New domain, new theme, new RSS feed

November 23rd, 2009 • Personal, Site/Technical
Tags: blog, rss, site, technical

Quick update that is important for anyone following this site via RSS.

I’ve finally made the move to a more sensible domain name - http://devonwhittle.com (no more confusion over who James is), and I’ve also found a great new theme that I installed at the same time.

More importantly, the domain change means the RSS feed has changed. This may be the last post you see unless you change your RSS subscription to point to here. Things might still keep working without the change, but better to be safe than sorry.

Things might pick up here after Christmas, but I’ve got 12,000 words to write for university before then, so busy enough right now to not think about blogging.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Bye bye Arusha, Hello London (via Italy)

August 22nd, 2009 • Personal
Tags: Personal

A quick post because I’m currently sunning myself in southern Italy trying not to think about a university essay that needs writing.

My six months in Arusha are now over, and Clare and I are almost in London (although with nowhere to stay yet). The ICTR was amazing, hopefully I’ll post more on that in the future depending on how crazy school work is. And CTLS looks like it will be very exciting (but busy) – it’ll be nice to be studying again.

Currently we are visiting friends in Lecce, Italy. We get back to London the day before classes (bad planning on my part) and have a few house inspections lined up. Plus I’ve got less than a fortnight to make my paper on frivolous motions at the ICTR shine (any suggestions?).

If you’re in London, let me know and, if I’m not too stressed out, we can meet up for a coffee. We’ll be there until December.

Ciao!

Popularity: 26% [?]

Today I got a haircut

August 3rd, 2009 • 3 comments ICTR Internship, Personal
Tags: barber, hair, hairdresser, Personal

One of the last things I did before leaving Melbourne, all the way back in March, was to get a quick haircut. It was literally a few minutes before heading out the door for the airport that I sat down and got a quick buzzcut – number two all over.

Unfortuneately, due to the rush, it wasn’t exactly the best haircut I’d ever received and so I’ve been wrestling with a head of uneven hair ever since.

image source: willpate
So today I found a local hairdresser (and masseuse according to the sign on the door) and got a haircut.

I walked in, asked “Shillingi ngupi?” and was told it would cost about AU$5 for a haircut. Though I’m a terrible bargainer I had been told that I shouldn’t pay more than AU$3, and around AU$2 is a reasonable price. So I offered AU$3 – which he immediately accepted. I probably could have gone for AU$2, but I’m a terrible bargainer and didn’t want the man holding the scissors to have any feelings of resentment towards me.

When my German friend attempted to get a haircut here in Arusha the lady was too shocked that a mzungu would even ask for a haircut to do anything. She shook her head and told him “No, I can’t!” He offered her money but she still said no and when he asked her where he could go for a haircut she said that no-one in Arusha could cut his hair! He somehow managed to convince her to try and she took out her scissors and warily snipped one lock of his hair. She then returned the scissors to her belt observed her handiwork cautiously before withdrewing them for another attempt.

Needless to say not much of his hair was cut during that expedition (despite it costing him AU$10).

My hair cut was a rather different affair. The barber fluffed up my crazy mixed-race hair and expertly removed the lot of it. It seems that barbers here specialise in the buzzcut – the few mzungus that have gotten their hair cut here have all returned with a faux-military look.

I think my barber might have been a bit surprised when he started cutting my hair as even though my skin is darker then the average mzungu, my hair left Africa a long time ago. Not only are my genes a motely arrangement of German/French/British/Zulu, but my youthful experimentation with hair straighteners hasn’t been too kind on my follicles.

We had a few hiccups as my hair jammed up his buzzer, but, apart from his inability to remove my sideburns, I think it came out looking all right. Although I don’t think I’ll be posting photos anytime soon.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Five Stereotypes of ICTR Interns

July 30th, 2009 • Funny, ICTR Internship, Personal
Tags: Funny, ICTR, interns, internship, joke, stereotype

Sitting in the ICTR office for the past six months I’ve got to see a lot of interns come and go, and for all sorts of reasons. I’ve been thinking, and sometimes we fit into some pretty good stereotypes. I’ve listed some of them here:

There’s the Human Rights Majors: first year (hopefully no later) law students who’ve discovered human rights and want to help lock up the “evil genocidaires” as quickly as possible and for the longest time possible. Usually completely oblivious to the fact that the accused has human rights too. They are relatively unharmful as long as they stick to the Office of the Prosecutor and aren’t found working in Chambers.

