Meet the team from TNT Benelux
When I first met the team, they were quiet just talking among themselves and looked excited, a little worried and unsure of what they will see when they arrived into Africa. Most have never been to Africa thus I could clearly understand their feelings as it was once mine too. My role is to facilitate the whole trip and ensure that the group goes through it safely and with a very enriching experience.
We had a good morning here in Bamako. After an intensive meeting with the WFP (PAM) Mali in Bamako, we are now going to make our way to Segou.
Our arrival into the Bamako International Airport was very chaotic with queues to immigration unclear and then I was stopped by the customs person who insisted that I give him one of the perfumes I bought for my friends. I had to insist with a gentle "NO" to him a few times before he let me through.
The ride home in our vehicle was the hardest for me. As I recollected the entire journey I made from the time Riccardo came to Amsterdam, then we took the train to Liege, the early mornings to catch the B767 to Nairobi and the ride all the way to Dadab, then the challenges of being thrown all over the place and arriving in Dadab but yet not knowing if we could even come close to the refugee camp was beginning to catch up on me and my feelings.
The Boeing 767 that left Liege brought with it over 45 metric tonnes of Plumpy Sup that could easily feed more than 15,000 children for a period of 1 month.
However, there is more to this product than meets the eye.
How do I get up at 0500hrs again? I kept on asking myself. But because we were very excited about the upcoming trip to Dadab, I could hardly sleep.
All the necessary have been prepared. As we didn't get any confirmation or help from WFP, we made the decision to make our own way to Dadab with the help of Victor (TNT Kenya) and then decide our next step when we reach there. As he has contacts in Dadab, he has made most of the arrangements. With that in mind, we drew up the checklist and here was our checklist.
1. 4 by 4 (Transportation) - checked
