YES! YES! YES!

Almost!

They almost reached the summit. Switzerland did win the Silver Medal of the 2013 Ice Hockey World Chamionship. After having played and won 9 games, they had to face Sweden in the final. A great job. We Swiss are very proud of you. Congratulations.

These are the guys who got hold of us. The Swedish. 2013 Ice Hockey World Champion. Congratulations.

Sweden and Switzerland are small countries. But now, all the Swiss and all the Swedes are very happy and very proud people. Very happy and very proud.

Men, Great Men

My mission in Liberia is coming to an end next month. I can look back on some personal enrichment and I am grateful that, after all those many years of working, I still can have such experiences. I have met a lot of people, interesting ones, important ones and great ones. "Big shots". And yet very humble people. I would like to mention two who have marked me.

At the beginning of the Ivorian Refugee Crisis early 2011, when everything was messy and the humanitarian action had to set up, we had a weekly meeting called the HAC (Humanitarian Action Coordination) meeting. As the situation became more stabilised the meeting was held monthly. I presented the activities and results of the food sector.

The meeting was led by Mr. Moustapha Soumaré, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations to Liberia. He was also the Humanitarian Coordinator. He is a national of Mali. Rarely, in my life, have I come across a person like him. A real gentleman, very kind, very good, a man who knows his job. And a very humble person. I simply admired him. And I always thought that I was very far from reaching his level as a human being.

What I just wrote, I could make copy/paste for another person.

To assist the population, we need donations. We get them from everywhere. Last year, ECOWAS, the community of West African States, donated rice for the refugees to the Government of Liberia who charged us with the distribution. Last December, the official handing over ceremony from ECOWAS to the Goverment of Liberia was held.

The President of the ECOWAS Comission, Mr. Kadré Désiré Ouedraogo, came personally for this ceremony. He is a national from Burkina Faso and used to be the Prime Minister of that country. During his stay in Liberia he went on a field mission to visit the refugees. I had the pleasure and honor to be part of that mission. As with Mr. Soumaré, I felt very much at ease with him. A real gentleman too.

So, even if you are a "big shot", you still can be a humble person.

I am not a "big shot". But I try to be humble.

Soon in the air

A new beauty: The Airbus A350.

Innoncence or Ignorance?

Yes, I am still around. I will leave Liberia for good in about 2 month. The program I have been responsible for is coming to an end and we have been preparing the one that is going to continue the assistance, in another form, to Ivorian refugees and the Liberian host population. It will be more into development and the emergency and humantiarian action will stop and I am not needed anymore.

I am morally preparing to go. It is always a difficult moment to go and to leave people who have become your friends behind. But this has happened to me so many times that I am used to it. I will leave with my mind and heart again fully loaded with souvenirs and my life experience enriched again.

And being mature and not innocent or ignorant anymore. When I was young I was careless, innocent and ignorant. When I left Rwanda and moved to South Africa in 1967 I did not even know that apartheid existed. I came to Johannesburg, a booming town, and enjoyed and had a lot of fun. But very soon I realised the issues of "black and white" in that country. And I started to loose my innocence and ignorance. I said how possible that we should be apart, separated by law, when in Rwanda I had made so many African friends. And it became more and more difficult for me to accept the South African "system". And after a year I left. I did follow what is happening in the country. And then something, after a few years, huge happened.

I had undergone surgery and was at home on recovery leave. And one morning I was watching CNN and did not believe what I saw.

Frederik de Klerk, the South African President, was making a speech at the Parliament in Cape Town. He spoke partially in English and in Afrikaans. And his message was the abolishment of the apartheid. I could not believe it. But there it was.

A few weeks later, things started to happen.

Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years in jail. He came back to the world. And he did not bring hatred with him. Things started to change and rather quickly. A new wind was blowing in South Africa.

And these two men made the wind to blow strong. They changed history. They are for me among the greatest men in history.

