An Eye Opening Experience

It has been an interesting couple of days. Went out into the country side with some of our Engineers. I was amazed at the level of poverty in this region. I shouldn't have been, I mean we all seen the commercials, especially around Christmas, showing pictures of this region of Africa with Sally Struthers begging for money. It ain't money that is needed here, it is water and then food. Back at home we are constantly engaged in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness but it is on a level light years beyond places like this. The local skinnies are purely engaged in the the pursuit of LIFE, in its most basic sense. In most cases it means finding the next drink of water or the next mouthful of food. It is a completely different plane of existence than we see at home. It simply can't be compared. My trip took me out of the main city of this country (as a frame of reference, the major city makes the shanty towns of Cuidad Jaurez look like a fully modern and well developed city) and into 3 villages where we are actively engaged in "winning hearts and minds" through civic action projects. The first village was fairly developed, in the sense that there were structures with 4 walls and a roof, there was commerce and city services (i.e. police, limited power, limited running water, a few structures actually had indoor plumbing, and one paved road). I watched the local children playing soccer. The interesting thing about it was that they were all barefoot and the playing surface was gravel and broken glass, it would have shredded my tender feet to pulp. The next two villages I went to were pretty much identical. There was no road to speak of to get there it was off road all the way. The people in these villages lived under the most primitive circumstances. The structures were of piled rocks most had no roof, no doors, no windows, Some were more akin to a shebang than an actual structure. There was no running water, no electricity, no kitchens, no sanitation, no nothing. I watched these little girls sitting around the village well (A muddy hole in the ground about 8 inches in diameter) filling up their water containers. This water would be used for cooking, cleaning and drinking and in my opinion, it was mostly mud. I am sure if I tried to drink it I would die of some heinous infection. The most ironic thing about this country, and when I found this out I was not a bit surprised, is that there is only one tree that actually grows in this dead land and it bears POISONOUS fruit. Still, I think the most pressing problem facing this country is a plague straight from the bible: FROGS! You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Frenchman. I saw all kinds of wild camels, hienas, and some antelope. Mostly camels, I had hoped to see the Baboons (known to us as those crazy red assed monkeys or RAMs) that hang out in the mountains around here. Unfortunately, the RAM's did not make an appearance. We had some "bodyguards" from the local military along to "protect" us. I thought these clowns were the biggest threat that we could possibly encounter. They were nice enough fellows but the had loaded, poorly maintained, fully automatic Kalashnikov's coupled with the weapons safety sense of a RED ASSED MONKEY!!!!! They really made me nervous the way they slung those barrels around. I had to ask this yahoo several times not to point his weapon at me. "No, No, is good, no problem, safe, safe" as he is fumbling with the safety lever. The "protection" was probably the most imminent danger I have ever faced in my military career. I survived it safe and sound however. If I hadn't, you wouldn't be reading about it.

TO THE TYRANT NEVER YIELD