security and space to move.