And me, I have lost my innocence and ignorance. It took some time.

A great "Service Public": The Swiss Post

I remember when I was young. Like in many countries, public administration was something "sleepy". If you worked for a goverment agency, your salary was not that high, but your were assured for a lifetime employment. For us, the clients, we hesitated to go to a government office because, often, it was cumbersome or you were not well received. We had state enterprises that were there and did their work. Just did it and we had to abide with it. Over the years things changed. Government agencies pay now well and that has the effect that people search to work for them.

Like in almost every country, Switzerland had its classic state entreprises: The railways and the post. At that time, it was called PTT: Post, Telephone, Telegramme. The railways "SBB" has changed into the probably most efficient railroad company in the world and is the backbone of our public transport system. I already have written extensively about it, The PTT was split into two: "swisscom" for telecommunication (a very modern, efficient and dynamic company) and the "Swiss Post". Today, I would like to dwell on them.

The "Swiss Post" is touching everyday the life of thousands of people in Switzerland. If, basically, one thinks that their main job (and it is a main job) to distribute only mail, you are wrong. The enterprise is offering a wide variety of services that go far beyond the traditional "post office". And those services are delivered extremely efficiently, with no flaw and very reliable. And if, in very rare cases, there is a problem "Swiss Post" has a wonderful customer service you can call. When you talk to them, you feel that they are very solution oriented and at the end, when you hang up, you feel good.

We have our famous banks in Switzerland. Big ones, world reknowned ones. And, as we know, banks that have been in troubles, for many years, for various reasons. Me, I had some issues with my bank many years ago. I was utterly displeased. I needed an alternative and I opened a "postal checking account", a service from the Post.

Today, it is called "PostFinance".

                                            Copyright photo - Die Schweizerische Post

Let's be simple and not loose to many words: For me it is the best finance service I ever have known. Reliable, easy, performant and a must in one's daily life. I have exactly, and even more, services than I would have with a bank. I pay my bills (most of them come electronically to my postal account and I just click for payment). When I am making transfers to a foreign bank account, anywhere in the world, the beneficiary is credited withing 2 days. Sometimes I have to send money urgently to someone. For this, there is Western Union. But I don't need to go to a Western Union office. I can do the transfer straight from my post account. And the fee is cheaper.

                                                 Copyright photo - DieSchweizerische Post

Needless to say that I can go to any ATM and withdraw funds. "PostFinance" is so efficient that more and more people are leaving the banks and go to "PostFinance" who is now offering a wide range of services, including mortgages. A real good alternative to banks and I am convinced that in a few years, they will be THE bank.

Most of the people in Switzerland live in an area of one third of the size of Switzerland. This regions is called the "Mittelland" or "le plateau". It is well developed with an as well developed public transport system. But then we have the rural and the mountain areas. Here, people need transport too.

                                            Copyright photo - Die Schweizerische Post

There comes in the service of the "Swiss Postal Cars". Modern vehicles are transporting people and mail.

                                            Copyright photo - Die Schweizerische Post

The yellow busses, and they are many of them, strengthen our public transport system. The deserve villages in the "Mittelland" and they go high up into the hidden mountain valleys. And it is not that you have one bus on Monday, one on Wednesday and one on Friday. They are running with frequent departures. When you go, for instance, to the railway station in Sion, the capital city of the Valais canton, you see dozens of postal cars waiting for the trains to arrive and to carry the travellers immediately to their destination.

Let's not forget the "classic" service of the Swiss Post: The mail.

                                            Copyright photo - Die Schweizerische Post

Everywhere we have to boxes where you drop your letters to be sent.          

                                            Copyright photo - Die Schweizerische Post

Modern distribution centers sort letters and parcels and they are delivered to their destinations within the shortest time possible. We have two possibilities: The A mail which is delivered the next day and the B mail, a bit cheaper, and delivered within a few days. When I send my income tax return, I use B mail.

