Canadian Mission

So had a visit from a Canadian mission today aka bureaucrats from ministry of foreign affairs who are here to monitor our Canadian funded projects. They were supposed to come to the office at 330 and we would go in the field first to see a drama group associated with the Youth Coalition for Peace, then to a Mine Risk Education group and then out to the training in Paicho to check out what we are doing there. We had til 530 to get everything done.
They didn't arrive at the office until well after 4 so we had to get going. It was fun to show them around and then we had a huge discussion of whether or not they could be in the field after the UN cut off of 5pm. The guy from the Consulate in K'la was the hardest to convince that the security situation has been fine for months. Got to the site for the youth drama group and despite my requests that Valentine (yes the group chairperson's name is Valentine) get them started before we arrive so we can 'catch them in the act' the entire group was waiting for us to arrive to meet the visitors. the drama went well - and i was impressed as it was the first time i had seen any of these plays. the youth coalition for peace members there were able to translate and did an excellent job of explaining and all that. They have incorporated MRE into their plays without being trained or asked to. The play told the story of a rebel attack where a man was killed and then his body booby trapped with mines and then they related the return of one rebel from the bush and how he was brought back into the community. Then we had to make the decision to not go to Paicho because it was getting too late and I had to call and tell the people there that we will be coming tomorrow morning (we decided to take the team tomorrow so the mission continues) which i felt horrible about as we asked them to stay late from the training to wait for us. I think I'll have to pick up some biscuits or something for them when we go tomorrow. After that it was off to a place 'deep in the village' as they say to watch one of the music, dance and drama groups do a mine risk education presentation. They even had seats of honour for all of us to watch from and gave us sodas. There was a large number of community members watching (mostly children). That was the end of the Canadian mission today so tomorrow we'll be taking them to Paicho to meet with some landmine survivors and see the training we are doing there. I also get to take the sports equipment to the group there which will be fun to hand over. Now I should relax a little as it was one of those days when I was a little too twirly all day (you know running around doing 50 things at once barely getting a chance to sit down)......