Camp Photos

Some aerial photos taken in 2009. Its the same basic layout now but the place has gone Health and Safety crazy with black and yellow hazard signs just about everywhere, from road crossings to pavement curbs! (Children use less safety precaution signs!). 

The Main Kitchen complex. My accomodation is in the little building to the right .

Chevron HQ

The beach front. 

Theme night pics!

Weekly dessert buffet - not too shabby considering we don't get half the ingredients we need!

Express socials.

Mauro Lara (Angolan/Portuguese FPM) and me Sep 2010.

Me and Tim Jessett enjoying a few beverages. Just so you don't miss him, I am pointing at Tim...........

Andy Burt (Ex Pongo) and me Sept 2010. 'That's another fine mess you have got me into Stanley'

Angolan Cooks. Bandidos!

Some of our staff. We have some great characters here. One thing about all the nationals is that they love a photo!

Pot & Plate Wash upgrades!

Here are the pictures of the Plate Wash and Tank as they are now! Compared to the pictures in my previous post this is a million times better. The staff now work in Air conditioned, clean and safe surroundings, with modern equipment that actually works! Amazing.

The guys were scrubbing pots with onion sacks when I got here. Yes that's right. Onion sacks.

The new 'Tank'. Still some work to do but no longer a health risk!

Work underway!

The new 'Plate Wash'. Ahhh, much nicer. 

We also did work on a brand new Pastry room and we will soon be refurbishing our Bakery, leaving us what will hopefully be a fully operational kitchen that wouldn't look out of place in most countries. It will certainly be one of the best out here that's for sure.

First of 2012

Hello.

Blogging seems to feel completely inappropriate to me right now but I am fed up of face-booking and twittering so for my last hour in work today I have decided to add another well anticipated post to my hugely successful and well maintained blog.

On the 5th Feb I will have been out here for 2 years. Blimey.

Job wise things are going pretty well for me. I'm slowly picking up the language (Portuguese) and I have met some good people, ex-pats and nationals alike. When I got here we couldn't rely on the nationals to boil an egg without someone watching over their shoulder and although some have proved to be a lost cause, we have unearthed some great characters who hopefully will one day go on to run this operation themselves. (Which is ultimately the goal of the Angolan government).

So basically we are training these guys to do ourselves out of a job! Fortunately we are some way off that yet. It takes a lot more experience to do what we do of course. I mean, they don't even know how to use facebook yet so I'm safe for now!

A mark of how much things have progressed here is the amount of time we don't have to spend supervising our guys. I take great satisfaction with this as it was one of the first things I identified when I got here. Previously we had ex pats dotted about the place in key roles such as Chef de Parties (CDP's) and Kitchen Supervisors. The nationals weren't trusted, or were simply not able to lead their own teams and didn't have the skills or knowledge to operate to the levels that those of us with professional training do. But after the efforts of the management team here we now have several key individuals who can not only produce the food here to safe and desirable levels, they can now also manage their own teams to do the same. That is no small achievement believe me. We have been able to release ex pats and replace them with Angolans. In actual fact in the two years I have been here we have gone from 7 managers and around 16 ex pat CDP's to just 4 managers and 3 CDP's! That's a lot of experience to lose but we have progressed more than any other unit in West Africa because of it.

Those of us that are left still get stuck in and always have one eye on whats going on but one of the reasons the staff here took so long to develop was because they were not allowed to. I have worked with people (and still do!) who cannot stop themselves from stepping in. That's ok at times if its needed but here it got to such an extreme that people just weren't learning because they weren't allowed to. We've now watched and coached these guys as they've made mistakes,  begun to run out of food, lost power, not have staff turn up, have accidents etc etc. They have had to take responsibility and ownership of these day to day problems and deal with them. They are better for it and the more we let them get on with it the better they will get. Hopefully. One day.

That's enough for tonight. I quite like this recap so tomorrow I will put some photos up of what some of the facilities used to look like and what they look like now. You will be shocked.

Hello. I'm still blogging.......all be it irregularly.

Two hitches have passed since my last blog update. Rubbish I know. I always intend to do regular blogs but at home I just never seem to have the time and out here at work the internet is too bloody unreliable and it takes forever to upload anything.  Crap excuses, sorry.

Anyway………..

A friend of mine out here sent me a couple of interesting rituals/events which I thought I would share on here:

CASA DA TINTA

Locally Known as “ Tchicumbi”. It is a traditional ceremony in Cabinda Province designed to allow a girl in her teens to start dating.

This usually takes place in winter and all the arrangements are made without letting the girl know about them. She is normally taken out for a trip or walk along with a few family members, friends or fellows to a place far away for a couple of days, sometimes longer. On her way back home, typically on a Saturday, she is caught by the escort and a powder made of a tree called tukula is thrown onto the girl`s face. At the same time she is taken to an accommodation specially arranged for her.

The powder is so burning that the girl starts crying soon after it touches her face. Once in the accommodation, women begin to sing traditional songs while at the yard family members and guests can enjoy songs and watch mayeye dancers ( mayeye is a traditional group of players, singers and dancers ).

The party usually takes place all night long: attendants have plenty of food and beverages and can dance to traditional and modern music.

Originally the girl must have her hair entirely cut and spend one month in the accommodation where she is provided with everything she needs like food, drinks, outfits, etc. During this period she receives counselling and instructions about marriage, the wedding, how to be a good housewife, etc.

After spending one month in the accommodation she becomes much more beautiful and people really get impressed with her beauty.

Now she is no longer a girl; she has become a woman.

LUANDA ISLAND PARTY

This is a traditional party that is usually held in summer on Luanda Island. It is designed to pay a tribute to the spirits of the sea (mermaids),  in order for the sea to be tide in and to prevent the Island from becoming flooded, and on the other hand to increase the capture of fish by fishermen.

During the ceremony, several things are thrown into the sea such as bottles of beers, wine and certain amounts of money.

Local authorities, Islanders and guests attend a huge party where local food, foreign dishes and drinks are enjoyed as well as traditional and modern music.

In some littoral Provinces of Angola similar ceremonies take place with the same purpose.

Missing my little buddy..........

Me and H at Brecon Mountain Railway (Good pic Mummy well done).

Sigh. The start of another hitch. As exciting as this was at the start, the journey out here and the inevitable 'gloom' of Malongo camp is finally starting to get to me. But that is nothing compared to the pain of having to leave Harry and Luce.


I used to dread having a family in my Navy days for this very reason. I should count myself lucky that its only for 6 weeks at a time but the comfort of knowing that does not make it any easier.


It was different leaving Harry this time at the train station as, at almost one year old, he is definitely taking more of an interest in my comings and goings now and the confused and perturbed look on his face on this occasion was heart breaking.


Still, the disappointment of leaving my little buddy is completely overridden by the excitement of seeing him again on 13th October. I cannot wait!

More randoms, some from main road to Malongo from Cabinda.

Some Random Iphone Pics taken not long after arriving in Malongo