                                            Copyright photo - Die Schweizerische Post

Needless to say that the Swiss Post is as efficient when it comes to international mail. Letters from the USA reach me in about 3 days, parcels from order I made with Amazon come within 7 days. And the good part is, I do not have to worry about customs clearance, the Post takes care of that. When the postman delivers the parcel at my home, I just pay him the custom duty, if there is any.

I would like to end this story about a service the Swiss Post provides, which for me is an absolute hit: The Swiss Post Box. This service is my "life saver". As I am most of the time outside of Switzerland, I always have (had) unpleasant letters when I came home. Reminders of unpaid bills, important documents I did not fill in in time and so on. When, a few years ago, the post launched this service, I subscribed to it immediately.

The system is simple: You get a particular address with a box number. You communicate that address to everybody (or the ones you want to). Mail is sent to that address. Then the Post sends you an email that you have received postal mail. The email has a photo of the enveloppe. Then you tell the Post what to do with it. Either to destroy it (which is not advisable when it is your income tax bill) or to send it to a different address or to open and scan it. If you chose this, you will get a day later an email with the letter in PDF format. If you receive a registered letter, they can open it too. But if you think that it is too confidential, you tell the Post to send it to a different address. The same works with parcels. Those you have to send to a different address, because I think it would be difficult to scan the content of a parcel into a PDF :-). So, you have complete control over your postal mail when you are absent and wherever you are in the world. There is no problem of confidentiality, the Post guarantees secrecy.

And here is the best part of Swiss Post Box: The Swiss Post is offering this service also in France, Germany, Italy and Austria. If you, fellow world roamers and travellers, think that this could be of use to you, you can find all the details on www.post.ch.

That was now a long post. But then, I had many things to say about the Swiss Postal service. The Swiss Post, a true giant. A good one too. A wonderful service provider, close to the people.

Absolutely shocking

In two weeks, the Swiss People are going to vote on an initiative to limit or ban excessive salaries. To explain the issue, here is an article by Thomas Stephens, swissinfo.ch. Personally, I find such remunerations absolutely shocking.

Jan 24, 2013 - 10:20

Pharma chameleon: Daniel Vasella - Superhero or Fat Cat?

Swiss newspapers can’t make up their minds about the controversial chairman of pharmaceutical giant Novartis, who announced on Wednesday he would not stand for re-election in February. They’re not even sure why he’s going.

“Is Vasella fleeing from Minder?” was the headline on the front page of tabloid Blick, relegating a victorious Roger Federer (who earns considerably more than Vasella) to a side column. “Is he afraid of the fat-cat initiative being accepted?” Thomas Minder is a businessman-turned-politician who in 2008 launched an initiative against excessive salaries. Given the climate of popular anger against the hubris of high-flying executives, the initiative received plenty of support and voters will have their say on March 3. Blick calculated that 59-year-old Vasella, who has held top positions at Novartis since 1996, had pocketed up to SFr300 million ($322 million) over the past 11 years – including SFr44 million in 2006. “Yesterday Vasella made it clear several times that he’s against the fat cat initiative – but what he actually did yesterday has helped its supporters,” it concluded. It’s hard to imagine the head of British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKlein making the front page of The Sun, but this shows the central role the pharma industry has in Switzerland and the public attention Vasella has managed to attract. Indeed, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) described Vasella as a “brilliant CEO – and figure of scorn par excellence”. “Daniel Vasella has left his mark not only on Novartis but also Switzerland as an industrial location. Nevertheless, for the country he was simply too big,” the paper said.

