Tue 9 Nov

Eleanor has been looking at the possibility of making use of the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) which exists primarily for the World Food Programme. Apparently spare seats are available to anyone doing "humanitarian" work, so long as the organisation has been registered with them in advance.

In our Sudan Volunteers Programme (SVP) office she insisted on a photocopy of their "HAC" certificate and a letter introducing SVP to UNHAS. Whilst (obviously) "having a chat" with University students in Khartoum is not likely to be seen as humanitarian, SVP do post volunteers in places like the Nuba Mountains where the 2002 peace agreement has long since begged the establishment of basic education in rural areas. By being attached to higher-education units in Kadugli or Dilling our work would inevitably mean assisting with teacher training, if not getting involved directly with a rural schools programme.

The UN Office Coordinating Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was very receptive, friendly and helpful.

A charming Somalian interviewed us thoroughly and then wrote a letter to the World Food Programme asking them to avail us of their services. He made phone calls and barked orders. Within an hour the paper-work was printed, stamped, copied, dispatched, stapled and filed.

We were shocked. We had grown so used to Sudanese bureaucracy where not much happens unless you have a letter from a government minister, or university chancellor. When we walked into the UN compound, it was like another world; a world where things happen.