Eve and Tony in Somalia
1983-1985
I believe this was Eve’s first job after she did her masters in the UK. She became Chief Technical Advisor for the ILO to set up and lead an income generation project for women in the Jalalaqsi refugee camps, about 3 hours inland from Mogadishu.
Eve had put in a request for an associate expert that I found in the bottom of a drawer when I visited ILO in Geneva in search for an inspiring job. I had passed the selection process in the Netherlands and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs was willing to sponsor my work as an associate expert with the ILO. I received a couple of positions before but these were all sort of office jobs sitting in the capital city. I therefore decided to go to Geneva and try to find a position that was more challenging.
So I ended up at EMPRU (rural employment) department and more specifically the women’s programme. I explained that I was looking for hands-on work in more of an NGO setting rather than a job in a national ILO office. Anyway somebody gave me the Somalia request and when I liked it some progress reports. To every one's surprise (who wants to be based in a refugee camp) I was enthusiastic and asked my CV to be sent to Eve.
_____________________________________________
To everyone's surprise (who wants to be based in a refugee camp) I was enthusiastic and asked my CV to be sent to Eve.
_____________________________________________
I left a couple of months later, August 1983. This was my first assignment abroad, although I had already worked in Holland for a couple of years after having finished my Social Anthropology degree.
The aim of the project was to assist women to achieve some economic autonomy and also to enhance their organizational skills and influence on decision-making in the camps. This was quite a challenge because it was not easy to find activities that made sense in the false economy of the camps and the limited availability of raw materials. Also the project raised some suspicion because women were afraid to lose their food rations once they would begin to earn money. The refugees came from the Ethiopia where ethnic Somali who had lost the war against the Ethiopians in the Ogaden desert. They were in Jalalaqsi already for some time and were in some ways (e.g social services, food security) better off than the surrounding villagers.
I was based in the camps and would come to Mogadishu every three weeks for a week or so. I had my own house in Mogadishu and always enjoyed going there because life in the camps was tough.
Eve visited the camps about once a month for a couple of days. We had a very simple compound of about 6 huts for staff and guests, a kitchen and shaded area outside where we would eat. Ayesha was an excellent cook who made delicious engera (fermented pancakes) and camel meat curry. Project staff consisted of 4-6 female project assistants, a male agriculturalist (who led the vegetable gardening and chicken raising activities) and a male chemist ( who ran a small soap factory) and two drivers. Eve had a counterpart who was seconded by the government was also based in Mogadishu.
Some challenges were the following. How to identify economic activities that made sense in Jalalaqsi and would provide skills to women that they could take back to their home area after the camps would be dissolved. That was almost impossible because in their home area they were nomads. One of the activities that made sense in terms of raw materials being available in the camps was soap making from animal (fat tail sheep) fat.
With the help of Abdi the chemist a small cottage industry was established where about 10 women could work. They produced simple bars of soap initially without perfume and later with some flower extract to reduce the bad small. Selling was the main problem because the food rations contained plenty of more consumer friendly soap which flooded the open air markets and shops .
We tried to convince the ration distribution decision makers to buy ‘our’ soap instead but we never completely succeeded. Another challenge was the marketing of handicrafts made by the women. They could make large decorated mats to line the inside of their dome shaped tents and small mats just for decoration.
We had an Indian consultant, Jasleen, for several assignments to train the women to make mats which were completely flat and to make other products (e.g. placements) as well to cater for an expatriate or even export market. The mats were made out of grasses, palm leaves and also nylon from the food ration bags. We took materials to the yearly fair in Mogadishu, but selling remained difficult.
The agricultural activities, chicken raising and vegetable raising were also not easy because those kind of activities are culturally ascribed to Bantu groups which are considered a lower class by the Somali. So women engaging in these activities were doing work that was not well appreciated socially.
The work on this project was rewarding but also tough for Eve because the responsibility was large and the conditions very difficult. Tony was a great support for her although he was away some of the time because of his work for UNIDO. Of course there was no email at that time. From the start I had great respect for Eve’s analytical capacity but above all for her engagement, feminism and activism. I was very impressed how they as a couple created their own unconventional division of tasks. A man supporting his wife in her career, I had never seen that before. The photo of them both was taken during one of the few visits that Tony came along.
Without exaggerating I can say that I learned a hell of a lot from Eve and that she one of the most important models in my life. Some more personal memories are the following.
I learned to enjoy G&Ts at Eve and Tony’s home. I was also invited to many dinner parties with delicious food and interesting people. After having been in the camps for a couple of weeks those evenings were paradise for me.
__________________________________________________
From the start I had great respect for Eve’s analytical capacity but above all for her engagement, feminism and activism. I was very impressed how they as a couple created their own unconventional division of tasks. A man supporting his wife in her career, I had never seen that before.
__________________________________
We had consultants which were the strangest characters. I remember an Indian guy who was asked to come up with new ideas for economic activities. He had loads of ideas but nothing very suitable for that difficult context. He stayed awake whole nights and walked up and down the compound.
Another Indian woman, Jasleen, had a beautiful voice and we used to take her to the sand dunes at sunset to listen at her, amazing.
Another memory is a medical one. I got a bad infection on the top of my foot. I was taken to Mogadishu and Eve took me to Dr. Ibrahim, a surgeon from Egypt. He said I needed an operation but anesthesia was not available. He told me that he was going to look for some razor blades and antibiotics and that was coming back after an hour.
I needed to get ready by getting drunk and prepare a large quantity of boiling. Anyway he operated me in one room while Eve was waiting, disgusted with the procedure in another room. I had to put my foot in a bucket with hot water for a second or so before he could cut into it...
