Reflections on my time in Central African Republic

When I accepted a posting to Central African Republic (CAR) in 2018, a friend asked what I had done wrong to be sent here. From what I had heard, the road ahead seemed like it would be a long one.

I worked in Bertoua in the East of Cameroon in 2016, with refugees from CAR. At the time, I made a mental note not to accept a posting here, were it ever to be an option, because of the horror stories I heard.

I had no expectations whatsoever, the predominant feeling was uncertainty. These are my last days here and I am uncertain how I managed to last for 21 months! It has been quite the roller coaster and those curves have been just like the sharp twists and turns of an actual roller coaster.

Central African Republic celebrated its' 60th year of independence on August 13th 2020 which got me reflecting. To give a back ground to things, in 2013, a mostly Muslim coalition violently ousted the government. Some months later, a Christian militia sprung up to resist the Muslim group. It went further as the Christian group carried out attacks around the West of the country against Muslim communities. This degenerated and clashes between groups and against civilians continues to raise concerns. About 80% of the country is controlled by armed groups and attacks against civilians are still recurrent. 

A peace agreement was signed in 2019 between the government and 14 armed groups, but the road to implementing and respecting this agreement is a long one.

Thoughts on humanitarian action...

Humanitarian action normally has the aim to save lives, reduce suffering, poverty and help to maintain human dignity. Well, that's the summary for me from working in the humanitarian field.

I've noticed that when humanitarian action is mentioned, just like development assistance, it is mostly tailored to the Middle East, Africa and in some cases, South America. A good number of the organisations leading in this field are from Western countries, these countries would like to save the world albeit being wishful thinking.

All humanitarian assistance is worthy and directly impacts lives. I can say that for a fact as I work in that area. The joy derived from witnessing the emotions of a beneficiary is PRICELESS!

However, in the light of recent attacks, it is slowly dawning on everyone that nowhere in the world seems to be safe these days... There have been constant attacks by armed groups in different parts of the world and the Western countries are targets for various reasons.

Some of the "holy wars" that are being fought might not make sense to some of us, but the ones in it are willing to die for the cause for which they fight. Unfortunately, we all are caught up in it - innocent, guilty, old and young, every living thing!

Wrapping Up 2015

I am putting some thoughts I have had in the last week down and this will be my last post this year.

Spending time with loved ones  - So my friend and I were talking about Christmas and we were talking about how our families always spend Christmas together, but I was saying that I might break the tradition next year as I would like to travel at Christmas. Her response was don't do that, the whole family should travel. I wondered why I hadn't thought about that option, but thinking about it, I realised that I had probably concluded that travelling at Christmas might not be a preferred option as they like to travel earlier in the year. Well, she lost her mother a few months ago and her family had spent Christmas in a certain country for the past three years or so, but the plan was to spend it elsewhere this year. Plans changed as her mum is no longer here and things were left undecided, Christmas would never be the same, it must have been especially hard this year being the first one without her.

Them Drivers

The rage steaming through blood shot eyes,
the chaos because of such horrible drivers,
no sense of direction, no adherence to driving rules,
hurry...simply no patience!
They all just want to hit the road and in the bid to get on fast,
they only succeed in causing jams everywhere.

Sirens blaring, whips held high.
It's disturbing, absolutely crazy!
What are they? Drivers or Uniforms?
Does that make them any more 'CITIZENS' than anyone else?

Traffic rules are broken and there are simply no consequences.
Auto crashes all around the city everyday,
bodies pulled out, rushing to hospitals...
How bad can it get???
Driving in Abuja, hmmmm
Gets worse by the day, seems like a constant car race.


First published in June 29, 2009