Romeo and Juliet in Sudan

Friday April 28th

I was quite attached to my cellphone in the US. Actually I cannot function without it at all - it is like my fifth limb, or a vital organ, or even a sustenance mechanism. You get the idea ... I even sleep with it next to my pillow. Or used to. So being in Sudan would have proved extremely difficult without placing myself at the beck and call of some sort of transmitting electronic device. The ring of a phone is like life-blood to the likes of me who need to be connected 24/7. To something. Even if it means that it is a barren metal tower on a knoll in South Sudan, where the most you'll ever know about is how many vehicles have been dispatched, to whom, and at what time - its quite useful actually if you'd like to hitch a ride on one of them.

Ok, so I exaggerate slightly. A little more than that is accomplished over radio, though you already figured that, so stop rolling your eyes at me.

From the moment I'd arrived in Juba, I'd been curious about these hunky-dory radio transmitters that some people carried. Its thick, dusty, hardy-looking and LOUD! The silence - and very often the noise - would be broken by crackling on the radio and then some cryptic "Juliet-Mike-Kilos-Romeo-Charles 1629348347874398725983474589....!" To me it was all the same. Except for being bothered by the incessant butting-in of the radios, I didn't think too much about them. However at several points during dinner (at Mango Camp), I wondered why they just weren't turned off if they weren't needed?? Bizarre ... These UNHCR people were such geeks with their (few) toys! Tch tch.

But as dinner progressed, everyone's radios appeared on the table at some point in the evening ... so it wasn't just one or two people with their toys ... and finally it was absolute chaos when 'Radio Check' was conducted at 7pm! One by one, the coordinates of every individual and every radio is confirmed from radio room (headquarters). It starts sequentially from the boss, and goes all the way down the ladder. Neat, I thought. The boss then pointed at me and boomed - "you didn't get your security briefing yet? you're still free! hahahaha! that'll have to change soon!" (sometimes I don't get the jokes here)

Though pretending that I was doing quite well in my unconnected corner of the table, I secretly rejoiced that I'd get a radio to carry around also! yippee! I was in! ... or something like that ...

Right then the Admin head - Ditas, from the Philippines - turned to me seriously and said. Well, you have to have your radio on you at all times! Its serious. And there's protocol you must follow. At 7pm, radio headquarters does a Radio Check to see where you and your radio are - its our only way of knowing that you're safe, you know! (Yes, okay, that makes sense ...) "And you have to respond in radio protocol, just to confirm you're okay - nothing superfluous!"

Raja stepped in at that point, and in his usual jovial way, told a story about this dude who was so drunk by 7pm that he responded by saying "Check, loud and clear! I'm very well thank you, and how are you!" The entire table cracked up! ... so it was funny... hahaha ... okkay ...

Then he goes on to tell me that that kind of behavior is absolutely unprofessional, and is usually reported, and the transgressor is warned. (I thought, what's the big deal) But I gradually realized that being in vast, unconnected, ungoverned territory meant that the radio was not only pompous, but an expensive, sophisticated and essential security mechanism. There's no two ways about it - entire safeguard mechanisms are built around whether you respond or not. If you don't, then the entire camp may be notified, and then the base. Your unit, and then your boss. And all this is done in such haste that no time is lost to save people if they are in any kind of danger. We might be sharing jokes at Mango Camp, but the security alert could be triggered in a heartbeat. Literally. I might be shadowing people now and only moving in droves, but there'll be a time when I go out with just one other person ...

I guess I didn't want to have convoys dispatched to my coordinates simply because I had managed to pass out (drunk?? ...) somewhere!Then Raja joked that I'll be allowed to miss Radio Check once. heheh. Great.

Oh dem ...


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Saturday April 28th

It was the next day that I realized that every moving piece - I mean, seriously everything that can leave basecamp has a radio attached to it! All the personnel hang on to it for dear life (or for fear of radio HQ) and all the stations have one installed in it first thing! The best are the 4-wheels! Their antenna is gigantic! It is a huge rod sticking out to the heavens in no uncertain way! I had to take a picture to show what I mean. Listening to the radio inside the car is actually quite smooth and un-crackly for that matter. The car transponder can go about 100 miles I believe. (I'll have to check).

I got my radio today. A Motorola GP360. Its temporary. I get my own on Sunday. Whheeee. And I learnt radio protocol. I feel so *M*A*S*H*. I have my own call signal ... and everything has its own radio name! Its like learning a new game! My call signal is JR 1.3.2! Said like Juliet Romeo one three two. And also like "Juliet Romeo Base to Juliet Romeo one three one, come in!"

Ooooooooooooohhhhhh! I get to say things like Roger, Over, Read you (!), Come again ... heeeheee

This is just too titillating. I don't think I'll stop playing with this!! But the only check on such transgression is one I've already been warned about - *ALL* the UN missions in Juba can hear what you're saying. At any time. Don't ask me, but the channels are open.

You cannot just *whisper* over radio. No such thing as privacy ... you *broadcast*. I guess that's why they call it a radio. You have to call on one channel to locate the person of your choice, and when you do, you move to a different one for communication...
and of course that came with the HCR joke ...
"when you hear what channel they're moving to, you move to it ALSO, to find out what they're saying!!! hahahahaha" yeah.... Fascinating! I really want to do that. Rrighttt ... (well, at the beginning, maybe I do)

Along with the protocol, I learnt something else that was cool - the military alphabet! from now on, A isn't apple, but alpha! N isn't nancy but november! J isn't january but Juliet, and R isn't robert, but romeo. Now I'm a discreet person, so I won't go ahead and divulge the entire military alphabet (right here in this post) but that why people have been going on and on about Juliet and Romeo over the past few days ...

I am in Juba, so 'J' and working with refugees, so 'R', and my department is 1, and I'm in the third division. Hence JR 1.3.2! Voila! Neat, as I said. My handset is a black Motorola and weighs at least 1kg. (I'll have to spread it out btw my right and left hand so I build up the same muscles on both.) There is a red emergency button at the top. They said not to hit it. I think they were serious about that. Can I say again that this is SOOO *M*A*S*H*!! I can just see myself getting into a lot of trouble with this equipment!

... it just occured to me that if I see a cute guy in the street, doing his thang and just calmly saving lives, guarding a bridge, demining, moving vulnerable populations or building infrastructure for the sudanese ... I'd have to say "Romeo&Juliet etc etc" to give him my digits .... hahaha. And I must say that there is no shortage of well-built people here. Too bad we can't blast out over the calling channel "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo" ... because that would mean "Rumbek UNHCR, why are you Rumbek?"

I'll have to find other suitable poetry or prose. Suggestions welcome!