Foreign Service: Year One Done

Bright and early March 28, 2011, I sat with a bunch of dark-suited anxious people in a large auditorium in the U.S. Department of State.  Sometime around 9:00 am, they had us all stand, raise our hands, and take the same oath of office taken by diplomats and federal officials:  "I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic . . ."  Thus began one of the most incredible years of my life.  Today, on the one year anniversary of that oath, I am stunned at how quickly the year has gone, and how much we have managed to pack into it.  From training at the Foreign Service Institute, to experiencing Washington, DC,  to traveling the back roads of our new island home, to exploring the coral reefs of the Indian Ocean, we could not have imagined the adventures we were about to experience.  We've been grateful to have Damon and Heather experience parts of the year, along with other family members and friends.  And we've only just begun!!!  It's a happy  first year anniversary!

Building Bridges to Somewhere

Damon is building bridges to somewhere.
Our son has spent the better part of spring semester leading a bridge design and construction team in the annual national competition for civil engineering students.  Last weekend, he and his University of Miami team competed in Tallahassee with 20 other collegiate teams from around the southeastern USA.   The Miami bridge was, by all accounts, elegantly designed and economical in its weight and cost.  Although it didn't win the competition, it sure turned some heads and was the "most-photographed" bridge at the show.  Shelly and Heather made sure of that!  Mom and sister have had a great week with Damon in Miami and Tallahassee---and are we ever proud of our young man!  Way to go, Damon!

Fully engaged in constructive work!

 A Very Proud Mom!

Hindu Wedding

The daughter of one of my Mauritian colleagues at the Embassy got married recently, and we were invited to the ceremony and reception.  It was a great opportunity to dress up in traditional outfits and enjoy the pageantry of these very special moments with new friends. Many of our Embassy employees attended, dressed to the nines. The post-ceremony seven curry dinner was delicious, and we marveled at how young was the bridal couple and how beautiful the bride.  And, as different as it looked from March 15, 1986, the service still brought back great memories from our own wedding those many years ago.   

Swimming with Dolphins: 26th Anniversary

For our 26th wedding anniversary, we went swimming with dolphins in the Indian Ocean.  What a wonderful day!  Click on this to see our YouTube video of the experience.  As you will see, there were dozens of dolphins playing in the water, surfacing, singing.  It was unbelievable! In the Black River region of Mauritius, on the southeast coast, there are feeding and playing grounds in the waters just off the coast.  Nearly every day, some boats go out to watch and swim with the dolphins.  Along with some friends and daughter Heather, we were on the boat early in the morning, and soon saw dolphins churning the water near the boat.  The dive leader gave the command:  "get in!" and we wasted no time in snorkeling up to these beautiful creatures.  They were so playful and seemed to ignore us.  We just watched and marveled, and with my new underwater camera, took some fun videos.  Enjoy!

Mauritius Independence Day March 12

When Mauritius celebrates its independence, it goes all out!  On Monday, this country celebrated its 44th anniversary of independence from Great Britain.  They invited the President of Seychelles to be the guest of honor at the festivities, so the main routes have been festooned with both Mauritius and Seychelles flags.  Heather and I took pictures of just the flags and bunting just in the downtown Port Louis area, in the collage above.  There were music groups, fireworks, speeches, fancy clothes, clowns, mimes, and large gatherings all weekend to celebrate.  We took in most everything, but spent several hours on Monday in the ocean, swimming with dolphins!  Stay tuned!

David & Shelly are asking...

“Are you willing to help?”

Meeta, Shelly's dear cooking teacher, Hindu cultural guide, and treasured friend, needs help. 

Those of you reading our blog know that this sweet woman has been Shelly's anchor during our first few months in this country. And she accomplished the unimaginable—she taught Shelly how to cook! Meeta's recipes, a combination of Indian & Creole cuisine, are easy and absolutely delectable! 

Meeta will have very complex surgery this week for a nasty, 6 cm staghorn kidney calculus. The picture alone will make you shudder (http://www.montereybayurology.com/urocond/KidneyStones.htm).

We are thankful that one doctor in the country knows how to
perform this tricky operation; however, she will likely never dig herself out from under the medical debt. The cost of her operation and hospital stay = 3x her total annual income.

You can make a difference—

Help us defray her medical bills by purchasing this 11-dish collection we created of Meeta’s Mauritian Recipes. All proceeds will go into Meeta’s Medical Fund. Our goal is to raise $5,000. 

Simply use the secure PayPal button below to donate whatever amount you are moved to give. 

With tremendous gratitude, we will send you a lovely e-cookbook of these delicious (and printable!) recipes (plus a colorful Mauritius postcard with an update on Meeta’s recovery.)

Thank you! 
Shelly and David Campbell 

*Don't worry! All ingredients are available in the US—even in Albuquerque—at TalinMarket.com

Please feel free to share this request.
(Use the buttons below to email this or re-post it on Facebook!)

New York Times: Somali Pirates to Seychelles

Here's a project my team has been working on.  See this link, or read the article below.





