First week as a geographic bachelor

I have hardly had time to write these weeks. A quick write-up then, not very coherent:

A. and the children left a week ago, and I have since been living the life of a monk: studies are taking up all of my free time. I don't mind as I am actually enjoying my studies a lot. I get up, go to work, go to home, study and sleep. Weekends: study, swim a bit, siesta, study, watch soccer (bye bye Holland), sleep. Five more weeks to go until I see them again.

I am working hard to get my first assignment ready for tomorrow, it's due date. It's a fake consultancy report advicing the Oss (my native town) city council on how to evaluate their local security policies. Full of rubbish, but fun to write.

Before A. left we undermined my employer's (and therefore my own) efforts to bring good governance to this country by purchasing a local driver's license through the services of the local Belgian honorary consul (a beer factory director), who mobilized his contacts at the Ministry of Transport. We're getting desperate about the difficulty of replacing her stolen one in Holland or Belgium, which has turned into a real bureaucratic nightmare, and I didn't want A. to drive around without any papers at all in Europe, so there we are. I paid through the nose for the service, as there seemed to be quite a few middlemen involved. Final delivery at my home looked a bit like a sleazy coke deal, with a dark-suited guy jumping out of a fourwheel drive, money changing hands quickly, and the car racing off again...

A. has started eating guinea pig food at a friends home, yet another pregnacy craving. Still better than the washing powder (yes, washing powder!) she ate during her previous pregnancies...

I attended a meeting with the government in full session last Friday, accompanying the boss who made a presentation on a programming idea of ours (integrated development of secondary centres) and who was violently attacked by a few Ministers who through he was cutting their programs, which they seem to hope to benefit from in a larger sense than is desirable...

Bernard, a Belgian friend trying to set up a diamond-cutting factory here, had the mining police (heavy handed and greedy thugs, on the whole) over at his house a few days ago, clearly on an intimidation mission. They harassed him for hours on missing paperwork and seized all his diamonds plus some equipment. He had to call friends at the Presidency to get them back, against payment of a completely nonsensical 'fine' of 1500 euros, plus 750 euros for the officer who 'helped' him out. The day after however his guard was driven off by the local gendarmes and beaten senseless, without any explanations. It seems that a major diamond monopolist from South Africa (won't name them here) who are setting up shop here, are involved in the intimidation through government services, as they have also driven out of business already 6 out of 9 legal diamond purchasing bureaus. Smells very bad, and it gave me look at the very unsavoury aspects of doing business in this country.

Last but not least: in spite of the rainy season, which usually gets rebel movements stuck in the mud, heavily armed rebels have captured an army garrison in the North and killed all of their their 11 prisoners.

Meat prices in the capital are rising dramatically, as all cattle breeding nomads have either sold their cattle to pay ransom and liberate their children kidnapped by bandits and rebels (the latters' favourite way of earning an income for well over a year), or have fled the country along with their herds. The few who remain and try to sell their cattle in the capital are harassed for money at every checkpoint by police and army.

So, not a pretty picture, and very few people in the world know. I have stopped making predictions as to when things will really go wrong, but go wrong they will.