3rd May 2000

Dear All

Greetings from warm Azerbaijan, so far 26 degrees morning, 23 degrees in the evenings according to the local newspaper.......Summer is not here yet!!  Now we are the proud owners of a Lada Neva we are also accumulating Lada jokes.......many thanks everyone!   Being drivers has introduced a whole new dimension to life here........let us explain the traffic light systems here as one example of differences..........GREEN...............means GO!! .....FLASHING GREEN........you may continue through the intersection but if a traffic officer is really picky it is illegal!..........ORANGE.........clear the intersection.......FLASHING ORANGE......last chance before a bang!, definitely illegal to move on this if a cop catches you!.........RED.......stop.........unless you have Embassy number plates, a mercedes, or are a bus!.....FLASHING RED.........nearly time to go so start revving, sneak if you cannot see a traffic officer!!!...........In case you haven't read between the lines........the police presence is huge here.......people buy the right to be a police officer and pay each year to retain their position....the wage is minimal....no miniscual is a better description....

but once you have the uniform you are able to stop traffic and extract fines for all sorts of misdemeanours!!! The police officers are the most 'plump' population in Azerbaijan.........we have police everywhere.......corruption is second nature here......we have had our first being stopped.......fortunately that week the President had given a TV message to be considerate to Humanitarian Aid workers....so once we showed our visa he waived us on.......we do not expect to be that lucky every time.......

If any of you saw the BBC news the Fazuli protests were just outside our appartment.....exciting....except Murdoch and a friend were coming home from town and the police in their riot shields would not allow them to come home......they started banging their shields and chasing the boys...so they went to a friends and rang us and Ian went to collect them......that was a bit unsettling.....however the police had been tipped off and were about 2-1 with protesters....and were quite willing to hit out.......after 5 hours it had all blown over.

At least we didn't see any tear gas or petrol bombing like we experiences in Bangladesh.

Traffic Light Report

GREEN..........  GO......  The Barda Clinic is on Go!......The Azeri dentist is now supposedly working 5 days a week, theoretically treating trauma and emergencies in the morning to increase his through put and root fillings etc, in the afternoons.........we have had a water pump and sign donated by friends here and have the promise of a generator in the next few weeks......hopefully..  the power cuts are often up to 3 hours at a time and certainly limit work that can be done.  The dentist now washes down the surfaces between patients and has mastered composite fillings.....we are still hoping to introduce amalgam in the near future.....the nurse has caught on quickly to new hygiene  regimes.  Our translator is making teaching him and communication possible.......many thanks to those who responded to our plea for support for his wages....having Zaor means that whiile in Barda Ian can visit the other NGO's working in the area and network with them on his Dental Prevention Programme......he can even communicate with the local dentists now!

Last week Ian was at one of our Refugee camps and a guy came up in agony....he explained how the garlic had stopped working, could we do something for him.......yes....get in the car.........."I can't afford to pay".......that's OK it is free at our clinic........."but how will I get home, I haven't enough money for a bus back?"....Ian gave him the 50c equivalent for the bus fare and treated him at the clinic....he was in tears afterwards and told how they receive only $5 a month as a refugee family, he has 3 children as 3 were killed in the war......they live on bread and water........the govt employee who delivers the amount takes $1!.....he looked awful and it was a real confirmation to keep working and keep things free as the needs are very real.

FLASHING GREEN...........going on ......the Dental Prevention Programme has received $5,000 from UNHCR for the printing of flip charts to train the medical and dental trainers in the field......however since we prepared the proposal the funding for 2000 has been decided and several of the groups we were working with have been denied budgets and the money has gone to some new groups coming into the country.......so lots more meetings and trying to make contacts.....Ian needs to resubmit the proposal mid May.  The translations have run in to a hiccup as the language our first translator used was too colloquial.....so back to the drawing board and we now have a doctor and teacher resubmitting the script for the charts....... the printing looks very good and is much cheaper than we budgeted which means we can give even more training sessions than we at first thought.....we have been making lots of contacts with people working out in the refugee camps at grass roots and they are very enthusiastic and encouraging about what we want to do....so much more relevant to people in their situations than teaching breast self examination!! This is exciting and what Ian is passionate about, unfortunately our boss here is not supportive of prevention, so we tread carefully.  We are getting a donation of 10000 toothbrushes in July which will be wonderful to accompany our message into the Refugee Camp Schools.....