Stubbornness

Vasella oversaw the 1996 merger of Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy that led to the creation of Novartis. Elected chairman in 1999, he held down the position along with his role as CEO for over a decade, a situation that was criticised by corporate governance specialists. “Stubbornness is certainly not a bad quality in a businessman – in Vasella’s case it played a not insignificant role in building up a global company,” the NZZ admitted. “But in the salary debate, Vasella’s stubbornness led to collateral damage that threatens not only Novartis. If the populist Minder initiative is accepted, the entire Swiss economy will be affected for the worse.” It concluded therefore that “Vasella risks being remembered not as an extraordinary businessman, but as the person who, through sheer stubbornness, lost his sense of moderation and as a result damaged Switzerland more than he benefited it.”

“More burden than asset”

Vasella was also subject of the front page cartoon in Zurich’s Tages-Anzeiger: some laboratory rats pleaded with Vasella to take them with him – “You love mice!”, they said. The word for mouse in German is also slang for money… “Superhero or fat cat?” was the headline in the paper’s noncommittal main article. “Daniel Vasella had two whirlwind careers: first as a doctor, then as a manager. He almost eradicated leprosy and turned Novartis into a global company. Switzerland repaid him with a vote on manager salaries.” The paper’s editorialist was more critical of the “exceptional” manager who had, however, missed the right moment to leave, pointing to the five per cent rise in the company’s share price after the news. “From investors’ point of view, that means towards the end Vasella was more of a burden than an asset. If the situation was otherwise, Novartis’s shares would have collapsed yesterday.” Geneva’s Le Temps also took an on-the-one-hand-on-the-other view. “As much as he has been detested for his money-grabbing, his desire to concentrate power or his purist free-market ideology, he has been admired for his strategic vision, a readiness to listen and an unmatched persuasiveness no matter who he talked to.”

Intriguing questions

Looking ahead, the Financial Times noted Vasella hadn’t yet left the building “but the chatter about the new Novartis is already under way”. His departure does, however, raise two “intriguing” questions, according to the paper’s Lex column. “Does a post-Vasella Novartis need to change? And, if it does, how should it change?” The answer to the first, Lex reckoned, was easy: yes, pointing out that from certain angles Novartis “looks more like a conglomerate than a pharma company”. As for the second question, Lex pointed out that Novartis was financially strong, but the “Vasella-era buying spree has to be bedded in, and a 33 per cent stake in Roche … remains a question mark”.

Thomas Stephens, swissinfo.ch

We are sad

This Great Man left us two days ago.

Claude Nobs was the founder of the "Montreux Jazz Festival". Since close to 50 years the festival made my hometown the capital of the world during 2 weeks every July.

He was a giant in the world musis scene. All the great names that came to Montreux where the doing of him and his team: Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Woody Herman, Manhatten Transfer, Modern Jazz Quartet, Miles Davis and so many, many more.

Claude went on a ski tour on 24th of December 2012. He fell and was brought to hospital for surgery. He did not wake up and fell into a coma. He passed away on 10th January 2013.

The world music seen is an orphan. The city of Montreux is in deep sorrow. But Claude's team is there and it will see to it that the festival continues to live. And in the coming years, at every concert, we will remember Claude and never forget him.

Countdown (final?)

It did not happen. Yesterday. We are still here. The Maya prediction did not materialize.

But I will disappear. On 26th December, I will travel to the border region between Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire, to the four counties that are affected by the Ivorian Refugee crisis. We have decided to make a school feeding program for the Ivorian children going to primary schools in the refugee camps. I am going to set it up. I will not be able to be online to wish you well until mid-January 2013.

So, I wish you all a very pleasant Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2013. May all your wishes come true.

The title of the post is "Countdown" with the question "final?". Well, right now, it is the countdown for the end of the year. But for me, my countdown will start in 2013. And the final will be on 30th June 2013. Stop, finish, the end. Going home and think about all the wonderful life I had until that date, trying to help people who do not have such a nice life as most of us do.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Click here

Kosovo, Sri Lanka, Liberia

It is one of those (rare) nights where I cannot sleep. So I got up, poured a whisky and relaxed. And my mind wandered off. Into space. Just like David Gilmour of Pink Floyd when he plays his guitar solo in "Comfortably Numb". He comes down from space at the end of the song. And my mind came down too. And I started to think.

