Cyndi Scarlett in Baghdad

Hello All:

I’ve been chastised for not writing in a while for which I apologize.  To catch you up…

In early March I was able to take a break and go to Dubai for what was supposed to be a week.  My niece Brigit - my favorite niece, as she reminds me (I only have one!) was able to come and visit me there.  It was GREAT to have her around and we spent five days in a whirlwind from a day at the spa - to an evening into the desert that included 4X4 drives up and down sand dunes ending with a dinner in a camp. All was well organized.  Back to the hotel for shopping at the “Gold Souk” … imagine a huge mall in the US and then imagine every store in the mall is a jewlery store - with LOTS of jewels all displayed in the window - so much gold and diamonds and every other kind of stone imaginable that it looked fake - even though it wasn’t.  If you’re interested in jewelry, Dubai is the place to go.  Just remember to ask for their “best, best” price - which I did - much to Brigit’s humiliation.  She soon found out it works!  Lots of haggling going on.  Dubai is EXPENSIVE in every other aspect - and in my estimation, not that great.  It’s going to end up being a huge concrete and glass jungle.  They say that most of the world’s large cranes are in Dubai.  The building goes on 24/7.  It’s the most amazing thing to see. 

I was supposed to come back to Baghdad on the 7th but when we called to confirm my ticket, the “airline” didn’t have my reservation and knew nothing about me.  After much prodding, we found out they had cancelled their Monday and Wednesday flights into Baghdad so those folks were pushed to Friday.  The Friday folks were just out of luck.  I finally got a seat on Monday coming back into Baghdad on Iraqi Airways.  I have to admit I was a little worried about flying Iraqi Airways but it was fine. 

I came back to a mountain of work that made me wonder why I had even taken a break - and two days later headed for Amman, Jordan for a meeting with one of our partners.  Two days later, back in Baghdad in time to meet and greet a team of consultants that are here doing an evaluation for me on one of USAID’s huge programs dealing with civil society.  No matter how low maintenance a team might be, it’s always a challenge to have added folks on the ground.  Just trying to get them where they need to go in a timely fashion and back is a huge deal.

I went with the evaluation team up north to Kurdistan to a town called Erbil last Thursday.  We were supposed to return to Baghdad on Iraqi Airways on Saturday however, the government apparently comandeered the aircraft so that was cancelled…. we finally got a flight home on Monday but had to leave half of my security detail up in Erbil - which meant another team had to be mobilized to pick us up from the airport.  Kurdistan is an amazing place.  It’s safe - we walked around without our armor on - literally walked down the street with just our PSD - who only had side arms on.  There is a huge amount of building going on up there and people are hopeful about their future.  If one didn’t know better, one wouldn’t know it’s Iraq.  It seems to me that the folks down south could take a page out of the Kurds book in terms of how to do things - but what do I know.  I really enjoyed being up there with one small exception.  EVERYONE smokes - I mean everyone.  It was absolutely awful.  You can’t get away from it anywhere and it was in my eyes - they were constantly burning and red.  I pretty much had to stay in my room and even there is was difficult to escape because even in the hall outside the roomwas filled with smoke. 

I should have been keeping up with what I’ve been doing because there are stories to tell on every one of my trips - mostly very funny.   Perhaps some day I’ll write about everything but at this point, there is simply too little time.  The team is here for another 3 weeks so it’s going to be busy, busy.  I’m putting them on a helo flight to South Central Iraq tonight at 1:35 am….  neither have been on a military helo before - they are scared to death.  I don’t have time to go with them because I have a huge meeting to attend tomorrow.  I wish I could be with them just to see their faces.  It will be quite an experience for them.  The military flies mostly at night now to avoid being shot down.  It’s far safer and of course that’s the primary focus - I’m glad for that… but it means one has to be ready to leave and go places at the oddest times.  Makes for VERY long days. 

We have a new full time colleague that arrived last week.  She is going to take a huge load off when she is fully oriented.  Right now, there is just so much for her to learn.  I’m very thankful that she’s here.  My other colleague has been here since 2003 and has about had enough of Iraq.  Can’t say I blame him!  He will be leaving as soon as we are able to replace him.  He’s going to be a huge loss to the team here.  Please pray with me that we find an excellent replacement.

Well, I have two cheesecakes in the oven - I’m sending them down to South Central as thanks for all the help the folks there have given me in getting the team there tomorrow.  It’s been a headache!  Thank God for helpful people!

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.  I’ll try and do better with my writing.  Hopefully, one of these days, things are going to calm down enough that I can sit down and thoughtfully write something meaningful.

Blessings to all!