ORANGE........... clear the intersection............things have been difficult for us in our company and communication has been a major stumbling block. Just before Easter we had a meeting and aired how difficult we were finding things and the need for more open communication about the project.........our boss heard us.......and we begin some serious discussions when he returns.......please pray we are understanding and forgiving..........he is away for 3 weeks out of the country which has been a good clearing space.

FLASHING ORANGE...........getting ready to stop.........this is continual as we navigate the roads of Azerbaijan.......we have had several trips out of the city now and all of them have been arduous journeys as the roads are so badly maintained......Ian tells the stories of coming out the other side of potholes.......road rules are in the road code but not easy to follow on the road......roundabouts are give way to anything coming on, quite the opposite to us in NZ.......one way roads abound all through the city but the Azeris just back down the other way!!

Pedestrians are agressive........cows proliferate the roads in the country.......speed signs are faded and absent but the police are vigilant on speeding!!!  We went 4X4 off road driving last week and hope the photos show how adventurous we were.....the people in the villages all stared.......I doubt they see many cars at all!!!  The Lada buckled a wheel but otherwise survived.

RED............stop............Well here school is stopping soon for 3 months.........I am not teaching for 3 months..............most of the foreigner families are going home to USA for their holidays.....some of the XPats have the males continuing working here and the Mum and children are going for 1 - 3 months..........It seems like everything will stop.......but..........we hope to keep our refugee clinic and training programme going as long as we can work in the heat..........40 degrees does sound daunting but we will cross that bridge when we come to it..........

FLASHING RED.........getting ready to go.........well ...Thomas has just been accepted as a volunteer for the United Nations Demining Programme, along with a 17 year old Australian friend........he leaves us in about a fortnight for a months training..........He will be camping in tents, generator power and water trucks down in the field nearer the border, fairly rudimentary camp!?.............His course includes communications, team building, leadership training, live munitions training, ......etc, they will train with the Azeri trainees but the trainers are British which should give him an advantage.... At the end of a month he has an interview and they decide where his talents would be best used..............command post, communications, etc..........then he will be salaried.......till then just food and bed covered.........it is an exciting opportunity for him and he has already started reading the handbook his director gave him this week.  (Click here for Photos) They have had a fortnights hold up, they were setting up camp and several people got sick......they soon discovered an old Soviet toxic waste dump!!!!oops!!!?.....so camp is moving ............scarey stuff.......Dave (the boss) assures me they will not be in a 'live' mine field during their basic training and that in 23 years he has had no fatalities in live munitions training.....am I reassured?!!

OTHER NEWS:

Murdoch and Morag are being trojans with their correspondence and receiving some excellent grades back.  Mail to here is working well at the moment but only if it is a straight letter or boring correspondence......anything valuable or edible is ...."customized"!! Morag went to the mud volcanoes here at the weekend for a friend's birthday, she was amazed it was bubbling but cold....gas we think........

Murdoch was great at sorting out our computer virus a week or two ago.......and is doing some exacting work on the computer game website he has made.

Thomas's wrist was sprained and is slowly healing, he is still working out at the gym till he leaves for Fazuly. He had made some really nice Azeri friends from the Hash and goes to their place to play Backgammon or draughts Azeri style.

Ian is pretty busy and at times stressed with all he has to do and the time available........his Azeri lessons are progressing, his health is up and down, depending alot on how many trips he has had to Barda and the Landladies cooking!!! He describes driving here as a contact sport, but is doing really well, I think I will have to dehorn our car for a few months on our return!! He has some close friends who are also in the Humanitarian Aid game and they are really supportive.......he is struggling with the differing philosophical ideas for the future of our project with our boss.......please keep this in your prayers.....

I continue to enjoy teaching at the Azeri school and do the odd relief work ..........everyday life and hospitality take alot of my time.

The water supply and gas supply are intermittent at the moment so getting showers is quite an art as our hot water system needs both gas and water at the same time.........??! We hope the Landlord can get our spare water tank in the ceiling working when he comes this week. 

This has become a bit of a long winded saga..........hope you have kept reading till the end.......thankyou one and all for your interest, support and prayers...........this is proving a testing assignment, I hope we can report more positively next Term but we are definitely not giving up......I can't possibly tell you all everything so please write or E Mail any questions about what we are doing.........

Thinking of you all as we write......Suzanne, Ian, Thomas, Murdoch and Morag.