Back to Meheba

I have just returned to the town of Solwezi, the closest town to the Meheba camp where I've spent the bulk of my time so far.  Just over 24 hours of straight bus rides from Dukwi camp in Botswana, where Kjerstin and I visited the other FORGE team working in the camp there.
 
The two places are very different in many ways.  First, the Dukwi camp is in the middle of a desert, and maybe 5% of the size, so the type of farming done in Meheba is impossible there.  This also leads the UNHCR to continue with food rations indefinitely, rather than for a max of 2 years as in Meheba.  Also, there are a lot of other nationalities in Dukwi, namely Somalians, which are not present in Meheba.  Perhaps most importantly, people who are denied refugee status by the government can remain in Dukwi, whereas in Meheba they are deported.
 
I met one refugee in Botswana that was a club DJ in the Congo before a landmine ripped off one of his legs.  He was just like somebody that you would expect to meet on the streets of Brooklyn; Odell would have gotten along with him.  He did a refugee rap for me, in front of a house that he had painted.  In general, the refugees in Dukwi are significantly more urban / cosmopolitan.
 
The group dynamic in Dukwi was also very different.   The Forgies were staying in a town called Sowa, about 50 km from the camp (over much better roads than there are around here).  So, everyone has to go in / return at the same time, and in the evening, they are immersed in a David Lynchian Botswana planned community, owned by a local mining company.  BMWs are not uncommon there.  It felt like it could be Oakland, but less run down.
 
Anyway, in a few hours I will be immersed again inside Meheba, and I'm really looking forward to that.  I've got a lot to record in these next few weeks, and believe it or not, I was actually missing the place!  It will be good to be back.
 
Ciao
David