“A Change Would Do You Good…” Part II

September 27th 2005, 2020B

It was quite warm today, but it’s bloody cold here tonight, & the rain is pissing down. I’m in my bed, wrapped up in my sleeping bag to keep warm, with the notebook on my lap as I listen to the rain hitting the tent roof – and I’m loving every moment of it. After the heat & humidity in Bujumbura this last month, this is making for a very welcome change. And the quiet is bliss. Ok, so the genny running in the background is a little intrusive right now, but after a day or so it fades into white-noise & you don’t even notice it. No traffic in the street outside, no crowds, no radios blaring noise all day, and no bloody locals hawking knock-off Ray-bans, or demanding money from me. I really enjoy it here in Mwaro, & I’m always going to have fond memories of the time I’ve spent here.
Honesty compels me to admit that Bujumbura isn’t all bad, & I’ve quite enjoyed the odd day that I’ve spent there – Sunday at the beach, for example – but I can guarantee that I’m not going regret kicking its dust from my heels after I get home.

It’s been a pretty good day. Nothing special really, but better than the average. I managed a good 6 hours sleep last night even without pharmaceutical assistance, which certainly helped – I would not have been pleasant company today if I’d not gotten so much sleep I can assure you :P
Then again, I was seriously buggered when I got into bed last night, but hopefully I’ll have another decent night of it tonight. I spent a fair amount of time behind the wheel again today which should help, as driving a heavy vehicle takes a surprising toll on you.
So far as the days activities are concerned, it was pretty much more of the same as what I was doing the last week in the capital, providing escorts to civilian UN personnel. Today was fairly interesting though, as they were paying out ex-combatants who’ve demobbed & handed in their weapons. From what I gathered each of the ex-coms received a once off payment of $100, which is not bad considering that I remember the going rate for an AK on the Mozambique border a few years ago was only about R50. It’s also a fair chunk of cash in the local context, as the GDP per capita for Burundi is only around $600 a year.
I also got to take a few photos today, which I quite enjoyed & some of them came out quite well. I’m starting to think I need to change the focus of my photography for awhile though. Mostly I’ve been taking pictures of the locals, and while I think that people will always be my favourite subject, I should probably try something a little different if only for the sake of variety. I’m not exactly getting bored with it, but doing the same thing all the time will inevitably become stale over time. Or I should at least try photographing people in a different setting – sports photography is something I wouldn’t mind having a go at, for example. There aren’t too many opportunities for that here though unfortunately. Wildlife is something else I’m really keen to try pointing a lens at, and that I may be able to get right while I’m here if we start conducting ops in the northern forests. Actually, after my first choice of getting paid to take photos of beautiful naked young women, landing a job at something like Getaway magazine is my next ideal alternate career should I leave the military next year. The photo / travel journalism idea really appeals to me, which is part of why I’m seriously considering staying longer voluntarily if it means I get to do that “road-trip” through Tanzania to get the vehicles back to SA.
But the naked women thing is definitely my first choice, so if any of the ladies reading this want to volunteer as a subject so that I can get some practice in, feel free to let me know ;)
And to think that a year ago I didn’t even own a camera. I’ve always had an appreciation for good photography, but I never imagined that the bug would bite me as badly, or as quickly, as it has. If only it wasn’t such an expensive hobby :P I guess it’s true that nothing worthwhile was ever easy or cheap.

Anyway, my brain is rapidly going into shut-down mode & I’m in need of my beauty sleep, so I’m going to end off here.

Till next time then ;)