In a few month from now, I will finally have a quieter life. And I was thinking of what I have been doing in the past 15 years. Thinking about the people I met, thinking about the places I have been to. In 40 years of running around, I was in a great number of countries. I still have souvenirs from the ones I was in the 60ties. I have still souvenirs from anywhere. And mainly good ones. But my post title shows the three countries that have marked me tremendously.

They have something in common: War.

I arrived in Kosovo shortly at the end of the war. The (then not yet) country was in a very poor state. It was the last Balkan war. The work to be done was enormous. For 4 years I was working and living there. Switzerland was heavily involved of assisting Kosovo and its population. Because we have a big Kosovar community living since many years in Switzerland. They are integrated, work hard and pay the income tax much better than I do. So now, I was there. During all the years I had close contact with the population, in the cities, in the villages and in the hidden mountain valleys. I made a lot of friendships. My fellow Kosovar workers have all become friends. And I am thinking of them every day. When my last day came and I left, we were all together. It was time to say Goodbye. We hugged each other, men and women. I could not help it, I wept.

I came to Sri Lanka when the close to 30 year civil war was going to end. I moved up north to the zone where the fighting was taking place and the final battles were going on. What struck me, right from the arrival in the country, was the smiles. I have never in my life come across friendly and smiling people like in Sri Lanka which in addition is a very beautiful country. In Switzerland, when you get down from the plane (coming from a non-Schengen country) you will have grim looking policemen checking your passport if you do not look like a clean cut Swiss. In Sri Lanka, the policemen smile at you. Again, my Sri Lankan colleagues and I became close friends. We worked hard together but even in the toughest moments we kept our smiles. The time came where I had to leave. When I was at the airport making my customs and immigration clearances I noticed that on each immigration both there was a poster of the mobile phone company. Every poster had a different (smiling) face with a different landscape behind. On top of the poster it said: "Safe Journey". And at the bottom it said: "Please do not forget our smiles". I could not help it, I wept.

I did not come to Liberia because of its war. This has finished since a few years, though the country is still recovering. I came because of the war in Côte d'Ivoire which brought a lot of Ivorian refugees to Liberia. The country has a lot of jungle forrest and I have spent many days travelling in it and through it. When you don't know them, you think that Liberians are rough people. I have seen a few where I was sure that a few years ago they were not only holding a Kalashnikov in their hands but also having used it. But these times are now gone. Liberians are tired of war and concentrate of moving the country forward. I am working with many Liberians. Goverment officials, people working with NGO and, of course, my colleagues. They are sharp, hard workers and, what is very nice, they appreciate to joke. I am a joker and I make them laugh many times. And one feels safe. You can walk around in town, freely, there is no agression. Even immigration at the airport is nothing "terrible". And then I love to eat two Liberian dishes: "Potato Greens" and "Kassava Leaves". And gulp down a local beer. It is not only with me that the Liberians are friendly, it is with everybody. I am spending a good time in this country in spite of the hard work. In a few month I will leave Liberia. I will not be able to help it. I will weep.

Stories and Updates

I tried to improve my posting frequency but with not much succes. I have been on field mission a lot these days and weeks. But here are a few things to update you.

I could now really post, I have an USB 4G modem which gives me (when I am in Monrovia) the same speed I am used to in Switzerland. When I am in the bush, I use another USB modem but with it connection (in the deep bush) is a bit hazardous.

So, I have been busy. I spent almost two weeks in the bush, in the border region between Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire. A team composed of UN agencies, Government organisations, NGO and Donors was assessing the situation on both sides of the border. The aim of this joint assessment mission is to give inputs about future assistance to refugees and local population in that conflict affected area. We will soon present our findings and recommendations.

