'Every evening I almost swam in my bed from the sweat'
Excerpts from UN peacekeeper Li Chunman's diary, which he kept while serving in East Timor and Sudan:
Missing home
It is April 2001, and I have been in East Timor for three months. Today is my birthday. At home, friends would have got together for a party.
It is my wife who reminds me of my birthday. In this mission, we don't have to know what day of the week it is. We have to work successively for 30 days before we take compensatory time off or CTOs. Loneliness is not necessarily a bad thing. It depends on what attitude you have toward life. If you are optimistic, you will engage in activities that can keep you in high spirits; if you are pessimistic, you will become depressed and complaining.
Now, I am keeping a diary and record in it like I am talking to myself. It is midnight now and I feel like sleeping. Tomorrow, I will take the Timor Leste police officer to Manatuto Base to attend a meeting.
The challenges ahead
I was reassigned to Manatuto Sub-station on May 2, and appointed officer in charge of Manatuto Station. I think I'm well qualified for this work I have been receiving more positive than negative comments regarding the challenges coming my way. I will be proud of myself and what I have achieved. I enjoy it!
Here, I would like to thank Li Ping for all the trouble he has taken to prepare us, and especially me, as Chinese policemen. Li was among the first group dispatched to East Timor, and was the district commander of Manatuto District. I feel very proud when people around mention his good nature as well as his efficiency. We can convince others that every Chinese policeman is reliable. I have no hesitation in assuring Li that the Chinese Contingent is the best team in this mission, and the Manatuto team an outstanding one, not because I am here, but because we are following Li's example.
Crippling heat
I have been in Manatuto district for 10 months now. Manatuto is one of the 13 city seats of East Timor, and lies 70 kilometers along the coast to the east of Dili, the capital of East Timor. It is already November 2001, and I spend most of the time alone in Manatuto sub-district. I am still sleeping on the narrow, uncomfortable bed. What's more, it is very hot. Every evening I almost swim in my bed, from the sweat on the pillow and sheet.
It never occurred to me that I could use the crippled electric fan, which was given to me by my former commander Arnucha from Thailand before the end of his mission. I put an empty water box at the bedside, find a long wire to lead the power into my dark tent. I turn it on and it works.
After a few days I find it more comfortable to have a mat on the bed. I told Li Yudu, who was one of my Chinese colleagues in Manatuto and was later transferred to Dili. When he learned I needed a mat, he gave me one, which I thought he must have been using, and this I appreciate very much. Lying on the bed now, I feel like a rich man.
Cockroaches everywhere
On August 19, 2006, we stay in Khartoum one night and early the next morning we take off for Wau. My fight route is Khartoum-Nyala - Malakal-Kadugli-Wau. Unfortunately, we are stranded in Kadugli because there are no flights to Wau that day due to aircraft maintenance. We are put up in the UN transit camp. The camp is not far from the airport, and the Movcon office - the office that is in charge of movement of UN personnel by UN flight - is also part of that compound. The camp is run by local people. The rooms are like containers - two beds in one small container.
The camp is horrible with a layer of cockroaches on the floor, a cloud of cockroaches chasing each other in the air, with most of them seeming to come off the dirty toilet floor, all dark brown color.
I take my own blanket and a bed sheet with me. The cockroaches on the ceiling drop down, falling on my blanket and even on my face. Luckily, my head is covered tightly with the blanket. I am sleepless. The dinner that evening and breakfast the next morning are under-cooked and dirty.
(China Daily 07/24/2007 page22)
