Dear Friends and Family,
This week, work started in earnest, which meant that I became very, very busy. It also meant that I got to see and do interesting things. A few days after I arrived, my colleague in the same office went on vacation. This was bad and good. Bad because it meant that I had to handle everything by myself, which is tough when you’re brand new in a position. Good because it accelerated my learning process. Starting last Monday, I ended up working non-stop from about 8:00 am to past midnight every day. It’s been exhausting but I really don’t mind because it’s been so interesting and I feel like I’m learning something new every single day.
So, on to the interesting things. This week, I managed to attend meetings with Government officials, civil society and the diplomatic community, all of them quite interesting. However, the highlight of the week was a trip to the West of the country. We visited three towns close to the border with Tunisia. Earlier this month, there had been fighting between one town on one side and the two other towns on the other. The one town is primarily Amazigh (Berber), a non-Arab minority group. They were repressed and marginalized during the Qadhafi rule, resulting in a lot of grievances. One of the photos I uploaded is a picture showing the Amazigh flag next to the new Libyan flag (and the UN flag). The residents of this town accuse the two other towns of being sympathizers of the old regime. During our meetings in the three towns, we heard different accounts of the fighting that erupted in early April. Interestingly enough, they don’t necessarily want UN intervention here, as they are handling the situation locally with some involvement from national authorities. The UN mission here is a ‘support’ mission and there is a strong emphasis on national ‘ownership’.
The trip was yet another occasion where I acutely felt my language limitations. In between meetings, when we were milling around with the locals, I desperately wished that I could speak Arabic. For our group, there was one interpreter, but she was fully occupied, interpreting for my boss. I couldn’t speak Arabic and the local participants couldn’t speak English, so we kind of just smiled and stood awkwardly together. It would have been great to hear their views on how the country has changed, whether they feel optimistic about the future, what they think about the central government, the upcoming elections, the UN etc. The UN mission will start offering Arabic classes next week, and I’m planning to sign up!
While it has been very busy, I did manage to take most of Friday (the weekend) off to visit Leptis Magna, a historical site with Roman ruins. The ruins are on the coast, about an hour and a half East of Tripoli by car. The site covers a huge area – we spent three hours walking around and still didn’t see the whole place. The guide told us that the site contains only about 30% of the ruins and that the rest was still to be excavated. While the ruins were impressive, there was clearly a lot of work to be done. There were tons of rubble piled up in places and buildings and pieces that require restoration.
From what I’ve seen so far, I think Libya has a huge potential as a tourist destination. The Mediterranean Sea is beautiful, there is interesting history and culture and there are mountains and the desert (which I haven’t seen yet). The food is very good here too (though lack of alcohol may be an issue). Depending on how the elections go and how the situation develops, it would be fascinating to come back in 5-10 years.
Since I had quite a few opportunities to leave Palm City, the complex where we live and work, I saw many Libyans, including little children. Seeing the kids was actually kind of hard because I ended up missing Sho and Saya so much. I think I creeped out some local kids by staring wistfully at them…..
A few people asked about the weather. It’s been extremely pleasant. Most days, it’s been sunny and dry, and about 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit). I’ve been told that it would get hotter and hotter as we get closer to summer. Some of you also asked if I need to cover myself when I go out. I don’t need to cover my head (particularly because I’m a foreigner), but I dress conservatively - long sleeves, long skirts (or pants) and a scarf around the neck. The majority of local women do wear headscarves. On a few occasions I have seen women who are completely covered, including the face. I haven’t had a chance to directly observe much regarding women’s role in society, although I have seen quite a few women driving. I hope I manage to get more insights on this in the weeks to come.
That’s it for this week. Until next time!
Eiko
p.s. For more photos: http://eikoikegaya.
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