When I had some time, I pursued in the last weeks my "research" on the PTC (Paid to Click) sites. I did subscribe to some of them. I think this is all a lot of bull.....t. There is one site though which I think is OK and honest. The problem is that I don't understand their system (am I dum?). I click and then I get nothing because I did not click at the server time. Then there are loads of sites. They have different names but all with "Bux". That Bux, Bux That, Left Bux, Bux Right, King Bux, Bux Queen etc. Then what amazes me is that you see the same ads everywhere. And all the ads are leading to another Bux site. And then the big thing. On one site, I get paid 0.0001 cents to see ABC ad. And on another bux site I get paid 10 dollars for the same ad!! OK, on the first site the payout is at 10 dollars, on the second at 10,000 dollars. Whatever, you have to wait for a long time to get paid. Unless you spend amounts of money to go Premuim, Gold or other membership. Not worthwhile.

I did it, I shouldn't have and my wife is going to kill me. I bought the iPhone 5.The 64 Giga one. It costs almost 1,000 dollars but as I extended my contract with my provider, I got it for 400 dollars. Did I need it? No! But I wanted it. In 7 days I will have it.

My contract was supposed to finished by end of December this year. It has been extended this week until end of June 2013. I am pleased. But I also wrote to my agency that then I will call it quits. From July 2013 I would like to make only RRT missions (Rapid Response Team). As I am a member of the team, they would send me for a 10 to maximum 15 days mission when something (earthquake, natural disaster, man made disaster) happens somewhere in the world. RRT missions have the aim to bring the first needed relief and aid assistance, to assess the situation on the ground for Head Quarters to determine what the following or follow up actions will and could be.

This situation will help me to practise what as a Priest of the Church Latter-Day Dude I am supposed to do:

"Just take it easy, man".

Just a bit

I will complain (I did before about it). Just a bit.

You all know that I am addicted to above. Since 50 years. But I have reduced it tremendously because I have become an adept of the electronic cigarette. And today my smoking habit is 80 % electronic and 20 % the "real" thing. I admit that I feel much better. But I also contribute less to the Swiss retirement scheme. Because there is no tax on the electronic cigarette.

Anyhow, things are getting worse and worse for smokers, even if you smoke an electronic cigarette. Because those do not make smoke but make steam. And it has no smell even if your liquid is something like passion fruit or strawberry (awful, how can one "steam" something like that; I use Virginia tobacoo taste). But still, as soon you put it in your mouth and steam comes out, you will have somebody on your back complaining "your smoking disturbs me". Useless to convince them, there is this little cloud in the air. And that is offensive.

So, will we come to the interdiction of "steaming" too? I understand that it is not allowed to use electronic cigarettes on airplanes- This I can understand because it would incite "real" smokers to light one too. And it would be complicated or almost impossible for flight attendants to control.

Flying from Switzerland to Liberia I have to pass through Brussels and wait for 3 hours. I always went to a hidden corner to "steam" because I got scolded for doing it "publicly". Even explaining that it was just steam I was answered that "smoke is smoke and therefore you smoke and that is not allowed in this airport". Brussels Airport, "The 100% smoke free airport". And a nice one too. Smoke free! I have no problem with this because I am a complete defender of the non smokers cause. They must not be incomforted by us smokers.

But steaming does not trouble non smokers. I guess it is all psychological. Anway, after years, Brussels Airport authorities did think that among the millions of passengers passing through there, quite a big number could be smokers and they have now a smoking room. What a relief. Because when you fly with Brussels Airlines (by the way, a very lovely airline) coming from Europe and going to Africa, you have always between 2 to 3 hours of layover. So, thanks God, for the real thing.

Me, I will continue my way with electronic smoking. Because I like it. And it is good for my health too. It will look just like this picture above. Some clarification: In my glass, if the liquid has the same color, it would be gin. But the color would rather be red. A nice Chilean red wine. Drinking such a nice wine whilst smoking/steaming an electronic cigarette with Virginia tobacco aroma tastes really good, I promise you.