One of BG E's projects is Salmon Shtup village. This is a small area northwest of Northern City, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The village was destroyed during the bad times, it was right on a Shia/Sunni fault line in the north of our sector, and all of the families in the village were chased away. All of the Northern City sheiks think this is a very important area, BG E does as well, we aren't quite sure why, but if they think it is important, we will help out as much as we can. 
About 4 months ago, Sheik K started to ask BG E to provide security for the displaced families as they came back to the area, BG E agreed, and made sure Sheik K understood he would only provide security if the families came back and started to rebuild the village. For the next 2-3 months there was a lot of going back and forth between the Northern Sheiks and the Tribal Reconciliation Council (the senior sheiks, both Sunni and Shia, that have been a
ppointed by the Prime Minister to work out issues between Sunni and Shia tribes before they get to the point where they need the government to intercede). While I was on leave 42 families were convinced to move back to the town, BG E put a platoon of National Policemen up there to secure them and now folks are trying to work with the government to get basic services to the village. Pretty standard requirements: Water and electricity. The fields around the village are all green, and there are date palms there so there is something going good, but to be honest, not much for the folks to do up there outside of try to scrape together a village.
Couple of successes: The Red Cross dropped off 43 water tanks (one per family) this week and Sheik K sends a water truck up there every couple of days. BG E visited the village on monday, we went along and BG E will present the village requirements to the Mayor's executive council. The Beladia Mayor (a Beladia is roughly the equivalent of county; a Nahia is a larger city within a Beladia) may be able to do something, I will keep you posted.
Some of the pictures of the village are posted to the web page.
About 4 months ago, Sheik K started to ask BG E to provide security for the displaced families as they came back to the area, BG E agreed, and made sure Sheik K understood he would only provide security if the families came back and started to rebuild the village. For the next 2-3 months there was a lot of going back and forth between the Northern Sheiks and the Tribal Reconciliation Council (the senior sheiks, both Sunni and Shia, that have been a
ppointed by the Prime Minister to work out issues between Sunni and Shia tribes before they get to the point where they need the government to intercede). While I was on leave 42 families were convinced to move back to the town, BG E put a platoon of National Policemen up there to secure them and now folks are trying to work with the government to get basic services to the village. Pretty standard requirements: Water and electricity. The fields around the village are all green, and there are date palms there so there is something going good, but to be honest, not much for the folks to do up there outside of try to scrape together a village.Couple of successes: The Red Cross dropped off 43 water tanks (one per family) this week and Sheik K sends a water truck up there every couple of days. BG E visited the village on monday, we went along and BG E will present the village requirements to the Mayor's executive council. The Beladia Mayor (a Beladia is roughly the equivalent of county; a Nahia is a larger city within a Beladia) may be able to do something, I will keep you posted.
Some of the pictures of the village are posted to the web page.
No comments:
Post a Comment