Somali Suspects in Hijacking of Iranian Ship Face Piracy Trial in Seychelles

Published: March 6, 2012

Fifteen Somali men accused of being pirates, who were captured aboard a hijacked Iranian fishing vessel by the United States Navy in January, were transferred on Tuesday to the Seychelles for trial.  The move from Djibouti to the Seychelles, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, was a welcome development for the United States in a high-profile case that had no clear legal resolution.

It also signaled the end of an intensive interagency effort to find a jurisdiction willing to receive the suspects, who had been held aboard a series of American warships for almost two months. From its outset, the case, for all its high-seas drama, underscored the difficulties in developing effective and comprehensive programs to fight piracy. Capturing pirates, once international navies applied themselves to the task, has proved easier than bringing them to justice.

None of the nations most directly involved in the case — Somalia, home of the suspects; Iran, home of 13 hostages seized in the case; or the United States, which detained the Somalis — had either the capacity or desire to take on the costs and difficulties of prosecuting the suspects. And the Seychelles, which in recent years has been a regional hub for hearing piracy cases, had no space in its tiny prison system for more convicts, American officials said.

In recent weeks, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton raised the case with President James A. Michel of the Seychelles, said Andrew J. Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs. Not long afterward, the Seychelles agreed to transfer several previously convicted Somali pirates to a United Nations-financed prison in the self-declared republic of Somaliland, freeing up space in the islands’ prison system.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Shapiro said the cases could now proceed under Seychellois law, which was amended in recent years to include strict anti-piracy provisions. The nation’s Supreme Court has convicted scores of Somali pirates, and handed down stiff sentences — some in excess of 20 years.

 Shapiro expressed confidence in the prospects for successful prosecution of the latest suspects. “We think these are strong cases, and we have offered our assistance to the Seychelles,” he said.  One unresolved issue, he added, was the handling of 2 of the 15 Somali suspects who have claimed to be minors. Mr. Shapiro said the Seychelles and the United States would work with the United Nations on their possible repatriation if they were found to be juveniles.

The Navy captured the pirates and freed the hostages when it boarded the Iranian dhow Al Mulahi in early January. Since seizing the dhow in November, the pirates had used the vessel as a mother ship for carrying out skiff-based attacks against merchant vessels they hoped to capture and hold for ransom, the hostages said.

A senior Navy officer expressed satisfaction at the Seychelles’ decision, which ended weeks of transferring the suspects among vessels at sea. The pirates, he said, first captured by the Kidd, a destroyer, had been held aboard three nuclear aircraft carriers, another destroyer and an amphibious warship before being brought ashore in Djibouti on Tuesday for a flight aboard an American military C-130 transport plane to the Seychelles.

By C. J. CHIVERS

Eureka Waterfall Hike

We spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon hiking to a series of waterfalls in the middle of Mauritius. The site of an lovely old Mauritian mansion and a nice restaurant, followed by a hike through a dense forest to these great waterfalls.  Great fun with Heather.  Our only regret was not bringing swim suits to frolick in the falls!

Cissie's 80th

Five Years Ago, surprise party at 75

Cissie Campbell would have been 80 today.  We would have had a party, despite her telling us to not make a big fuss about it.  “The Gang” would have been there, along with grandkids and a great grandkid. Jan would have dropped by from the tennis tournament. We’d have shown pictures and laughed a lot.   Ah, what should have been. 

To remember Cissie, Shelly, Heather and I went to dinner at a coastal Italian restaurant tonight---they wore red, spangley, bright things including Cissie's own reading glasses.  I wore a red tie Mom had given me. In her honor, we talked to strangers at the other table and struck up a conversation with the owner, tasted each other's food, and commented on how fun it was to be eating fish across the street from the ocean.  We ate the desserts and laughed about spending our childrens' inheritance. On departing, we told the other diners "arrivederci" . .  and were carried away by the beauty of the evening in a place far from home.

It was a quintessential Cissie time.  To make it a real Cissie evening we would have invited the other diners to join us for a tee time at the golf course in the morning. The next best thing happened . . . Jay emailed us this picture of four roses under Cissie's tree at her favorite golf course: 

We love you and miss you, Mom.  And thanks for leaving lots of you in us, and around us, all over the world!

Maha Shivratree 2012

Hindus in Mauritius celebrate the God Shiva in a VERY big way.  The pictures show how we spent last weekend at Maha Shivratree.  Devotees spent days walking from miles away to a sacred lake in the southwestern part of the country.  Grand Bassin lake is also known as Ganga Talao (Ganges Lake) because it is believed to be filled from an underground water source from the Ganges River in India.  Those walking to the lake collect bottles of lake water and then walk the miles back home to use the water to douse their own Shiva statue.  But they don't just walk:  they create large "cowells"---highly decorated floats honoring Shiva and other Gods---that the pilgrims carry to the lake.  We attended a special presentation of prayers, music, and speeches with the nation's leaders at the lake on Friday night.  The presentation was followed by curry supper with a number of government Ministers and other officials.  It was another fascinating part of our Mauritius adventure!