I feel like we have been preparing for elections for months already and in a way we have been. Once a month since Aug, the staff of TASOK has been getting together to discuss protocol "if" any security needs were to arise during election time.
Evan and I are not living on Campus so some of the preparations and needs are a little different, security is a little more of an issue for us.
Here is a general run down on how we are preparing for elections in the next couple days.
As of today, we have over 60 students that have left or are leaving the country for elections. In a school of 290 that is a huge drop in attendance, all these students will be returning in January and this number also has a very high chance of growing if this become unstable out here. The students leave for many different reasons, many embassy are evacuation the families and this is mandatory. There are quite a few families who have chosen to leave on their own terms as well and a lot of businesses also send their employee's and families back home until January. I myself will be loosing approximately 15 ( as of right now) between grades 6-8.
You can definitely tell their is tension in and around the city but I think a lot of this contributes to the unknown, 4 years ago during the last elections the city broke out in war. so many innocent people lost their lives, buildings were destroyed and the city regressed even further than before.
As of right now the Canadian government had authorized evacuation, this is not demanding that we leave the city but if we don't feel safe we can go to our employers and let them know that the Canadian government authorized evacuation and this allows us the freedom to go. Next step if this get unsafe would be full evacuation and then you don't have a choice in the matter.... well you always ave a choice but if you stayed it probably wouldn't be safe.
How are Evan and I preparing for Elections ( as well as all the other ex-patriots)?
We have been told to prepare to be on the safe side, As of today I am not allowed walking to school anymore even with a guard, we are trying to find me a vehicle to drive but worse case scenario Dr. Epp at TASOK will lend me her vehicle for the next little while. Evan and I will also be stopping out travel at night before the weekend. Aside from driving to TASOK! We have also been warned that it is possible that some time between November 28th ( voting day) and Dec 6th ( results day) we may not be able to leave out house due to safety. So we are buying extra food ( for about 7-10 extra days) and filling up with extra diesel so we can run our generator. We are hoping for a peaceful and calm election period here, if there is a higher chance that things are getting unsteady we will not take chances and will come home a little earlier for Christmas break. As of now our flights are booked for the 14th of December and everything should have calmed down by then.... on the chance that things get a little heated!
For now we remain positive.
On a completely different note our pool is FINALLY up and running oh and my hair is starting to drive me crazy!
1 comment:
Hey Mel! Thanks for continuing to keep us up to date. Any further kafuffle re elections in your city?
Evan called and left a message the other day, asking me to email him, but I no longer have a working email address for him. Can you get him to email me at david_funk1 at yahoo.com? Here's the message I tried to send him:
Evan Schellenberg!! I'm so sorry we weren't around when you called the other day - not often I get a call originating from the Congo.
Unfortunately I won't even be able to see you when you're in Calgary. We are leaving for MB this Sunday, and will be getting back on the 26th. But maybe if you're going to be in MB we could connect? Or after the 26th, if you're still around?
Thanks for keeping in touch, my friend. It would be fantastic to see you, and your family. I often stop by Mel's blog.
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