These are some of my strongest memories of working and living with Eve in Somalia.
Evelien Kamminga
Oegstgeest, 20 June 2010
1983-1985
Eve with Colleagues
I believe this was Eve’s first job after she did her masters in the UK. She became Chief Technical Advisor for the ILO to set up and lead an income generation project for women in the Jalalaqsi refugee camps, about 3 hours inland from Mogadishu.
Eve had put in a request for an associate expert that I found in the bottom of a drawer when I visited ILO in Geneva in search for an inspiring job. I had passed the selection process in the Netherlands and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs was willing to sponsor my work as an associate expert with the ILO. I received a couple of positions before but these were all sort of office jobs sitting in the capital city. I therefore decided to go to Geneva and try to find a position that was more challenging.
So I ended up at EMPRU (rural employment) department and more specifically the women’s programme. I explained that I was looking for hands-on work in more of an NGO setting rather than a job in a national ILO office. Anyway somebody gave me the Somalia request and when I liked it some progress reports. To every one's surprise (who wants to be based in a refugee camp) I was enthusiastic and asked my CV to be sent to Eve.
_____________________________________________
To everyone's surprise (who wants to be based in a refugee camp) I was enthusiastic and asked my CV to be sent to Eve.
_____________________________________________
I left a couple of months later, August 1983. This was my first assignment abroad, although I had already worked in Holland for a couple of years after having finished my Social Anthropology degree.
The aim of the project was to assist women to achieve some economic autonomy and also to enhance their organizational skills and influence on decision-making in the camps. This was quite a challenge because it was not easy to find activities that made sense in the false economy of the camps and the limited availability of raw materials. Also the project raised some suspicion because women were afraid to lose their food rations once they would begin to earn money. The refugees came from the Ethiopia where ethnic Somali who had lost the war against the Ethiopians in the Ogaden desert. They were in Jalalaqsi already for some time and were in some ways (e.g social services, food security) better off than the surrounding villagers.
Woman's leader in Jalalaqsi
Eve visited the camps about once a month for a couple of days. We had a very simple compound of about 6 huts for staff and guests, a kitchen and shaded area outside where we would eat. Ayesha was an excellent cook who made delicious engera (fermented pancakes) and camel meat curry. Project staff consisted of 4-6 female project assistants, a male agriculturalist (who led the vegetable gardening and chicken raising activities) and a male chemist ( who ran a small soap factory) and two drivers. Eve had a counterpart who was seconded by the government was also based in Mogadishu.
Some challenges were the following. How to identify economic activities that made sense in Jalalaqsi and would provide skills to women that they could take back to their home area after the camps would be dissolved. That was almost impossible because in their home area they were nomads. One of the activities that made sense in terms of raw materials being available in the camps was soap making from animal (fat tail sheep) fat.
Soap making in Jalalaqsi
We tried to convince the ration distribution decision makers to buy ‘our’ soap instead but we never completely succeeded. Another challenge was the marketing of handicrafts made by the women. They could make large decorated mats to line the inside of their dome shaped tents and small mats just for decoration.
We had an Indian consultant, Jasleen, for several assignments to train the women to make mats which were completely flat and to make other products (e.g. placements) as well to cater for an expatriate or even export market. The mats were made out of grasses, palm leaves and also nylon from the food ration bags. We took materials to the yearly fair in Mogadishu, but selling remained difficult.
The agricultural activities, chicken raising and vegetable raising were also not easy because those kind of activities are culturally ascribed to Bantu groups which are considered a lower class by the Somali. So women engaging in these activities were doing work that was not well appreciated socially.
Eve and Tony in Jalalaqsi
The work on this project was rewarding but also tough for Eve because the responsibility was large and the conditions very difficult. Tony was a great support for her although he was away some of the time because of his work for UNIDO. Of course there was no email at that time. From the start I had great respect for Eve’s analytical capacity but above all for her engagement, feminism and activism. I was very impressed how they as a couple created their own unconventional division of tasks. A man supporting his wife in her career, I had never seen that before. The photo of them both was taken during one of the few visits that Tony came along.
Without exaggerating I can say that I learned a hell of a lot from Eve and that she one of the most important models in my life. Some more personal memories are the following.
I learned to enjoy G&Ts at Eve and Tony’s home. I was also invited to many dinner parties with delicious food and interesting people. After having been in the camps for a couple of weeks those evenings were paradise for me.
__________________________________________________
From the start I had great respect for Eve’s analytical capacity but above all for her engagement, feminism and activism. I was very impressed how they as a couple created their own unconventional division of tasks. A man supporting his wife in her career, I had never seen that before.
__________________________________
We had consultants which were the strangest characters. I remember an Indian guy who was asked to come up with new ideas for economic activities. He had loads of ideas but nothing very suitable for that difficult context. He stayed awake whole nights and walked up and down the compound.
Another Indian woman, Jasleen, had a beautiful voice and we used to take her to the sand dunes at sunset to listen at her, amazing.
Another memory is a medical one. I got a bad infection on the top of my foot. I was taken to Mogadishu and Eve took me to Dr. Ibrahim, a surgeon from Egypt. He said I needed an operation but anesthesia was not available. He told me that he was going to look for some razor blades and antibiotics and that was coming back after an hour.
I needed to get ready by getting drunk and prepare a large quantity of boiling. Anyway he operated me in one room while Eve was waiting, disgusted with the procedure in another room. I had to put my foot in a bucket with hot water for a second or so before he could cut into it...
These are some of my strongest memories of working and living with Eve in Somalia.
Evelien Kamminga
Oegstgeest, 20 June 2010
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