Then you have the Here for the Safaris intern who come for two months tops (and sometimes less), spends most weekends on Safari, most Thursdays at Via Via and most Fridays complaining about their Via Via hangover. Happy to fix typos for their entire internship, as long as they only have to work three days week. They are only really annoying when you need to compete with them to get a spot on the free UN flight to Rwanda.

Next are those that are Here for the Long-Haul, one of my favourite types of interns. They come for three months, extend their internship to six months, and now, nine months later, might leave…as soon as their trial finishes (or they manage to snag a paid job here). These interns quickly become the veterans who know everything there is to know about the Arusha/ICTR/UN/Rwanda and learn to resent the coming and going of all us ‘newbies’ (and our constant questions).

There are also the interns who were Expecting New York and didn’t realise that Arusha is not New York City, even if we are working for the UN. They enjoy complaining about power outages, lack of hot water, lack of internet, bad food, dust, dalla-dallas, AK-47s, hot days, cold days, cramped offices and the pole pole pace of things. Also liable to have a paranoid fear of being robbed, being ripped off, using taxis, walking, dalla-dallas, getting food poisoning from fish/milk/the locals or contracting malaria. It is also almost guaranteed that something awful will happen to these people.

Finally there’s the interns that Would do Anything for a Job at the ICTR. These interns really, really, really, really, really, really want to work in international law and willing to do anything to make that happen. Unlikely to share work, tips or food with you, very likely to work overtime and most weekends.

I’m not sure which stereotype I am. After five months I’m probably leaning towards the crotchety old long-hauler complaining about all these newbies ruining my office and front lawn. But I’ve done enough complaining about the internet and offices that I must have a streak of New York-envy in me.

Popularity: 43% [?]

Saying hello to the hawkers

June 3rd, 2009 • Africa, Personal
Tags: Arusha, buying, hawkers, mzungu, selling, streetkids, Tanzania, tourist

The first few times you walk down any main street in Arusha your bound to be greeted by many ‘Mambo!’s, ‘Hello!’s and handshakes from all the hawkers and street vendors on the lookout for tourists. It seems that quite a few people here are “painters” or own a store that they’d love you to come visit and get a “big discount” at.

photo source: loukreu
On a few occasions, I have struck up a conversation with someone on the street, only to then have them try to sell me something for the next fifteen minutes, during which time the price drops from $25 to $5 as long as you keep saying you don’t want it. At the end of that sort of hard sell it can be hard to say no (we have one dodgy painting in our apartment from this tactic so far).

While it’s easy enough to just walk fast and ignore them and the paintings, newspaper, maps and jewellery that they are selling, it’s hard not to feel rude doing this sometimes.

After three months here, my wife and I are well known enough so that most hawkers don’t bother trying to sell stuff to us on the streets, and the people we see at the market are now comfortable striking up a conversation with us (and giving us non-exploitative prices). In fact, Clare has even managed on a few occasions to sit and chat with some locals after doing some shopping at the markets. Her knowledge of Kiswahilii probably helps in that regard too.

I’ve been told off twice now for being “too busy” and for not replying to a Mambo. So maybe I need to start practising my Kiswahillii – Poa (cool) and hapana sante (no thank-you). Hopefully I won’t be coming home with a too many more dodgy paintings bought at crazy prices.

Popularity: 3% [?]

World Vision is more than fundraising

May 26th, 2009 • 2 comments Africa, Aid, Personal
Tags: Aid, aid agency, donor, fundraising, marketing, world vision

I was almost run over by a white World Vision SUV today.

It came speeding at me from down a pot-holed, dirt road. My first encounter with the this side of the aid agency world.

Back home in Melbourne, we usually see aid agencies via their marketing machines. Glossy brochures, flashy websites, appeals for donations. In Tanzania, I’ve been able to get a small insight into another perspective – not aid agencies as marketers, but as social welfare agencies.

I haven’t seen any advertisements for sponsorships or donations, or seen any tele-thons, but I have heard one 12 year old boy talk about how great his Canadian sponsors were because it meant he could go to school and maybe study law one day.

I’m not sure that this means much beyond being my anecdotal experience of living outside of a ‘donor country’, and it certainly isn’t enough to change my views, for example, against traditional child sponsorship, but I found it encouraging, especially given how maligned aid agencies are and how easy it is to find fault with them.

Popularity: 3% [?]